More from Washington

More pictures from my Labor Day weekend trip. On Sunday morning, I took the Metro to the Arlington Station. Got off and crossed the Arlington Bridge into DC. Visited the Lincoln Memorial, first. Approached it from the southwest and rounded about to the southeast, where I snapped the first picture.

Then it was up the stairs to see the man in the Big Chair. There's a short blurb behind Lincoln. On the wall to his right are the words to the Gettysburg Address. On his left are the words of his Second Inaugural Address. There's also a small gift shop in that left alcove.

I was surprised by how many non-Americans there were. It's not that non-Americans shouldn't have an interest in Lincoln that seemed odd, but that there were comparatively few Americans, who absolutely should have an interest in their own history!

After leaving Lincoln, I made my way to the Korean War Memorial. It is comprised of three main features. First are the statues of soldiers in Korean War-era clothing, apparently walking towards the Lincoln Memorial.

Second is the polished marble wall that is somewhat reminiscent of the Vietnam War Memorial. Except, instead of the names of war dead, this memorial has images lightly etched into parts of the wall. Other parts are bare. Both parts serve as a sort of horizontal reflecting pool, which is what you're seeing in the picture above.

Finally, there's an actual pool, with a sign asking you to please not toss any money into the pool because they'll stain the art.

After leaving the Korean War memorial, I made my way towards the FDR memorial, which I wrote about yesterday. On the way, I passed a long, temporary wall along a part of the parkway. Turns out the wall shields ongoing construction on a new, Martin Luther King, Jr memorial. Not sure when it's supposed to be finished, and I haven't seen the final design. But it looks to be pretty large.

From there, I continued along the Tidal Basin, on to the FDR memorial. Views of the Jefferson Memorial reflected across the Basin. Aging cherry trees leaned across the walkway. It was very peaceful.


Inside of the Jefferson Memorial is a large statue of Jefferson. Several of his writings (including excerpts from the Declaration of Independence) are visible along the wall. In the "basement" is a small "museum" and gift shop. Oh, and restrooms.

From the Jefferson, I rounded the rest of the Tidal Basin and returned to the Mall. Once there, I visited the World War II memorial, some pictures of which I posted yesterday.

Then I walked over to the Smithsonian Metro station and went back to my hotel room. Probably two miles of walking that day, and an additional 1.5 miles or so the day before (not counting the distance inside the East Wing of the National Gallery, the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the American History Museum.

I could spend several weeks just visiting the museums around the National Mall. Wouldn't mind going back there, again.