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April 28, 2006
D.C. Pix, Part the Second
Far fewer photos in this entry. Just because I was much more into experiencing the moment than I was in recording it for posterity. (Plus, it's hard to take good pictures through tear-stained contact lenses.) However. Because I feel a need to explain every step I took, it is a very, very long entry. For those of you who aren't interested, I have some advice for you that I learned long ago while working for PBS. If you don't like it, change the channel.
Before we begin, I think you should probably arm yourself with a map, because I am going to be discussing my route as we go. (I recommend googlemaps, 2-3 clicks in to Washington, DC. It's a very clear map and it includes the FDR memorial, which is quaite new.--Yes, the a in quaite is intentional. Say it out loud. How very posh of me.)
Understand that I took the Metro to the National Zoo, hiked around there for 3 hours and then headed back to the hotel. I dropped some stuff off, picked some stuff up and headed out again around 2:15. I decided to walk.
My hotel was at the corner of 12th and K NW.
For some reason, when walking, I didn't realize just how close I was to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. So when I came upon an open space, on one side of which was a statue and a park, and the other side of which was this big, white building surrounded by a black iron fence, it took actually reading the sign that says "Welcome to the White House" to get it. I was there.
That's the first time I cried. Aside from the Vietnam Memorial, it's the only one worth mentioning. Just assume that when I mention a building or a monument or a memorial that it set off the weepmeter. That'll give you a pretty accurate picture of the situation.
Then I walked around the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is really long, and awfully fancy. (Take that adverb however you will, any definition is applicable.) When I got to the end, I turned left. The whole point of this exercise was to see the other side of the White House. (And also the Washington Monument. You think I'm obsessing about it now? Just wait.)
Half a block down, I got this view:
Then I turned left again and walked all the way back to the White House along the back side of the Eisenhower Exec. Ofc. Bldg. I abbreviated that to save time, but now that I think about it, I should type the whole thing out. Because that's kind of like the amount of time it takes to walk past that edifice. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Nope. The walk is actually longer than that.
Anyway, after passing that and guys with guns and dogs and barricades, I made it to the other side of the White House. Where I realized I could poke my camera lens through the fence and take a picture without iron bars in it. (Yeah, I know. My intelligence is of such a high order it's frightening even to me.)
Then I walked around the Ellipse, heading for the Washington Monument. It couldn't be that far away, I thought. I can see the flags around the base of it.
(This is, by the way, the next to last photo of the WM. I promise.)
I did indeed get all the way to the Washington Monument. By that time, my feet were beginning to hurt. (Lest you call me a wimp, remember, I'd spent three hours walking around the National Zoo before I set out for my afternoon trek.) But I ignored the pain in my feet because I had a mission. I needed to actually touch it.
There is nothing like getting your hands on a piece of history. It's so much more real somehow when you can feel the weight and texture than if you just look at it. Probably because using an additional sense enhances the experience; you're no longer relying just on sight. (Good memorization tool, by the way. Always use more than one of the senses to learn something. It will stick that way. More options for recall.)
So I rubbed and patted the blocks of the Washington Monument. And for those of you making all of the sophomoric/Freudian assumptions about my fascination with this thing, you just go ahead and laugh. It's probably true.
I'd also been taking pictures of the White House from different spots on the walk. Just to see if I could get anything interesting from pics taken at the fence and then in the Ellipse and then at the Washington Monument. I couldn't. But that's not the point of this comment. It's that I took that picture and then looked left. And what I saw took my breath away.
I never even thought about looking anywhere else after that. And so I missed seeing the Capitol Building. Because it was now behind me. And I had only one goal in mind.
Getting to the Lincoln Memorial.
It's not that far, I thought. I've already walked at least that distance from my hotel today. (Which should have registered a bit more deeply with me than it did.) But that big, stone temple was like a magnet. I had to get inside it and see it for myself.
(This entry really is getting long. And it's such a lovely day outside here where I am now. I'm going to post what I have and make you wait for the rest. And also maybe go get the fixins for a blended soy mocha. Mmmmmmmm...)
Posted by sally at April 28, 2006 11:55 AM
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