May 6th - Washington Monument

The Washington Monument

Harold and Joyce are amazing people. We are all seniors, but they hold the most seniority in our group. As such, they put us to shame as they have TONS more energy than all four of the rest of us put together!!! Entrance to everything in Washington is free, but for some of the more popular events, which also require viewing in smaller groups, you have to stand in line early in the morning for "timed" tickets. We all agreed that we should go up inside the Washington Monument, but that meant we had to have tickets. In order to co-ordinate the rest of our day, our tickets should really be for earlier in the morning. Ergo, we should be in line REALLY early in order to get early tickets. Hmmmm? Of course, that meant getting up even EARLIER, to catch the bus and subway in order to get to the line like an early bird. Dear, sweet Harold and Joyce offered to get up and hit the road early in order to allow the rest of us to arrive at our leisure at 9:30 AM for the tour of the monument. They did; we did; and we were on the 10:00 AM tour, which was just perfect!!!!

Excerpt from the NPS Brochure:

"Among the founders of the United States, George Wshington alone earned the title "Father of his Country," in recognition of his leadership in the cause of American independence. In 1775 he molded a fighting force that won independence from Great Britain. In 1787, as president of the Constitutional Convention, he helped guide the deliberations to form a governmnet that has lasted over two centuries.

In 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected the first president of the United States. Washington defined the presidency and helped develop the relationships among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. He established precedents that successfully launched the new government on its course. President Washington remianed ever mindful of the ramifications of his decisions and actions, for he was a consumate statesman. With this monument the citizens of the United States show their enduring gratitude and respect."

"The Washington Monument, at 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches, towers over everything in the Nation's Capital and remeinds us of the immensity of George Washington's contribution to this republic. The monument resembles a classic Egyptian obelisk and has little in common with the colonnaded temple originally designed by Rober Mills to house statues of Washington and other American heroes. The cornerstone was laid July 4, 1848, in a ceremony attended by President James K. Polk and other dignitaries, among whom were representatives Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. The monument rose steadily to 156 feet, financed by popular subscriptions collected by the Washinton National Monument Society. Construction stopped in 1858 due to lack of funding. It stood unfinished for over 18 years, until President Ulysses S. Grant, in 1876, approved an act authorizing the federal government to complete the project. In 1878, Lt. Col. Thomas Casey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, took control, simplified the design by Mills, and resumed construction. In December 1884, a 3,300 pound marble capstone was placed on the obelisk and topped with a 9-inch pyramid of cast aluminum, a rare metal in 1884. The monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885."

It takes 70 seconds to ride to the 500-foot level from which you have some of the most spectacular views in Washington. Usually you can walk either up or down the stairs inside the monument, but they are closed right now for preservation purposes. It seems that people's bodily persperation was causing too much moisture insde the tower and it was degrading the surfaces!!!! They now stop the elevator a couple of times during the descent so that you can view a few of the 195 memorial stones embedded in the walls of the interior of the monument.

You sat on these benches until your ticket time was called, and then you proceeded inside the monument where you had to go through the usual security.

The National Cathedral

The Pentagon

The Tide Pool with the Jefferson Monument and the Potomac River behind.

In the distance you can see the White House. In this zoomed in photo below, you can see that they were waiting for the President to come out for some ceremony or presentation.

Looking straight down the Reflecting Pool, over the World War II Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial.

Some Miscellaneous Washington Things

Washington is an amazing place. I'm sure that to the people who live there, it is as ordinary as our own cities are, but to a foreign visitor, it is a continual feast of amazing things to look at. We never did get close to the White House, but through the zoom lens of my camera, I was able to get some great shots of it from various vantage points around the city. Also, just about everywhere you look, there is a monument, statue or some elegant old building to look at. There are peaceful parks scattered everywhere throughout the city. Old and new mix together with no great separations. The most visible presence, as I have said before, are the security police guarding everything of intrinsic and real value to the American people. One thing 9-11 did for sure, was create a serious new level of employment in Washington!!!! I think there are now almost as many security personnel as there are tourists!!!

I haven't researched the places and things in the photos on this page. They are just things that caught my attention as we were wandering around the city. Some of them are familiar.... like the White House, of course!!!

World War I Memorial

We never did figure out why this helicopter landed right in the middle of the street.
Union Station. This is where we bought the tour tickets for the shuttle buses. What a great building. We took the bus from the RV park, then took the subway down to Union Station. We never even got lost once.....well, not for long anyway! Coming home one day, we did all get off and leave Harold still on the train!!!! We were heading home and all of a sudden, they announced that the train wasn't stopping at our stop, and we had to get off one stop sooner and transfer to the next train! We quickly gathered everyone (so we thought) and got off, only to realize that Harold was NOT with us. We scattered out along the subway station and waited for the next train from the opposite direction to come in.....we hoped that he would have realized what had happened, and would come back. It became really funny, once we had him back in the fold, but it was quite concerning while he was "missing".

