When I went to DC, I thought of it as a place to learn about history from the US, like the Revolution and Civil Wars (boring!). When I went there though, I saw that it was far more than just a place for boring history; it is a hub for the Cold War. As a little kid that knew nothing about the Cold War, I wanted to see more, and I was truly amazed by what had happened not so long ago. DC was the place where I found out what it was truly like to live during one of the scariest parts of our history.

                When I went to DC, I was so excited to see all of the famous sites: the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol building. I saw flags everywhere, and thought “Wow, this is awesome!” When we went to the Spy Museum, I became more excited. At the entrance, I saw hundreds of pictures of famous spies from all parts in modern history. Even though I had no idea who any of these people were, I was still amazed at what I saw. One of the highlights of the museum was seeing the James Bond car up close. I saw all of its amazing gadgets that probably could have been used during the Cold War. Life was difficult for Western agents in the time. They had to secretly hide under car seats so the Russians would not see them (hopefully they were not claustrophobic!). The agents could send coded messages, so the Communists thought it was innocent. Bugs played a very scary, but important role, like the one placed inside the US Embassy in Moscow (that’s freaky!) to spy on Americans

                Thanks to the Spy Museum, I was very interested in the whole period of the Cold War. There were many wars going on at that time, like the Vietnamese, Korean, or Afghan wars. Visiting the memorials for the Vietnam and Korean Wars taught me how serious the wars truly were. In honor of my visiting Cold War sites, we decided to eat food from the Cold War each day (Afghan, Russian, Korean, and Vietnamese. Yum!) and it seemed like I was truly in that country. One of the best parts of the trip was going to sleep and waking up to the History Channel, and watching Cold War movies all of the time. During Vietnam, the US people hated the military being there (which is why the US lost that war) because of how brutal the US was, with napalm, missiles, and Agent Orange. Not all wars are as simple as World War 2 or 1, where there was an enemy and you fought them, instead the Vietnam and modern wars involve much more violence, and a mad public. No wonder people hated getting drafted.

                The Cold War might have had some scary things, like nukes, but at that time I had no idea of these scary weapons, I thought the planes looked cool. Going to the giant, amazing museum of Air and Space, the Smithsonian, I saw tons of planes, rockets, and spaceships, and will, nuclear warheads. I had no idea those things that looked just like a rocket that took you to outer space was actually a weapon that can kill millions. I remember seeing the U2 Spy plane and what it did, and thinking “This is incredible to see something actually used at that time!” Seeing all of the planes everywhere made me incredibly excited, but I was even more excited when I saw the spacecraft and the giant, nice space shuttle in the middle of the room. Some other incredible Cold War planes that caught my eye were the giant, incredible SR71, or the V1 rocket, which the US copied after the war. The realization came to me that these incredible planes could be used to transport Atomic or Nuclear devices to bomb cities. The museum taught me a lot about all sorts of Cold War history, from the interesting and cool space race, to the scary fighters and bombers created in case of war, and the horrifying nuclear devices used only to blow cities up.

                . There is far more to DC than just the War of 1812 and the Revolution. The Cold War might only seem to have history in places like Russia, Korea, or Vietnam, but I assure you, DC and the West have much more history than you would think. There was espionage and all of the gadgets used by agents. It was very different to be a civilian or in the military during the Vietnam and Korean Wars, and the nation was really messed up and divided. The most important thing was all of the spaceships, planes, and missiles used, plus the bunkers and warheads used to spark fear in the world.