D.C. at night

After fighting our way through D.C. traffic we made it to the hotel. After dropping our luggage off and grabbing a quick dinner we decided to go walk around and see the sights of D.C. at night since it was so balmy outside. Our first stop was the White House (literally a block away from our hotel). Jess carried along my full size tripod and was taking a bunch of pictures and after about 5 minutes a guard came up and said tripods weren’t allowed on the sidewalk. I guess you can have a tripod on the street, but not the sidewalk. I think the guards were more concerned with the protestors so that’s why she got away with it for so long.

We had only planned on going to the White House because it was so close but the night was so warm and everything looked so pretty lit up at night that next thing you know we ended up at the World War II Memorial.Consisting of 56 pillars and a pair of arches surrounding a plaza and fountain, it is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

When I was last in D.C. in 2001, the WWII Memorial was less than a month away from the ground breaking so it was nice to see it completed. The water features are really nice.

We caught sight of the Lincoln Memorial and decided why not walk over since it looks so nice lit up at night?

Interesting fact: The statue of Lincoln, originally designed to be 10 feet tall, was later enlarged to 19 feet to prevent it from being dwarfed by its huge chamber.It is surrounded by 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. The columns, like the exterior walls and façades, are inclined slightly toward the building's interior. This is to compensate for perspective distortions which would otherwise make the Memorial appear asymmetrical.There’s a great view of the city from the steps. We rested on the steps and got a few shots framing the Washington Monument that I really like. While sitting on the steps I noticed this thing that looked like a stain on the ground. People kept walking up and looking at it and I was wondering what the heck it was when I heard a guide pointing out that this was the spot where Martin Luther King had given his “I Have a Dream” speech. Upon further inspection, the stain turned out to be a little commemoration of the exact spot where he stood.

We then had a very looong walk back to the hotel and I was hobbling along in pain by the time we got back. I think I need better shoes. Despite my pain, I am so glad we wandered around though because the next day the temperature quickly dropped 30 degrees and the rains and winds came.