9/11 Activities - the DC Newseum

Yesterday we went down to DC to visit the Newseum, a museum dedicated to the news and the journalists that bring it to us. Normally tickets are $22, but in remembrance of 9/11, they were giving out free tickets for this weekend. Naturally, I was stupid and didn't have my camera charged, so I didn't get all the pictures I wanted, but here is a picture I found at www.travelmuse.com that displays the main feature of the 9/11 exhibit. The twisted metal is the communications antenna that was on top of one of the Twin Towers. Circling it is a timeline with images from that dreadful day. In the background are front page reproductions of newspapers around the world describing the events.


I served as a missionary in New York City for two years and returned home about a year before the attacks. One of my areas was Lower Manhattan; I could see the Twin Towers out of the window of our apartment, and we walked by them regularly. This exhibit at the Newseum was powerful to me. Here I am about 12 years ago.


Other than the 9/11 exhibit, the Newseum has many other excellent exhibits. We got to see a section of the Berlin Wall with all the graffiti:



There is a terrace outside with an excellent view of the Capitol:



We also really enjoyed touring the TV studio where ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour is filmed (although we recognized it from the times we have seen Diane Sawyer broadcasting from there). Probably the most powerful exhibit was on the Pullitzer Prize winning photographs and a similar Pictures of the Year exhibit. We got to be reporters in front of a green screen, although we were disappointed that the story for our chosen location, the Supreme Court, contained nothing more than quick facts about the court and its visiting hours.

Karina did very well at the Newseum, all things considered. She ate right before we went in and we were a a little embarrassed that she kept spitting up onto their floor (sorry janitorial staff)! We also went to a 4-D movie about famous historical journalists where the seats moved around, air blew at you when something was whizzing past you in the movie, etc. Karina was fine through the whole film until at the very end when there were World War II fighter planes flying around shooting at us. The puffs of air corresponding to the bullets scared her and she started crying with fright. The people around us were understanding and thought it was kind of funny (which it was).

The Newseum is very well done and very interesting. Being near DC, we are spoiled with world class free museums through the Smithsonian Institution, so I don't know that it would be worth $22 in admission, but we are glad we got to go for free.