Our departure from the train area of the station identified a huge stunning entrance hall, wow it truly was amazing, a gold (we think leaf) patterned ceiling, with marble everywhere you looked.
The exterior was equally stunning, we thought we should return later when we don't have to suitcases and 2 bags to lug around also. We departed the station and soon arrived at the hotel, the Westin Washington D.C, we were suspecting that we would not be able to get our room yet; much to our delight we were, our room faces the interior of the hotel, after the noise of the last two nights this was perfect!
We headed of down Massachusetts avenue, the road we had minutes before come up in a cab heading for Union station so we could photograph it! We came across the OLD Post Office. It had all the post boxes as well as a museum....I guess a lot of old stamps and stuff??!!
We arrived here at the beautiful Union Station, but before we admired and photographing the beautiful architecture we had a job to do... the golden arches of Mc Donald’s awaited.It would appear that here in the Capital the MD’s is so good that they’ve named it twice
Suitably filled, we ventured outside to the front of the station where we were struck by two things, the amazing station facade, and the immense heat, seriously it’s hot out here, uncomfortably sticky hot Kate’s says it’s good for us because we sweat which stops us dehydrating and exploding or something like that... I was not listening... but the station’s cool eh?
Yes it was hot but what I said was that it was a better heat then New Orleans as we didn't have the humidity here which allows you to thermoregualte more effectively!! Anyway... We ventured on to 1st Avenue heading for the Capitol, Library of Congress and Supreme court. Having wondered through avenues of congress / governmental buildings, circling one!! We took the customary photograph of the police...this was a special one though!! It was capitol police!!
And we arrived at the supreme court.....wow.....aparently this is like Rome....
Yes it was hot but what I said was that it was a better heat then New Orleans as we didn't have the humidity here which allows you to thermoregualte more effectively!! Anyway... We ventured on to 1st Avenue heading for the Capitol, Library of Congress and Supreme court. Having wondered through avenues of congress / governmental buildings, circling one!! We took the customary photograph of the police...this was a special one though!! It was capitol police!!
And we arrived at the supreme court.....wow.....aparently this is like Rome....
No Mongo you weren't listening! What I said is that this is what I imagine Rome would look like if the Empire had not fallen, and been burned to the ground by Huns, goths etc... Mind you Washington itself has been burned to the ground a couple of times, mainly by the British.... oops. I've just read in the guide book that in 1814 we burned the original White House down, to Americans that might make the British seem bad but I say that thanks to us the beautiful building that stands today was built because of us... It's all about perspective. anyway the supreme court...
isn't Rome more ruins??!! ... Right next door was the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world the national reading rooms are here...along with...according to National Treasure 2 some presidential book!!!
An absolutely amazing building both on its interior and exterior, we spent a good while exploring the creation of Independence exhibit, a much fairer representation of the War of Independence than others we've been to around the country. You can't take picture of the exhibits or of the reading rooms but you can take picture of the entrance hall etc...but Chris forgot to download that one so you will have to wait for that!!
We headed down to the entrance to go inside only to be turned away because I had a sports bottle for my water....it is a threat to security, don't have a clue why but that is what we were told. SO that will have to be done on some other day...I hope we have time! So we used the time to take our exterior pictures of the capitol.
From the Library of Congress Steps we could see the Capitol, not any normal Capitol building, No this was the nations Capitol, it is on the steps of this building that Barack Obama give his inaugural speech as have previous presidents!
We headed down to the entrance to go inside only to be turned away because I had a sports bottle for my water....it is a threat to security, don't have a clue why but that is what we were told. SO that will have to be done on some other day...I hope we have time! So we used the time to take our exterior pictures of the capitol. Look is a giant Mongo.....
Ok so it was the way were taking the photo's...well a giant we look at this angle!!...
Looking down the Mall from the Capitol Steps was cool, in January 2009 this Mall was packed with people, in the distance is Washington's Memorial, and in the foreground is the reflecting pool
Chris got arty again as we tried to block out the tower of scaffolding on the side of the building!!
Chris poses with the Capitol building behind and its reflection in the pool....
Shame about the slight breeze we can't get the proper reflection....Mongo repeats the photo.....
We eventually got in and were able to see the 3 most important documents to America, the Declaration of Independence though is suffering, the signature are barely readable only legible one is that of Washington...and that is only just! Apparently it was rolled incorrectly back in the 1950's as a result suffered sun damage during transit.
Such a grand building though....
Next up it was time for the National Archives....home to the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States. When we arrived we saw a queue to get in....not a problem we weren't going to miss this. We took the opportunity whilst on the opposite side of the road to photograph the building...having worked out the traffic....we managed to get an empty road....amazing!!!
We eventually got in and were able to see the 3 most important documents to America, the Declaration of Independence though is suffering, the signature are barely readable only legible one is that of Washington...and that is only just! Apparently it was rolled incorrectly back in the 1950's as a result suffered sun damage during transit. At the achieves you could explore national investigations such as JFK and Lincoln assassinations and the Titanic disaster, aswell as the moon landing and family examine your family history....if you are American that is.
Next we headed north to the Hard Rock Cafe passing the FBI building and Naval Memorial. The FBI building was named after J.E. Hoover... that's the guy who invented the hoover ...right..??!! He was the first Head of the FBI.
Again the token cop car...this time FBI Police!!!
We arrived at the Hard Rock and Chris managed to get his Patch the last one in the store...that was lucky! We ate here two, just because it wasn't busy and we could!! A lovely server who's Great Grandfather was from Blackpool, always find something in common...sweet!
We left the HRC and headed for the Hotel, just one more famous sight to see today; the Theatre at which Lincoln himself was assassinated; the Ford Theatre is now a national park monument and a new theatre a joins the scene
Just across the street is the house where he died, with its own plaque...
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