Touristas!!!

13 Oct 09—The Washington DC Metro is a great subway system. And they have a great map that they pass out explaining not only how to use it but what station to get off to see what tourist site/sites. Cathy and I drove to the Metro parking lot, (only about 4 miles from the base), got on the train with little to no trouble, and headed straight to the Mall where the Washington Monument/Lincoln Memorial etc., are. We started at the Washington Monument, and spent the day walking all over the area (I am sure we got our 10,000 steps in today), and taking pictures. That is me holding up the monument. (I think if you click on any of the pictures, you can enlarge them.)

Although you don’t necessarily see them right away, on either side of the reflecting pool is the Korean War, Vietnam War, WW I and WWII Memorials.

We didn’t have tickets to go up into the Monument, but I did get a website to access to secure tickets. They say that if you come during tourist season you would have to order tickets 1-2 months in advance, but we can go on-line and hopefully get them for the next day. The next few days are supposed to be raining, so I hope we have time next week to go again and go to the top of it before we leave.

I was most impressed by the Lincoln memorial and the WWII Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial is absolutely majestic!

The seated Lincoln is 19 ft high and 19 feet wide, and made of 28 marble blocks.

To the left of where he is sitting, the Gettysburg Address is etched into the wall, and to the right is his 2nd Inaugural Address. The 36 columns around the memorial represent the 36 states in the Union at that time of his presidency and I don’t know if you will be able to see it in the picture, but above him there is a band of etched names of the 48 states that were part of the country at the time the memorial was dedicated (1922). Interestingly, Massachusetts is dead center over his head.

The WWII Memorial is also quite impressive. (I had amovie of it on my camera, but I can't upload it for some reason.) I guess we are all more familiar with the Vietnam Memorial because it has been there longer, but I was more impressed with the grandeur of the WII Memorial… it was only dedicated in 2004. The memorial has large columns left and right depicting the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of operation, the names of all the states and territories that took part in the war, a large pool with waterfall at the center that you walk down to, and all along the walls are carvings of events that were prominent at that time, like people selling war bonds, boys selling newspapers, soldiers lining up to do something, etc. When we were there a large tour group of WWII vets were there, most in wheelchairs, and I found myself quite moved. It seems a disgrace that it took us so long to build this.