Ahhh, the continental breakfast buffet...if done right, it can be a thing of beauty.  If done wrong, a quick trip to the nearest McDonalds would be an improvement.

Ford's Theatre

Luckily, I had hit the jackpot.  This particular Residence Inn had an excellent hot breakfast.  Everything a good Denny's would have.  I had a very nice meal and some good coffee...and some more good coffee...and some more good coffee, then I headed down to the Metro for day two of my Washington adventure.

Day two was a hodge podge.  Day one was adventuresome for The Capitol trip and the ride up.  Day three was a very picturesque day.  Day two was full of activities, but the clouds really put a damper on the picture taking.

Still, I was on vacation!

The subway was a little more crazy with morning traffic.  The day before, the only crowded stop was the Pentagon, because they were having the memorial presentation finishing up there when I rode through.  Today was Friday in Washington, DC.

My first stop was on the north end of town.  I walked through the Arts District and watched as they were getting ready for a street fair.  As I walked past the National Portrait Museum and the Spy Museum, I decided I would need to revisit this section of town.  But my first destination was Ford's Theatre, the famous theatre where Abraham Lincoln met his fate while watching "My American Cousin."

The Treasury Department

Sadly, the theatre was closed for renovation.  I did my best to get a picture of it without the construction scaffolding.  I guess I will just have to make a trip back again when it is completed.

From there, I walked down to the Federal Building and looked for Riggs Bank.  Way back when, we used to get WDCA-TV out of Washington and WTTG-TV out of Baltimore on our Asheville, NC cable system, so I always remember the commercial for Riggs National Bank that said, "we're on the money" - because the building was right behind the Federal Building (which if memory serves is on the $10 bill...sorry, wish I had a $10 to confirm!).

My next stop was the White House.  I didn't expect much.  The last time I came to Washington, you couldn't get anywhere near the front of the house.  Of course, that was about 3 weeks after September 11, 2001, so you can imagine why. This time, as you can see, was a bit more successful.

After taking it in, I walked over towards the Washington Monument.  It was very cool to see it poking out from over the trees.  I was really looking forward to riding the elevator up and walking back down.

The White House

When I got to the ticket center, they said they had 11:00 tickets, it was 10:55 so I was worried that I wouldn't make it up there, but they said it wouldn't be a problem.  And it wasn't.  Being near the end of the line and with the security that we had to go through, I got in there at about 11:30.  While inside, I was talking to a man and his son.  Apparently his some was visiting from an African nation (I forget which one) and the father lived in Washington and was taking him on a tour.  I talked with them and some other nice people that were in our group.

When we got to the top, I asked the tour guide if you could still walk down and he said no.  Sad, I guess I should live off of the memories when I did it as a child.  There are plaques on each floor for each of the states.  Of course, my ACL probably would hate me for going down all those stairs now, but we'll never know.

I took some pictures outside the windows on each side.  The windows are discolored, so it is hard to get a good shot, plus the cloudy day wasn't helping too much.  But I could see the National Cathedral from there and I asked someone how to get there.  He told me and also said I should visit a church on the other side of Washington that was even more impressive called the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Catholic University.  Food for thought for a Saturday adventure.

View from the Washington Monument

After I left the monument, I walked down through grass littered with goose and of course, I had to keep an eye of for what leaves the goose too...in large quantities.

Once I made it past that tretchery, I came upon the World War II Memorial.  It is an impressive structure, with a fountain and monuments on either side dedicated to the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the war.  In between are posts to each of the states.  While impressive in the day time, it would be even more so in the evening after the sun went down.

I took some decent pictures of the Washington Monument in the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial, but it was really a drab day.  I left there and walked down toward the FDR Monument.  It is a very different structure from all the other monuments.  Really quite unique.  There is also an odd statue that shows FDR in his pose at the Yalta Conference, but he has his dog Fala by his side.  Now this is remarkable.  In all of those pictures of FDR, Stalin and Churchill at Yalta, I don't ever remember seeing Fala!  Must have been creative license by a dog lover.

FDR and Fala His Dog

I walked up past the little known George Mason Monument and on to the Jefferson Memorial.  You really get a good view of the city of Washington from here.  I walked around the Monument and then decided to head for the Voice of America tour down in the middle of The Mall.

This was an ambitious walk.  And I was getting quite hungry.  Since the tour didn't start until 3 pm, I walked down to a street vendor and got a hot dog and a Gatorade.  The Gatorade was the first drink I had enjoyed since my morning coffee and it didn't last very long.  I made it through the hot dog and then headed back to the VOA tour.

I guess not a lot of people are hot for this tour, because only me and one other group went through.  And we spent half our time just trying to make the headphones we took with us (it is a guided tour but there is a headphone presentation too) work.  It was an interesting tour...seeing live radio broadcasts in multiple languages and TV shows being recorded.

I found out that the Voice of America has a web site and you can read the news they present to the world there.  For those of you that don't know, the VOA is supposed to be a non-biased news outlet that broadcasts fair and accurate news to countries that don't have a free press.  Take our government's word for it if you'd like.  But I have read the news from their site and it is quite bland...in a good way.  It really doesn't have a lot of spin or bias, so it comes across as dry facts.  It is an interesting read.

The Capitol From the Botanical Gardens

When we came out of the tour, I noticed it had been raining...but luckily it stopped when I came out.  Good timing.

I made my way around The Capitol building to try and get some good shots.  I also took some pictures of the Library of Congress and the interesting fountain outside of it.  I also walked past the Supreme Court.

Next I made my way down the other side of The Capitol, right next to the Russell Senate Building, where as some will recall, weeks earlier there had been a guy who threatened to jump from one of its upper floors.  I imagined the many reporters all huddled around outside hoping he would jump (okay, maybe they aren't that morbid).

Now I was in a hurry.  I had decided to take a bus tour of Washington that night, so I could get off my feet.  I knew the tickets and jumping on point was Union Station.  I had read about it earlier in the day.  I jumped on the Metro and made it there at 6 pm.

Once there, I went down and had a Frank 'n' Stien's Beer and Brautwerst. Most excellent after a hard day of walking.  I bought my ticket for the bus, called my wife and then made my way to the bus.

Lincoln Memorial

Once in my seat, the tour guide told us all the places we would go...which were all the places I had been through the day.  And worse yet, they would go to these spots and we would be given a half hour or fifteen minutes to WALK AROUND.  Cripes!  Just what I was trying to avoid.

So off we went.  I was sitting next to a nice couple from Minnesota.  We chatted about things and enjoyed the ride.  I tried my best to get good night pictures (my camera and my skills don't match the night).  And there we went, past The Capitol, down to the Washington Monument, by the Lincoln Memorial, to the FDR Memorial, and over to the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.  It was good to see these places at night, but by the time I got back to the hotel room, I was happy to be off my feet.  But it was really just past the halfway point of my trip!

Day Three »