Washington DC Day One

Now that we are old pros with the trains and subways up here, we made short work of finding one to take us into Washington DC. We were staying Woodbine Virginia..and when we first got there Jane and I saw a Black Bear and she had three cubs with her...it was so exciting! Woodbine is a little far from Washington, so next time we will stay closer, but for now..this will do. The last train stops in Shady Grove Va. so we decided to choose that one as our on and off..the last train is the easiest...so...off we went to Washington DC... the first stop was the National Mall, this mall is centrally located in Washington, DC, stretching over 2 miles from the Lincoln Memorial on the west end to the U.S. Capitol..which is on the east end. 

The National Mall contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institutions, art galleries, cultural institutions and various memorials, sculptures and statues. Now....I am I'm not a very patriotic person...but to see this and understand how it was built..well I was impressed! For more than 200 years, the National Mall has symbolized our nation and its democratic values, which have inspired the world. The National Mall - the great swath of 1000 acres of green in the middle of our capital city and stretching from the foot of the United States Capitol to the Potomac River - is the premiere civic and symbolic space in our nation. We started at the Capitol and walked to the Lincoln Memorial. First stop was the Washington Memorial. Built to honor George Washington, the United States' first president, the 555-foot marble obelisk towers over Washington, D.C. we could see it from the train station...

 then it was on to the the Reflecting Pool, this pool was modeled after the grand canals at Versailles and Fontainebleau. It was constructed in 1922 and 1923, following the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, it is approximately 2,029 feet long, 167 feet wide, it is very shallow, only 18 inches deep and it holds 6,750,000 gallons of water, I really wanted to put my feet in the pool, but it was so green and slimy...I didn’t. Kinda a let down, but there were a few brave ducks swimming around! 

The 19-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln sits overlooking the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument from his permanent seat on America's Front Yard. Dedicated in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated 57 years after Lincoln died. Abraham Lincoln's contemporaries did not require historical perspective to recognize his monumental impact on the nation. Lincoln not only saved the Union, preserving both its government and boundaries, he reinvigorated the nation's founding principle - that all men are created equal!

we left the Mall and walked downtown to see the White House! You can't get very close anymore and I was surprised, I thought it would be kinda standing off on it's own..but it's not! The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800.  During Thomas Jefferson's presidency, the White House was opened to the public. Not anymore..there were armed guards even on the roof! Each week the White House receives up to 30,000 visitors and 65,000 letters, plus nearly 3,500 phone calls, 100,000 emails, and 1,000 faxes. There is a bowling ally in the basement, Nixon loved to bowl so he added that and there is a  Situation Room, where the president powwows with advisers during crises,  there's a flower shop, carpenter’s shop, and a dentist’s office. You think the president has the time to step out for a filling? I think Not! Here is a interesting fact about the White House, before Theodore Roosevelt, it was as the Executive Mansion..

more to come!