Another weekend in D.C.

This past week I have been in Washington DC on business. I stayed the weekend because I will be working here again next week. I decided to go into the District to take in some more sites and get a copy of the Declaration of Independence for my grandson. On the metro I saw a whole troop of Boy Scouts in full uniform...it was very refreshing to see.

I headed to the Capitol via Bartholdi Park to aquire a tour ticket. The park was very pretty. The line was about 300 yards long and it was 1030 in the morning. The tickets are usually gone before everyone in the line has been given a ticket. I decided I didn't need to stand in line half the day for tickets that I probably wouldn't get anyway so I headed toward the National Archives to get the DOI for DJ. The line wasn't too long so I decided to go for it.
After the National Archive I decided to go see the Jefferson Memorial. I walked across the National Mall and down to 15th street. I followed 15th to the Tidal Basin then followed the path around and across the bridge to the Memorial.
It was quite awe inspiring! As I was walking along the path I saw a squirrel sitting on a stump. When I took his picture he came right up to me and pranced back and forth in front of me. It was quite funny.
There were a lot of teeanagers at the Memorial all dressed in suits and dresses. I found out they were part of the National Young Leaders Conference.

I headed back around the Tidal Basin to find the World War I memorial and the Korean War Memorial. I was surprised at how small the WWI memorial was.
I was equally surprised by the Korean War Memorial. It was interesting to say the least. There are statues of soldiers walking through the trees and a reflecting pool.
Along the side is a Marble wall similar to the Viet Nam memorial except instead of names etched in the wall there are images. It was very cool how it reflected the visitors amongst the etchings....it was like reflecting the past and the present....I found it very moving.
After I was done with the memorials I decided to take the Metro over to the Pentagon to see the new Pentagon Memorial in daylight. I really enjoyed it. There is a wall around the edge of the area with years in brass embedded in it. The years correspond to the birth years of the victims.
The benches are laid out in order of their age.
I was tired by the time I had finished visiting all the Memorials so I headed back to the hotel. It was a very enjoyable day.