Washington D.C.

After all the fun and games in Florida it was time to do a bit of serious sight-seeing again and the next destination was the capital city. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 effectively merged the City and the Territory into a single entity called the District of Columbia. It is for this reason that the city, while legally named the District of Columbia, is known as Washington, D.C. The District has a resident population of 599,657 however, because of commuters from the surrounding suburbs, its population rises to over one million during the workweek.

We were looking forward to getting into the city and we got off the subway right in the heart of it at the Smithsonian stop located in The Mall area. As soon as we exited the subway we were greeted with the sight of the Washington Monument to our left and Capitol Hill to our right. We headed first for the monument that is located in the huge National Mall and Memorial Park. This is a great location that is extremely well thought out and brilliantly maintained and attracts 24 million visitors per year!

We spent a good few hours having a look around. The first place that we went to was the Washington Monument. This monument was built to commemorate the first President of the United States. It is made of marble, granite, and sandstone and is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk (a tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top), standing 555 feet 5⅛ inches (169.294 m). The construction of the monument began in 1848 but was not completed until 1884, almost 30 years after the architect's death due to various reasons including a lack of funds, and the intervention of the American Civil War. A difference in shading of the marble, visible approximately 150 feet (46 m or 27%) up, shows where construction was halted for a number of years.


Next up was the U.S. National World War II Memorial dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as civilians during World War II. Consisting of 56 pillars and a pair of arches surrounding a plaza and fountain, it is located at the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. It opened to the public on April 29, 2004, and was dedicated by President George W. Bush on May 29, 2004, two days before Memorial Day.

The pillars are 17 feet (5 m) tall and each pillar is inscribed with the name of one of the 48 U.S. states of 1945, as well as the District of Columbia, the Alaska Territory and Territory of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The northern arch is inscribed with "Atlantic"; the southern one, "Pacific."

One of the most touching features is that of the Freedom Wall. The Freedom Wall is on the west side of the memorial, with a view of the Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial behind it. The wall has 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war.


It was then onto the Reflecting Pool. The reflecting pool is a long rectangular pool approximately 2,029 feet (618 m) long and 167 feet (51 m) wide. It has a depth of approximately 18 inches (46 cm) on the sides and 30 inches (76 cm) in the center. It holds approximately 25,500,000L of water. This pool is iconic to Washington and is instantly recognisable from the many films Washington has been featured in. It was constructed in 1923, following the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial.









From here it was on to the end of this huge stretch of garden and the Lincoln Memorial awaits. This was built along with the Reflecting Pool to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963


The park also had some really great memorials to all those that were lost in the Vietnam and Korean wars as well as Constitution Gardens. This is a memorial on a small island on the lake to honour the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

After spending a while here it was time to head into the city centre in search of the White House. The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. It was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style. It was previously known as “President's Palace,” the “President's House,” and the “Executive Mansion.” until President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly stated that it was simply just a white house and had it engraved on his stationery in 1901.

















After taking in the White House we headed back towards the Mall area to check out another few memorials to former Presidents. First up was Franklin Roosevelt.

Dedicated on May 2, 1997 by President Bill Clinton, the monument, spread over 7.5 acres (30,000 m2), traces 12 years of the history of the United States through a sequence of four outdoor rooms, one for each of FDR's terms of office. Sculptures inspired by photographs depict the 32nd president alongside his dog Fala. Other sculptures depict scenes from the Great Depression, such as listening to a fireside chat on the radio and waiting in a bread line. A bronze statue of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt standing before the United Nations emblem honors her dedication to the UN. It is the only presidential memorial to depict a First Lady.

Running water is an important physical and metaphoric component of the memorial. Each of the four "rooms" representing Roosevelt's respective terms in office contains a waterfall. As one moves from room to room, the waterfalls become larger and more complex, reflecting the increasing complexity of a presidency marked by the vast upheavals of economic depression and world war.

















The Roosevelt memorial was by far the most impressive and the next memorial to George Mason was a lot simpler. This memorial commemorates the contributions of George Mason, an important American Founder who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and served as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Mason is often thought of as the "forgotten Founder."

Mason, an Anti-Federalist did not sign the United States Constitution because it did not abolish the slave trade and because he did not think it had necessary protection for the individual from the federal government. Despite the simplicity it was still a beautiful wee garden with a pond in the middle and as you walk in you can see George Mason sitting on a park bench opposite so we were able to get our photo with him.

















The Thomas Jefferson Memorial was the last memorial we would visit. Thomas Jefferson is one of America's Founding Fathers and the third president of the United States. Construction began in 1939 and was completed in 1943. The bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947.









We then headed back to the Mall as it was nearing the end of the day and the last stop would be The United States Capitol. The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the Federal government of the United States.