The day after the end of the summer term, 25 Old Palace students and four staff descended on Washington DC for a joint Art, History & Politics trip, ably led by Mrs. Broad.
Things got off to a challenging start with the NATO conference causing road closures that meant the coach could not reach the hotel, resulting in everyone getting the metro into town with suitcases and then walking 20 minutes in a torrential summer downpour to reach our accommodation!
Things went much more smoothly thereafter, and we took full advantage of Washington’s phenomenal array of sights, museums, and galleries.
Clocking up 25,000 steps a day, we visited: the Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial & Washington Monument, the Library of Congress, Arlington Cemetery, the Smithsonian Museums of Art and History, the National Portrait Gallery, the African American History Museum, the Air & Space Museum, the Hirshhorn and Renwick Galleries, and the Zoo!
At the Smithsonian, we even got a special guided tour of the democracy exhibit from Dr. Jon Grinspan, the curator of Political History and a friend of Dr. Furniss’s, who was delighted and amazed by the quality and quantity of questions our group of British students asked about American history and Politics!
Throughout the whole week, Mrs. Broad, Mrs. Smith, Dr. Furniss and Mr. Taruwona could not have been more impressed with the students’ stamina, interest, enthusiasm and ability to prevent Mr. Taruwona getting lost!
They really earned their evening shopping and bowling outings! It’s safe to say that everyone returned very happy and exhausted after a wonderful trip.