WASHINGTON DC – night discoveries

Recovered from our unforgettable visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space it is now time to put on our walking shoes, grab the cameras and tripod and head out to discover the sights of DC by night.

Leaving the hotel and heading for Independence Avenue and the National Mall we find ourselves with the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument.  This is going to be an easy going night so setting up the tripod we get to take some early photos.  They were good by day but are fabulously well lit by night.  There are not a lot of people out yet, maybe they are still at dinner, but that is good for us.

What can I say about the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument that I have not said in the previous post for yesterday?  The lights do them justice – so I will just put the photos and you can take it from there.

At least during the night you cannot notice the scaffolding that covers the Washington Monument from head to toe.

Let’s proceed – past wonderful buildings – this one is the National Archives that we visited yesterday.  The lighting is very dramatic and adds character and grandeur don’t you think?  Our next point of interest is the Lincoln Memorial which is a 30 minute walk from where we are – not so bad.

The night is wonderfully clear and crisp so it is good walking weather.  The Memorial is situated at the Potomac River end of the National Mall – and is breath taking before we even get there.   When we do arrive it is even more spectacular – I am so glad that the government went back to work so that we could see this close up.

The Lincoln Memorial, is of course a memorial to Abraham Lincoln – the 16th President of the USA and called ‘the Saviour of the Union’.  The building is based upon a Greek temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by him –  the Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address.

The memorial has also been the site of many famous speeches, including that of Martin Luther King when he delivered those immortal words ‘ I have a dream’ on 28th August 1963.

But back to Lincoln – what incredible workmanship.  It is like standing in a temple as everyone is talking in hushed tones which makes a nice change than the usual noisy touristy comments.

Standing on the front steps looking towards the reflecting Pool is definitely a Kodak moment.

Unfortunately every person and their dog has the same idea and some people are just ignorant of the fact that others want to take photos.

No sooner do I get a great set up of the columns, the pool and the monument with the moon than some thoughtless piece of human low-life stands in front of me, thumps down his bag, props himself up against one of the columns and starts clicking away.  I bet he is one of THOSE people who give photographers a bad name.

I wait for about 5 minutes and he is still snapping away.  I have had enough of this nonsense, so I move and stand in front of him to get this shot, unfortunately not framed by columns – but it is all about karma.  I hear him clucking and sighing behind me – well too bad, he can move or wait.

Time to move on across the road to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

We enter the area and immediately come upon the Three Soldiers. This is a statue which was unveiled in 1984 and depicts three soldiers – a white American, an African American and a Hispanic American.  The statues seem to be looking over at the Wall in solemn tribute to the names of their fallen comrades.

The wall includes the names of over 58,000 servicemen and women who gave their lives in service in the Vietnam Conflict.

Walking back past the Lincoln Memorial we head towards the Korean War Veterans Memorial.  It is only a short walk – about 10 minutes and we find ourselves in a very interactive and breath taking memorial to those who fought and died in the Korean War.

The statues appear out of the dark and I get the feeling that I am part of their mission.  There are 19 stainless steel statues, larger than life size around 2.3 metres tall, with each statue weighing about 500kg.

They represent a squad on patrol and are drawn from each branch of the armed forces – fourteen of the figures are from the Army, three are Marines, one is Navy and one is Air Force.  Dressed in full combat gear they are placed amongst the bushes representing the Korean landscape.

Continuing on, we walk past the District of Columbia War Memorial, which in contrast to what we have seen so far, is very much smaller but nevertheless still retains a touch of class.

The Memorial commemorates the 26,000 citizens of Washington, DC who served in World War I.

The domed peristyle Doric temple stands as the only memorial on the National Mall dedicated to local residents. Inscribed in the base of the memorial are 499 names of Washingtonians who lost their life during World War I.   The DC War Memorial was dedicated in 1931, with the date being 11th November the day that marked the official end of the war.

There are still not a lot of people around and considering it is quite a fine night it is surprising.  Maybe they have all converged on the memorials we have already visited by now, anyway it is still a great night for walking.  Let me also say that at no time do I feel in danger of walking around this wonderful city by night.  But once again, I digress.

Next stop – the World War II Memorial which again, is only a short walk away.  I remember seeing Veterans on TV coming to this place during the shutdown only to be confronted by barriers and zealous guards.

The Veterans were not going to be stopped so they pulled down the barriers and really, who was going to be stupid enough to stop them.  A total disgrace putting up barriers to stop these brave men from paying their respects to fallen mates and I am glad they took matters into their own hands.  If I was there I would have helped them for sure.

One of Washington DC’s newest monuments, this Memorial honours the 16 million who served in the armed forces during the war and the 400,00 Americans who died in a war that worldwide claimed more than 70 million casualties.

After walking underneath the arch that has brass eagles and wreaths (pictured above). you walk down into the main arena where there is the wonderful ‘Rainbow Pool’ surrounded by beautiful fountains with two large fountains taking pride of place.

Surrounding the pool and the plaza are 56 identical white pillars, topped with a bronze wreath with each one bearing the name of the 48 states that were part of the U.S. during World War II.

There are also ones for the territories of Alaska and Hawaii as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands.  On the North side is an arch dedicated to the Atlantic theatre of war and on the other side is an arch inscribed with the word ‘Pacific’.  The pillars also feature bronze and granite wreaths.

The 3 metre Freedom Wall decorated with 4,043 gold stars commemorates those who lost their lives in the war – with one star for each 100 armed forces personnel who died.

I take all the photos that I need and it is time to sit and think of the times way back then when the world was in turmoil and all the men and women who fought to protect our freedom.  The phrase ‘what has changed’ springs to mind with some parts of the world still raging war against each other.

We are now on our way back to the hotel and time for one last photo – I would have liked more time to photograph more monuments, maybe even another night but we have limited time and a very crowded schedule so we need all the rest we can get.

Highlight of the night – so hard to choose from all the wonderful memorials – but I think my favourite was the Korean Memorial and those wonderful statues coming out of the night.