May 6th - Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials by Day

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

I wrote about this monument previously when we first saw it during our evening tour. I would just like to add a few comments that I have taken from the NPS brochure you get at the monument:
"Thomas Jefferson--political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor, and third President of the United States--looms large in any discussion of who Americans are as a people. Jefferson left to the future not only ideas but also a great body of practical achievements. President John F. Kennedy recognized Jefferson's accomplishments when he told a gathering of American Nobel Prize winners that they were the greatest assemblage of talent in the White House since Jefferson had dined there alone. With his strong beliefs in rights of man and a government derived from the people, in freedom of religion, and the separation between church and state, and in education available to all, Thomas Jefferson struck a chord for human liberty more than 200 years ago that resounds through the centuries. In the end, Jefferson's own appraisal of his life, and the one that he wrote for use on his own tombstone, suffices: "Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statue of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." The Cornerstone of the Monument
I put this picture here sort of as a "note" on one of the new features of Washington, D.C.--the constant surveillance by the authorities. One of the "gifts" of the terrorists of September 11, 2001.

TThe Lincoln Memorial
Waiting for Harold and Joyce, and trying to decide where to go next!!! The Memorial is surrounded by a wire construction fence. I think this is due to work that is taking place around the Monument, not for security.
So IMPOSING!!!! As with the Thomas Jefferson Monument, I wrote about this after our evening tour. Again, I would just like to quote a few words from the NPS brochure:
"Lincoln--the Man
Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He became the 16Th President of the United States, leading his country through its greatest trial, the Civil War. His life was full of personal tragedy and disappointment, but his belief in the principles of the Declaration of Independence and his experience gained as a state legislator, lawyer, and Congressman, along with a whimsical sense of humor, gave him the strength to endure. Throughout his political career Lincoln strove to maintain the ideal of the nation's founders. He saw slavery as hypocritical for a nation founded on the principle that "all men are created equal." In an 1854 speech Lincoln said: "I hate it (slavery) because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world--enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites." As President he used the power of the office to preserve the Union. In freeing the slaves Lincoln left a legacy to freedom that is one of the most enduring birthrights Americans possess."
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.
Anyone who has been here will understand the feeling you get while standing in the presence of this magnificent monument, dedicated to an outstanding human.

May 5th - FDR Memorial by Day

Franklin Delanor Roosevelt Memorial

Excerpt from the NPS brochure from the Memorial:

"In his 1941 State of the Union address, as the nation prepared for World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spelled out "Four Freedoms" as a reminder of why Americans were fighting. From the days of his first presidential campaign during the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt spoke directly to the people. "I pledge you, I pledge myself," he said in his 1932 acceptance speech, "to a new deal for the American people." Four years later he proclaimed that "this generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." As president from 1933-1945, he addressed the American people by radio in what came to be known as fireside chats. Each idea, each phrase was underscored by courage and optimism that inspired no less in the people he served.

Long after Roosevelt's death his own words call out from the walls of his memorial as though he were somehow present. Those who know FDR only as a historical figure will recognize these words by their association with great and catastrophic events. For those who lived through the Roosevelt era, the words recall 12 years of personal struggles and triumphs."

On the May 4th page of the blog, I have given more details of the FDR Monument.

This statue represents the men who stood in line during the Great Depression. Lines for work, lines for food, lines for handouts.... it was a desperate time for family men, and that desperation is graphically portrayed here.
This scene depicts a man listening to his radio and one of FDR's fireside chats.

Time for a little "sit-me-down".
Some of the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin, just down from the FDR Memorial. The ones below are some of the original trees donated as a gift of friendship to the United States from the people of Japan in 1912. In Japan the flowering cherry tree or "Sakura", as it is called by the Japanese people, is one of the most exalted flowering plants. The beauty of the cherry blossom is a potent symbol equated with evanescence of human life and epitomizes the transformations Japanese Culture has undergone through the ages.

In total, Japan donated over 5,000 cherry trees to Washington. The first 2,000 trees had to be destroyed due to an infestation. Japan then sent a further 3,020 trees which were planted around the Tidal Pool and in other locations in Washington.
March 27, 1912: First Lady Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador, planted the first two cherry trees on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin, about 125 feet south of what is now Independence Avenue, SW. The first two trees planted were Yoshino cherry trees. At the conclusion of the ceremony, First Lady Taft presented a bouquet of "American Beauty" roses to Viscountess Chinda. Washington's renowned Cherry Blossom Festival had its inception in this simple ceremony, witnessed by only a few persons. These two original trees are still standing today several hundred yards west of the John Paul Jones statue at the south end of 17th Street. Located at the bases of the trees are large bronze plaques which commemorate the occasion.
For full details on the history of the famous Washington Cherry Trees, there is a wonderful page on the NPS website dedicated to the story of the trees.
http://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/cherry-blossom-history.htm