Day 8 (DC Trip - Part II)

Day 8 (DC Trip - Part II) Thursday, October 11, 2012

We are lucky to make the reservation to tour Bureau of Engraving and Printing, through Sam, my personal choir friend, who has been working there for 30+ years, otherwise; we would have to wait in the long line like all other tourists.  This is another history class about how U.S. currency was made.  The establishment of BEP can be traced as far back as August 29, 1862 when currency urgently needed to pay the costs of the Civil War.  We learned how the dollar bill was decoded and crowded with many numbers and letters that help the U.S. Treasury track the printing errors and authenticate currency.  The complicated features make it difficult for counterfeiters to reproduce fake bills.  The whole one hour’s tour was quite informative.  I didn’t even know that BEP has printed currency for the government of the Republic of Cuba (1934), Korea (1947) and the Philippines (1928).  The Bureau was reimbursed by each government for all work connected with the printing of the currency.  Interesting!   We made the arrangement to have lunch with Sam to thank his special services for us.  We were so lucky to eat at Department of Agriculture’s vast cafeteria across from BEP.  This agency’s food selection was quite appetizing and appealing.  Again Sam’s connection with Federal Government made it easy, otherwise; we would have hard time to find the place to eat.  I also purchased some souvenirs at the gift shop with 20% off through Sam’s privilege as BEP employee.

More of DC walking tour around Tidal basin – Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, Martin Luther King Junior Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial, all were interesting and enlightening. Shinyee, Jia-her and I meandered through the museums and monolithic sculpture and memorial Parks and took pictures of things that they thought were interesting.  LI-Juan and Shy-Hwui decided to just sit outside of Lincoln Memorial and soak in the unusual bright sunny October day in DC.  We know museums really can't be appreciated in one day. There is just too much to see and our brains can only take in so much information in one sitting.  It was just overwhelmed us; “sensory overload.” I called it.  This kind of museum visit makes my head spin and kind of makes me anxious, but in a good way; because I was able to introduce them so much historical stuff that I have learned when I  live here for more than 30 years.  We met up with Ben who helped us drive around the White House and Capital Hill areas by car.  We were dead-beat tired.  The security is too tight these days.  It’s not easy to tour these landmarks like it used to be before 911 terror incident.     

       

        

Tonight’s farewell party is hosted by Peter Yang, ’70 Electrical Engineering, NCKU and his wife, Susan.  We will be leaving tomorrow to stay at the resort, Flagship, Atlantic City for 7 days.  Their hospitality to throw a party for us warms our heart.  Look at how we enjoyed their home-grown vegetables.