We made a special trip to Washington D.C. to spend some dedicated time in our Nations Capitol. But, I get ahead of myself. So, lets start at the beginning.
We traveled from our New Jersey stop straight through to College Park, Maryland, the location of our campgournd. To get us in a patriotic mood we noticed this sign as we crossed over the Patapsco River. It notes that this is the sight of where Francis Scott Key penned our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner.
Washington DC does not have parking near the famous sites and the street parking is limited to two hours. So, we became experts in the use of the Metro. The first stop we made on our first day using the Metro was the Archives-Navy Memorial stop. The memorial has this beautiful artwork which depicts different aspects of the US Navy...
...around these beautiful fountains! We found an amazing restaurant at this metro stop. It is called Paul, a french bistro which was so good we went back a second time!
We decided to get some good walking exercise and we walked to the West end to visit the various memorials. Naturally, we made a stop at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It is very moving to walk down this granite wall and see the names of all of these courageous soldiers.
We walked the steps to pay homage to our 16th President and visited the Lincoln Memorial. The statue is 19 feet tall and 19 feet wide, made from 8 marble blocks.
We did not walk around the tidal basin to visit the Jefferson Memorial as we were going to make a stop at Monticello, Jefferson's home at our next stop in Virginia. But we did get a nice view of it.
We stopped at the newest memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It is a very inspirational sight with the large sculpture of Martin Luthur King with quotes of this great man, etched in slabs of marble that surround the statue.
The most lifelike memorial is the new Korean War Memorial. You feel like you have been dropped into Korea and actually feel the cold climate as you gaze at the sculptures of this troop.
You can't miss the imposing Washington Monument, the tallest structure in the City. Sad to say, due to the damage from the recent earthquake, the Monument has been closed indefinitely. But we did catch this beautiful photo just as the sun was setting.
One of the highlights of our visit was the tour of the White House. We had a 7:00 AM tour. Yup, that's the first one of the day. We got there at 6:30 as you have to be there 15 minutes early. Luckily we started a conversation with a couple who were standing against a wall. A little after 7 the US Park Ranger came out and had everyone line up against the wall we were standing against. We ended up being 6th in line. There is a lot of security. You go through a security check when you apply for the tour weeks before you arrive. Just before the entrance to the White House each person in line had their paperwork and identification reviewed by the Secret Service. When the line started moving there were literally hundreds of people in the line behind us and it moved very slowly.
We saw the State Dining Room which seats 130 guests, the Red, Blue (where President Cleveland married) and Green Rooms. The China room displays pieces of china and glass used by the Presidents. The East room is the largest room in the White House where Lincoln's coffin was viewed by thougsands of mourners (sad events) as well as the scene of Lynda Bird Johnson's wedding (happy events). You cannot bring in anything: no cameras, no handbags or purses, but they do let you bring in cell phones but photos are prohibited and there are secret service agents in every room. So I have no photos of the interior. But, the highlight of the White House stop was...
...that we got to pet the "First Dog!" The dog walker opened a door and asked us to come over. Mark jokingly asked him if he needed help. He said "no, but you two got here so early the least I can do is let you pet Bo." Our highlight of the White House Tour!!
That's it for the outdoors tour. Next update: there's more to see in Washington D.C.
We saw the State Dining Room which seats 130 guests, the Red, Blue (where President Cleveland married) and Green Rooms. The China room displays pieces of china and glass used by the Presidents. The East room is the largest room in the White House where Lincoln's coffin was viewed by thougsands of mourners (sad events) as well as the scene of Lynda Bird Johnson's wedding (happy events). You cannot bring in anything: no cameras, no handbags or purses, but they do let you bring in cell phones but photos are prohibited and there are secret service agents in every room. So I have no photos of the interior. But, the highlight of the White House stop was...
1 comment:
Lived in Fairfax,VA in the early 1980s when I played with the Smithsonian Chamber Players. I know how much you crammed into your visit to DC! Wow - great coverage. That being said, you missed the Kennedy Center! Do think the Korean Memorial was one of the most moving for us. Thanks for the good memories!
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