Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Just had a once in a lifetime celebration of 4th July in Washington DC! This event is akin to Singapore's National Day Parade, but MUCH BETTER, becuz the celebration is free for ALL PUBLIC, not like Spore still need to ballot for tickets, and me as a Singaporean who has stayed in the country for 24 years, did not even have a chance to attend NDP on 9 Aug. As usual, only a selected few and the more privileged members of the garment can attend. A pity we missed the Independence Day Celebration in DC last year as we were in Montreal, but I remember there was also a nice funfair and parachuting performance at Montreal's Bayside!
Anyway, we missed out the parade in the morning as I overslept, so we parked our car at the Metro Station before making our way to National Mall via the train. We were worried that the car would get stuck in traffic and due to many road closures, we tot taking public transport would be a better option. That day was really hot, temp shot up to 35 degree celsius. Think Merryland and DC are badly hit by a jialat heat wave, these two days will reach up to 38 degree celsius!! My gosh...better keep ourselves indoor and properly hydrated. And lucky our apartment is fully air conditioned, can blast all day.
The fireworks display was really spectacular, lasting about 20 minutes. We started "chopping" a good place to take photos right at the edge of the reflection pool so Cha can take fireworks pictures with the Washington Monument as the backdrop. Good pictures came with a price though, as we started sitting in the sun and heat from 6pm onwards, and as sun sets around 8:30pm in summer, my head was hurting really badly towards the later part of the day. So much so that I feel like vomiting into the pool from the pain. But the fireworks and the celebratory mood in DC were well worth it. Fireworks was generous and grand, and everyone was either laying on the ground leisurely or sitting on the picnic mat to enjoy the display with the accompanying soft music. We feel that the fireworks could be better choreographed, with a more consistent theme, and more could be done to improve the "spoiled" fireworks, as any firework that failed to open up will affect the quality of the photographs. The best advantage from our spot was that the fireworks were released from the reflection pool from where we were seated, the displays were so big and near us that they seemed to explode right over our head! Was really impressive and unforgettable. The only bad thing was that the thunderous sound of the fireworks made my headache even worse :( Not to mention the long walk to the metro station with the gigantic crowds, lucky we are true Singaporeans, so we can squeeze in the first train pretty fast..hehe..
Labels: Fireworks, Independence Day, Washington DC
12:48 PM
