There is no better way to learn than at the Smithsonian! From art to flight, from the natural world to the science fiction aiming at the future, the Smithsonian group of museums in Central DC are every bit informative as they are fascinating. Lined up along the axis from the Capitol Hill to the Lincoln memorial the museums are a wonderful extension of the public space alongside the cherry-blossoms blooming in all their glory. As a planned city, Washington DC is winning with its urban design, high score of walkability and powerful buildings. But like a lot of world capitals the commanding buildings lend to a loss of human scale, a fact balanced by well marked footpaths and pedestrian avenues. The circuit buses running frequently in a loop save some of the walking but the city is undoubtedly best experienced on foot. Again with so much to see at the Smithsonian, one takes more than a day to largely imbibe the store house of information. For the plane loves the museum of flight is a treasure house, but the Museum of Natural History is definitely the best of the lot.

And once done with understanding the earth, living specie, how man has evolved, what the future has in store for us, basically a confluence of high school biology, chemistry and physics, the gemstone gallery with the notorious Hope Diamond, the photographs at the National Geographic exhibit make one stop and take a good look at how beautiful our planet and the world really is. We do live in a beautiful world, much as Coldplay’s lyrics go and the balance of nature is a miracle. Nature gives us enough, and is a tool of inspiration for everything that Man does, including art, science or the acts of annihilation! From music to visual art, principles of science to basic survival instincts, we are all greatly inspired and motivated by nature. And in the Museum of Natural History one begins to get closer to understanding the glory of nature.

Along the central axis of Washington, along with the Smithsonian are also the war memorials, beautifully designed to be embedded within the landscape of the capital city. All the wars that the United States has fought is grandly remembered with an ode to the soldiers in stone. But overlooking the Washington monument, the memorials, the museums and the centre of legislature at large is the Lincoln memorial commemorating the greatest president of the United States. His work for civil rights, abolishing of slavery has definitely made the world a lot better place to live it. He did leave it better than it was, pre-Lincoln time! Moreover personally am impressed and hence inspired with his ability to rise above every failure in life to finally succeed as the President of the United States. Of all capitals in the world, Washington is the most spectacular, with no history to be chained by, it wins with its alacrity to the future, to its ideals. It was literally a blank slate, a green-field capital city, and every monument is a vision to ideals, to a country that takes the values of liberty, equality and fraternity quite literally.