Lisa's Log: Washington D.C. (Day 2)

The next morning I woke up tired, but ready to start another day of seeing whatever I could see.

It was a full day that started at 6:15. Chuck had to be at "work" at 7:30, so we wanted to start the day with coffee and oatmeal at the hotel Starbucks (so nice that it was in the same building).

My ticket for the Holocaust Museum was for 10:30, and I wasn't sure if they would let me in earlier than that, and I wasn't sure what time the museum opened, so after Chuck left, I piddled around in the hotel room getting myself ready for the day and packing my backpack with water and spending cash, and whatnot. I think it was around 8:30 when I left the hotel and headed over towards the museum. When I got there, there was a guard standing by the door, and he told me they didn't open 'til 10:00. So I had to kill more than an hour somehow, and I was already hot and starting to sweat.

So I walked one block to the National Mall and sat down on a bench in the shade already sipping on my water. To my left was the reflection pool and beyond that, the Lincoln Memorial. Even though we walked past that, the night before, and even though I was already hot, I didn't want to waste my time just sitting on the bench in the park, so I got up and walked toward the Lincoln Memorial, hoping this time that there wouldn't be so many people there because I still wanted to go up in there and get a picture of the statue.

So once again, I walked past the WWII Memorial, and the Reflection Pool to get to the Lincoln Memorial (and also stopped in a public bathroom that was really disgusting.)

It was a really nice walk. They have really nice sidewalks to walk on.

A duck convoy was enjoying a morning coast in the Reflection Pool.

When I got to the Lincoln Memorial, I heard music playing and decided this wasn't a good time to get a picture of Lincoln's statue.

I decided to head back to the Holocaust Museum and see if they were open yet.

On the way, I passed through the WWII Memorial, which is a pretty awesome place.

I knew Chuck still wanted to come here, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time here, knowing that I'd be back. Continued on my way walking down these nice tree-lined sidewalks...

...and made it back to the Holocaust Museum.

It's hard to decide what to post here without making this too long because there were so many things in there! Someday you will just have to go there yourself - it's worth it!

Hopefully, you will be able to read the accompanying words that go with the photos.

When I walked into this room, I could smell the leather:

So, that is just a small sample of exhibits. There was so much to see in there! I spent at least three hours in there, but to avoid making this post too long, I better move on cuz there's still much to see yet on Day 2.

After I left the Holocaust Museum, I went to the National Archives.

This is where they house and protect the original important documents like the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, etc.

Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures in there, but it was pretty neat to see those documents that shape our nation, and it was pretty cool to see the original signatures of people like John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, etc.

They also had in there one of the 4 surviving copies of the Magna Carta.

That was pretty cool!

By the time I was done there, I headed over to the Smithsonian Museum of Air & Space. I'm not really into space stuff, but this is where Chuck wanted to meet when he got off "work", so I got there about half an hour earlier than he did. It wasn't my favorite museum there, but they did have some pretty neat stuff in there.

I don't consider myself a "Trekkie", but I thought this was pretty cool. This was the model of the spaceship that was used in the show.

They also had a bunch of stuff in there about the Wright Bros, but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of the plaques that explain what everything was.

Anyhoo, as I am not really into the space thing, most of the stuff in this museum I had no clue what I was even looking at, but I'm sure this is an awesome place for anyone who is interested in space exploration.

All of the Smithsonian museums close at 5:30, so we didn't get to look at everything, but by that time I was ready to move on and find something to eat. All I had to eat so far was a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and a couple pieces of expensive licorice that I bought from the hotel snack store, where everything is WAY overpriced. But I wasn't going to complain about the expensive licorice because most everything to do in D.C. is free. With all the museums I went to and everything else I saw, it would all add up really fast if they charged admission, but everything here is free. You just have to be screened before they let you in most places.

After we ate, we spent the evening walking around looking at monuments and memorials that Chuck wanted to see - the stuff that's just out in the open for people to see at any time they want.

First we walked to the Capitol Building. We could only see the outside because they were closed, but I was determined that I would go back when they were open.

This is a pretty good view of the "National Mall" taken from the steps of the Capitol Building.

The Capitol Building is at one end of the "Mall" and the Lincoln Memorial is at the other end. You can see it behind the Washington Monument which is kind of in the middle. Beyond the Lincoln Memorial is where you cross the bridge to get to the Arlington Cemetery.

view from the top steps of the Capitol Building

Then we decided to go see the White House and the National Christmas Tree.

It was about a half hour walk from the Capitol Building so we had to go through a part of town that revealed to us more neat unexpected surprises:

Trump's hotel

Wow, that's a fancy hotel!

I really like the sidewalks here in this part of town!

When we got to the Christmas Tree I was kinda disappointed. I thought it would've been a lot bigger. But it was still cool to see it cuz now if I ever see it on TV or the news, I can say that I saw it. It would be really cool to see this at Christmas time.

Very close to the Christmas tree is the White House. They only let you go so far, so we had to see it from a far distance. There were guards everywhere. This is a zoomed in picture.

When we got done there, we still had some daylight left, and even though I was feeling hot and VERY pooped out, I agreed to go back to the other end of the National Mall so Chuck could see some memorials that he was still wanting to see.

So we headed to the Veteran's Memorial.

It was pretty neat to see that.

Then we went back to the Lincoln Memorial (again) to try our luck in getting a picture of the statue. But, again, there was a band playing there.

So we stood there and listened to them play.

Chuck took a good video of them playing and marching down the steps.

But again, I regret that I'm too dumb to make it work for you.

After they were done playing, there was a large throng of people hanging around, but we made our way up into the memorial anyway.

view from the top of the steps

One of the weird things about D.C. is that the whole place is crowded from people that come from all over the world. When you're walking around in the streets, you hear all kinds of different languages. I'd guess that only half of the visitors there are speaking English. It made me wonder why the Capitol City of the USA would draw so many foreigners, but at the same time I felt proud and happy that they were interested to come here and see what our country was all about.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the WWII Memorial. There were a lot more people hanging around there than there was in the morning, but that didn't bother me. By that time, my legs were sore and my feet were killing me, and it was still so hot out, so I sat down and soaked my feet in the water and watched some little kids splashing around.