The train trip was long and I kept falling asleep. After passing through New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware and Maryland we eventually arrived at Washington DC. We had spoiled ourselves with a suite hotel very close to the national mall, but were both amazed by how comfortable our suite is!
We wasted no time crossing the street to the mall. A brief stop at the Smithsonian visitors center and a whirlwind tour of one level of the museum of American History (more on Saturday…) and then we decided to see the sites.
That’s midway between the Capitol Building (yes, spelled with an ‘o’) and the Washington Monument. We decided to leave the Capitol until later and headed to the impressive monument.
It’s so tall! Much taller than we ever thought, and very impressive from any distance. Here’s a shot of KLS at the base showing the sheer size:
As we were there a US government helicopter kept flying over doing brief return flights from just south of the monument to the White House lawn. I wonder who he was transporting?
Continuing west along the mall led to the reflecting pool. We walked the length. The entire area is beautiful and well kept and very tourist friendly. This is a good thing, since there are more tourists here than I’ve ever seen in a US city. Here’s a look back from the western edge of the pool.
Turning around after taking the above photo you see this:
This is the Lincoln Memorial, which is also much bigger than either of us expected. This massive building contains just one thing really: the famous statue of Abraham Lincoln:
Don’t assume from the above shot that this was an unpopular attraction. Quite the contrary! Of course everyone wanted to pose with Lincoln, and I noted that almost all of them were tourists. I guess he’s an inspiration to everyone 🙂
We then headed back east and then north from the monument to a certain residence. Here it is:
We had to pose for a shot with The President (he’s waving at the camera from the window):
Security here was impressive. Four strong fences separate the public from The White House and a multitude of security vehicles and personnel are visible all around. I find this a little sad, but I suppose it is necessary in today’s world.
Have you ever seen such variety in an ice cream truck?!?
The next two days we’re going to visit several of the Smithsonian museums. I wonder what wonders we’ll see?
