Washington, D.C. (day 2)

For this day I had in my head a general walking plan of how to see everything I wanted before I had to catch the next train at 7:30pm.

Goal #1: White House
do not enter

obscured by trees

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (aka EEOB, fka The Old Executive Office Building), a fine example of French Second Empire-style architecture if ever there was:

Goal #2: Lincoln Memorial

first the World War II Memorial

	then the reflecting pool with the goal in the distance

I don’t know if it’s the architecture, the statue, or the fact that I’ve seen the image countless times in history books and in popular culture. Whatever it was, it felt good to be there.

(Interestingly, the image of Lincoln as “the Great Emancipator and preserver of the nation during the Civil War” will be slightly questioned when I visit Fort Sumter a few days later… stay tuned!)

If you look quickly between the two images, it’s like his legs are moving. Nice illusion, Daniel Chester French.

As I was leaving, that pesky Washington Monument, which kept turning up in all of my pictures, was there again, so I tried to squish it. It’s pointy and obelisky, therefore hard to squish. I did not succeed.

FYI: At this point I can tell you that the Washington Monument is made of marble from Texas, Maryland, and Massachusetts and granite from Maine and New Hampshire. It was finished on December 6, 1884.

Around the corner (so to speak) is the Vietnam Memorial. Better pictures than mine have been taken of it, so I won’t share. But here’s the book that tells you where to find the name you want.

Goal #3: Einstein Memorial at the National Academy of the Sciences

I’m no art critic, and I’m no professional photographer, but I have this to say: I don’t know if the photo gets across how totally weird this statue is (agreeably weird, but still). (thanks for the recommendation, k. & s.l.)

Goal #4: National Archives

some more totally weird statues on the way:

Goal #5 Smithsonian museums (I chose the National Air and Space Museum)

More statues, only slightly not on the way:

The museum had lots of fun stuff—like stuff from the space race between the U.S. and the USSR. Remember that? Probably not. It was the ’60s. There was a mock Skylab you could walk through to see what it’s like to feel claustrophobic in space. There were also space pens and a space monkey, as well as Louis Armstrong’s cornet, Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet, Dorothy’s ruby slippers, and Abraham Lincoln’s hat. I swear.

Goal #6: The Capitol Building

You know what it looks like, but here’s another angle:

Goal #7: Library of Congress

I showed up just in time for a tour, which was pretty informative. The tour guide was a little quirky and obsessed with technology, from the printing press to today. The inside of this building is incredibly ornate, complicated, and thought-out—it’s like this collage of ideas, or splatter paint art. I got to see the room that was in National Treasure and one of the only complete perfect copies of the Gutenberg Bible. (The Library of Congress: where high and low art peacefully co-exist.)

There’s actually an entire family in that picture you can’t see. (It’s my fancy camera angle that saved the day.)

Goal #8: U.S. Supreme Court

Facts of the day, from the site: “despite its role as a coequal branch of government, the Supreme Court was not provided with a building of its own until 1935, the 146th year of its existence,” and “The classical Corinthian architectural style was selected because it best harmonized with nearby congressional buildings.”

Question of the day: How many columns exist in the architecture of the District of Columbia?