spring break photo diary

Playing: Hurricane-MisterWives
Reading: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck (Amazing book!)

Instead of heading back home over spring break, I took a trip along the East Coast with a group of friends, stopping off at Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Unfortunately, I was sick for most of Washington D.C. and Baltimore. However, I really enjoyed Philadelphia. It wasn't my first time there as I've been there twice before, but I had just forgotten how beautiful Philadelphia can be. On the second day we were there, we visited the Philadelphia Art Museum and walked along the Schuylkill River Trail and wow, it was beyond stunning. The classical style of the Fairmount Water Works and museum buildings contrasted with the modern skyline is just a beautiful sight to see. Baltimore has a more subtle sense of beauty and wonderment than Philly has. Its landmarks and tourist spots aren't as well known and obvious in terms of importance to American history, but it was rare jewels like the American Visionary Art Museum that made me enjoy my time there. The AVAM felt like a collection of relics from my childhood, represented by glittering objects and animated folk art.

Picture: 1-DC War Memorial, 2-Fort McHenry, 3-AVAM, 4-Fairmount Water Works, 5-Honeygrow, 6-Meeting Kazuo Ishiguro at the Free Library, 7-Philadelphia City Hall

Quick Trips to Washington, D.C.

Playing: No Phun Intended (Whole Album)-Tyler Joseph
Reading: Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Way back in October, I took a weekend trip down to visit my brother, Ted, in Washington, D.C. I haven't been to D.C. for around six years now and I have to apologize to D.C. for not liking it the first time I visited. This time around D.C. felt cleaner than last time and I loved the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's aquatic section. I'm not sure if it's because I like aquatic things in general or if it's because it was actually of exceptional quality though.

Walking around the National Mall, I found this little fountain and sitting area next to the old Smithsonian Institution Building that was rather quaint. I liked this little pocket of beauty in the middle of the area.

The Smithsonian "Castle" was closed the day I went unfortunately, so I couldn't go inside. However, it was nice to walk around the lovely gardens and I enjoyed looking at the actual building, which is rather impressive. Lately, I've been into castles and such probably as a distraction from my finals. I mean, why study for finals when there's a documentary on Chatsworth on Netflix and you have easy access to Wikipedia?

My brother and I took a quick day trip to Baltimore, MD to check out the National Aquarium. Although it was nice, my brother and I both thought it was overpriced considering the tickets cost more than the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA and we both think the one in Long Beach is much nicer. They do have larger animals, at the one in Baltimore though, like dolphins and such. How pretty is this jellyfish ceiling decoration? I wouldn't mind putting up something like this in my home.

The main reason for my trip down was to see Bastille's The Last Stand concert. I was kind of disappointed by the performance because the audience was seriously low energy and not many people were singing along aside from "Pompeii" and "Bad Blood." Maybe it's because I've been getting used to general admission concerts, but something about stadium seating makes it hard to get into the concert. I also felt like Dan Smith didn't interact with the audience that much except for a few awkward attempts at dancing. I usually find awkward dancing extremely endearing (Examples? I love Andrew McMahon's and Forrest Kline's dance moves). However, I didn't feel the same towards Bastille and I'm not quite sure why. Anyways, sorry for being an extraordinarily lazy blogger, but I really ought to try harder to keep this up. I've been blogging for close to six years, so I feel a sense of obligation towards the site.