Harry was very patient with me as we walked on the streets of D.C. today as I stopped at every statue and plaque to read the inscriptions.
We visited the Newseum today and will return tomorrow. It is an enormous building whose architecture keeps distracting you from the exhibits. We were struck that there were not many people there today given that it is high on the list of Washington attractions. But I guess that will change as we get closer to the Inauguration
The museum is jam packed with wonderful exhibits on all aspects of news delivery and artifacts of the stories themselves such as the UNABOMBER Ted Kaczynski's cabin, Tim Russert’s office, and Thomas Paine’s trunk. There are newspapers from the beginning of print to the present day wonderfully displayed for your perusal.
The film in the exhibit on Pulitzer Prize winning photographs had the photographers themselves taking about the work. There were three good films about different aspects of journalism. There is a 4D theater, that is 3D plus moving seats. The 3D was pretty good with various historical news events coming at you encased in transparent bubbles. The film looked at historical events through the eyes and words of the photojournalists who reported the story. First up was Isaiah Thomas of the Massachusetts Spy describing the Battle of Lexington that was reenacted in the landscape of old Lexington. It was so well done that this particular Lexington History junky couldn’t find fault with the depiction.
And that is only a description of the one half of the museum we managed to digest today. More about the Museum tomorrow. Harry is particularly looking forward to the exhibit on “First Dogs”.
Some pictures from today: