DC TRIP: The White House Visitor Center

When I wrote my Senator requesting a White House tour, I was told , "Even with the best preparation, White House tours are extremely rare. Approximately 80,000 visitors apply for 3,000 tour slots per day." That seems a bit of an exaggreration to me. Anyway, we failed to score one, and had to settle for a look inside the White House Visitor Center, a couple of blocks away. 

The coolest thing about it is this table, where you can get a virtual tour of many of the rooms (more than you see on the real tour, I believe). You can pan around 360 degrees to see the whole room, and even up and down to see the ceiling and floor. And for each room, there are several old photos showing you what it looked like at various times in the past. 

There's also a small museum, with a few things I found of interest.

Hiawatha himself

This gilded copper eagle, says the card, may be the original that perched on the White House flagpole from 1899 to 1993, when it was replaced by duplicate.

 This busty brass and iron andiron flanked the Blue Room fireplace at least far back as 1902.

 An exhibit showing what several Presidents ate spilled these interesting beans.
I'm sure Davy would approve.

DC TRIP: More Planes . . .

Lockheed XP-80 Lulu-Belle

Prototype for America's First Practical Jet Airplane

. . . from the Air and Space Museum. 

Charles Lindbergh's Lockheed Model 8 Sirius Tingmissartog

Messerschmitt Me 262

World's First Operational Jet Fighter

Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1 Glamourous Glennis

First plane to break the sound barrier (1947)

ditto

Bell XP-59A Airacomet

DC TRIP: Killer Spy Gadgets (Part 2)

DC TRIP: The Spirit of St. Louis

One of the cooler crates we saw at the Air and Space Museum. I'd like to have this baby parked in my back yard. 

DC TRIP: The Battle of Gettysburg (in miniature)

The Gettysburg diorama, in downtown G'burg, says it features over 20,000 hand-painted soldiers. Could be. I didn't count them. Heck, they're so small I could hardly see them. They might be as big as 1/72 scale, but it was hard to tell.

The diorama, which is the size of five or six ping pong tables, purports to accurately represent the entire battlefield. That may be true, except for the "entire" part. They'd need two or three more ping pong tables to feature all the important areas of the battle. Still, it does provide a good bird's eye view of the overall lay of the land in a way you can't get on the field itself.

I took photos of various scenes to show you how they look with the naked eye, then blew up a few details to give you a squint at the figures. I know these pics leave a lot to be desired, but I'm surprised they came out even this good. 

Little Round Top

More Little Round Top

The Devil's Den

The Railroad Cut

Cemetary Hill

Oddly, this scene depicts a cavalry skirmish, when there was no such encounter anywhere on the battlefield proper. The nearest thing, between troopers under J.E.B. Stuart and G.A. Custer, took place several miles away.

More Cemetary Hill

DC TRIP: Guns for Young Spies

The International Spy Museum's collection of spy toys includes this arsenal. The Marx tin litho Sub-Machine gun at the bottom also resides in my collection, though in slightly less pristine condition. 

Forgotten Books: THE BODY LOOKS FAMILIAR / THE LATE MRS. FIVE by Richard Wormser

Last week, while reading the new Stark House edition of these novels, I posted Bill Crider's fine Introduction (that's HERE). Now that I've read them, the best I can say is, "Bill was right!" 

I read The Late Mrs. Five first, because I was in the mood for first person, and it really hit the spot. As Bill noted, there were several likeable characters. In fact, just about all of them, including the antogonists, were likeable, which is quite an accomplishment. Wormser swatted his hero with a fistful of trouble, and just when it looked like his predicament could get no worse -- it got a way, way, way worse. 

The author was clearly having fun with narration, and I was too. There were plenty of witty and creative lines, and they seemed to get more plentiful as the story rolled on. And just when I thought I'd figured out where the story was going, it went somewhere else. And then somewhere else. Great job.

After taking time out for another of Will Murray's latest Doc Savage adventures, The Valley of Eternity, which was another great read (stay tuned for details), I turned to The Body Looks Familiar. 

As Bill said, not only are The Late Mrs. Five and The Body Looks Familiar about as different as two mysteries can be, The Body Looks Familiar is about as different as a mystery can get. It features two despicable protagonists doing their best to destroy each other, and a couple of well-meaning minor characters who represent the redeeming qualities of the human race. It's an intricate game of back-stabbling chess, in which the Deputy D.A. commits a murder in hopes of framing his arch rival, the Deputy Chief of Police. Innocent bystanders are advised to stand clear, because these guys are taking no prisoners. 

Right from the start, I had no idea where this one was going, and it kept me wondering right up to the end. If I enjoyed it a bit less than Mrs. Five, it was due to the unlikeability factor, but it was a unique experience I would not have wanted to miss.