Union Station

Took the Metro to Union Station and saw what it is like to be at the big train station. The place is very busy, and not all people traveling on the trains, the Metro stops here and from the station you can go to many parts of the city. There are also tons of shops and lots of places to eat so it seems to be a shopping destination too. I guess this place was built way back in the early 1900's and the architecture matches the rest of the city.



Right next door was the Postal Museum so we went through part of that too. Apparently the Postal Museum used to be a real post office but now it's just a museum and it even has a brewery in it if you need to get something to drink... beer, of course! A natural thing to find in a post office, huh? I didn't take any pictures of the Post Office Museum so both of these are of Union Station, inside and out.

Big Doors

Yesterday we went to the National Archives to look at stuff like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We mistakenly walked up to the front door but that was not the way to get in. The doors were certainly worth seeing though and here they are.

The documents we went in to look at were there and so faded that they were hard to read which is why they don't allow flash photography and the lighting is so dim. Still it was very interesting to see them and the guards were very knowledgeable and showed us misspellings and other little known things about them.

We also went to the National Portrait Gallery which had some very interesting paintings and sculptures but there were just so many that we didn't make it through the whole place. I wanted to see some old paintings made by a guy back in the 1800's of many of the old Indian's and we found them there and that was one of the things we had wanted to see along the way.

Walking down the street I had to do a touristy thing and stand in the middle of the street looking toward the capitol and take a picture. I felt a little weird about standing in the middle of the street in front of traffic (they were stopped for a red light) but Karen and I got a good laugh out of it anyway.

Another interesting day seeing sights in DC.

More DC

Check out the Forest Service Museum. Yep, that's about all of it in that picture of me with the fire video going. Of all the museums we have been to so far this one was the smallest and least impressive. One thing about it though, the receptionist actually knew Bob Shultz from the Plumas and I couldn't believe she actually knew someone I know... small world.

The Lincoln Memorial was pretty impressive too and from the front steps you could see the Washington Monument down at the end of the reflecting pool, the same one I saw in Forrest Gump, I might add.

We even took the tour to the top of the Washington Monument and I took that last picture of the White House from the dirty window.

I was a little disappointed with some of the government buildings including the White House in that they are like armed camps. No trespassing signs should be posted everywhere since they won't let you on places like the front steps of the Capitol or anywhere on the grounds of the White House. I guess that's just the sign of the times considering the terrorist crap going on in the world these days. Every place we went they send you through metal detectors and your pack and camera need to run through scanning devices. I guess that's the price we pay for a level of safety, huh?

Still, it's been wonderful exploring the tourist areas and we have seen all sorts of very cool stuff, so it's all worth it.

Exploring DC

We have been busy the last several days exploring Washington DC and for me, learning about mass transit. The Metro is a great way to get around without a car so we have been using that to get from where Steve lives in Bethesda to downtown. It has been quite a learning experience but all good since it hasn't been crowded at all during the times we are commuting. There are so many things to see here that each day we walk until we start getting tired and still haven't scratched the surface of all there is to do. It rained on us the other day but we had raincoats and since it is so warm and humid, it was a pleasure walking in the rain.

The first picture is of the Library of Congress. The second is the Capitol, of course, and next the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol. The last one was taken in the Botanical area near the Capitol.

Today we are going to try to visit some of the memorial spots and go by the Whitehouse. Also, yesterday there was a big hoopla downtown as Senator Kennedy's body was transported to Arlington and that had us trapped for a time inside the Capitol grounds as they had the streets blocked off for the motorcade.

So far this has been a fun trip and we still have tons of stuff we want to see so the adventure continues!