I had another long and exhausting day walking around Washington DC. Today I went to the other end of the Washington Mall to see the memorials up that end of the mall. I discovered the DC circulator buses that were $1 to catch and went the same place as the $50 hop on hop off tour buses. Plus my smart trip card for the metro also worked!
The first memorial was the Jefferson memorial sitting away from the main mall and next to the tidal basin. The tidal basin fills with the incoming tide and then the water is redirected to flush the channel at low tide. I’m not sure if it still works though. My american history knowledge is not that great, so you will need to google Jefferson. I believe he was one of the founding fathers of the USA though.
Jefferson memorial
After the Jefferson memorial came the Lincoln memorial. Again I don’t know much about Abraham Lincoln and why he is such a well known President. One day I’ll read up a bit more on the topic. The memorial itself though had tourists all over it! Definitely the most popular place I’ve been in Washington so far.
Lincoln memorial
Also up this end of the mall were the excellent Korean and Vietnam war memorials. Both of them had many visitors, especially the statues at the Vietnam memorial, which had more than their fair share of people taking selfies. I do find it poor taste to do such things in front of war memorials myself. There are plenty of places one can have their photograph taken without being disrespectful in front of a war memorial .
Korean war memorial
Vietnam war memorial
I walked back along the reflecting pool to wards the Washington monument. Thats the large obelisk that is in the middle of the mall. Apparently you used to be able to go up it, but John informed me the elevators are not working right now and there were no queues to go to the top. I caught the DC circulator bus back to Union station before trying to find the Georgetown Circulator bus. There are no metro stations in Georgetown, so I figured the bus would be the best way of getting out there.
Washington Momument
I got to Georgetown and wandered around, most of it is quite new, but along the banks of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal there are some older buildings. The canal locks didn’t appear to be working any more at one end of the canal and further along the old locks had become a waterfall. The canal is apparently able to be used north where it meets the Potomac river again. Georgetown itself predated Washington DC itself, however whether it was called Georgetown as it was founded during the reign of King George II, or whether it was called Georgetown after its founders is unknown.
Chesapeake and Ohio canal
Today was my last full day in Washington DC. Just as I begun to get the place and see the similarities with Canberra and how it was designed. I’ve really found the metro and buses easy to use as well. Tomorrow I plan to visit the Arlington cemetary as my flight out is at 6:30pm.