What a wonderful trip I had with my son, Derek in Washington, DC. The last time that I was here was well over thirty years ago when I was in the fifth grade. The mall has changed a lot since then, as well as the security at some of the sites.
The White House is completely unapproachable. I remember taking a tour bus right in front of it then, but now you can't get within a quarter mile of it. A shame.
The Capitol can be viewed from the outside, but you have to send a letter to your congress person for tickets to go inside. In fact, I happened to sit next to my congressman, Thaddeus McCotter (R- Livonia, MI) on the return flight. He was very friendly and told me to stop by his office before my next trip and that he'd make sure I got some passes to come in.
I'm going to be making a lot of posts on this trip as I saved over 300 photos (and took nearly 1000) during the five days that we spent there. I hope that you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed this trip! Click on any of the photos for a larger view.
This is the base of one of the flag posts that surround the memorial. It has the emblem of every branch of service at its base.
Located directly between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, the World War Two memorial pays homage to both the founder and preserver of our great union. This is the view looking to the west...
...and to the east...
This quote is from the famous "Day that will live in infamy" speech. I must say that I am amazed that the final four words from FDR's speech "SO HELP US GOD" were omitted (in some misguided attempt at political correctness, I suppose).
This arch to the south represents the Pacific Theatre. Its identical northern counterpart represents the Atlantic theatre.
These eagles laying a wreath are inside the arches.
There are 4,000 gold stars. One for every 100 lives lost in the war.
There is a column for every state and territory of America during the war. This one is from my home state.
A photo of my son, Derek, my the fountain.
3 comments:
"I remember taking a tour bus right in front of it then, but now you can't get within a quarter mile of it."
In other words, you're kept "out of conventional firearms range." :-)
BTW, Livonia is the town I was trying to think of when we spoke. My aunt used to live there and I visited a few times.
Looks like you had a good time. D.C. was one of the worst family vacations ever because my folks just wanted to look, they didn't want to DO anything. It drove me nuts. Why go 1000 miles just to look at buildings you can see on TV? I wanted to go in and look around, but they weren't into it. This was during the Carter years, so the high security stuff wasn't happening. The good thing was that we had no relatives there to deal with, though.
Tim, may I know where you stayed when you were at Washington DC?
I was making plans to visit NYC next month. I have been to NYC previously. Washington DC seems interesting. I haven't been there yet.
Which hotel would you recommend?
Shyue chou, I stayed at the Sheraton Four Points, located on K street and 12th. I fine property. Not too expensive, I think it was around $110-120 a night. I got a very good deal through NWA vacations- Airfare for two from Detroit and 5 nights hotel for $1200. I'm sure your airfare will be the killer! All the way from Singapore. There is plenty of dining and you are within 2 miles walk from nearly every attraction.
Public transportation is easy to use and will get you to Arlington and the USMC (Iwo Jima) memeorial 8 miles away.
I love NYC, but this is a great change of pace. NYC is very different in feel. DC is much more stately and the gravitas of the beautiful architecture create a vibe much different from the big apple.
I'm going to be posting more pics ver soon, just been busy at work, so stay tuned
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