The District of Columbia is the capital of our beloved country. It was founded in 1790 and for those of you who ever wondered "What is DC? It's a state? It's not a state? What is Washington?!?", wonder no more.
Article 1 of the US Constitution requires a federal district that is distinct from the states to serve as the nation's capital. Washington had originally been set up as a separate municipality (city for the lay person) within the district. It wasn't until 1871 that an Act of Congress established a single, unified municipal government for the whole District - which accounts for why Washington, although no longer a separate municipality, still retains its name in association with DC. Don't you love Wikipedia?
We made our way down 7th St NW, past Pennsylvania Ave, passing by such widely known buildings as the US Capitol Building...
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The DC Segway Gang is headed straight for us! |
which sits on top of Capitol Hill - the oldest residential community in DC.
This poor fellow never saw the car coming and is permanently fixated into this pedestrian crossing.
We then meandered through the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, where we saw some wonderful artsy sculptures...obviously.
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Pondering Rabbit |
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Silver Tree |
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Paris's Metro! |
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Eric spewing water into the fountain! |
And this is what Eric looks like when I'm taking too long to take pictures, or taking too many pictures.....
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Sight for sore eyes |
We toured the hot spots right after the rally - Glenn Beck's rally that is. Apparently Tea Partyers don't recycle...................
The hot spots we saw include the Washington Monument,
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Made of marble, granite and sandstone. |
built to commemorate our very first President - George Washington! It is the world's tallest stone structure peaking at 555 ft and 5 and 1/8 inches!
The World War II Memorial
Which requires much more time than we were able to give up (we'll be back).
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
The largest of DC's reflecting pools (I had no idea there were more than one?!).
Lincoln Memorial
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Oh, Abe |
Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous words
And of course, standing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave...The White House!
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What's up Obama! |
And that concludes our day of touring. Of course there will be much more time spent touring the city but that was what we could accomplish in roughly 1-2 hours.