We arrived by train into Washington late afternoon. We were able to head out and wander down to the National Mall to orientate ourselves with the city. I really had no idea what to expect from Washington but it is such a beautiful capital city with so many incredible museums and monuments!
 |
| The back of the White House (or is it the front south side?) |
 |
| Saying hello to President Obama! |
 |
| Washington Monument (standing in the middle of the National Mall) |
 |
| The Washington Monument |
 |
| The National Mall - looking towards the Lincoln Memorial |
 |
| The National Mall - looking towards the Capitol |
Thursday 17th March - Day 6 'St Patricks Day' Washington
We headed out today to the Capitol - The Parliament Building. We went passed the White House again and to celebrate St Patricks day and the fact that the Irish Prime Minister was in town the fountains in the gardens of the White House were green! What a cool President :-)
This morning we weren't allowed too close as they were expecting 'movement'. There is a huge amount of security and police normally, we had noticed that already but today President Obama was meeting the Irish Prime Minister for a reception at the Capitol .... yep where we were headed!!
 |
| Eagerly awaiting some 'movement' from the White House! |
 |
| The front of the White House with a green fountain! |
 | ||
| President Obama was in the car following this one | ! -Ha! |
Well we got sick of waiting and decided to
walk over to the Capitol Building,
although while on our way President
Obama's cavalcade went flying passed!
The Capitol building was amazing, again we weren't allowed to get to close as President Obama was now in there! A local resident told us about getting tickets to be invited into the Parliament (Senate and House of Reps) so we head to a Senators office to get an official invitation. We just happened to bump into the Vice President heading to the gym while we were there - we couldn't get too close with all the secret service and security around but we certainly saw him! We decided due to the line up to get into the Capitol is was better to come back early tomorrow!
 |
| Looking down Pennsylvania Ave towards the Capitol |
 |
| The West Front of the Capitol |
 |
| Look no jacket! gorgeous weather! |
 |
| Looking down the National Mall from the West Front |
 |
| The East Front of the Capitol |
Walking back through the Mall we stopped off at the very interesting (although somewhat confusing :) National Museum of the American Indian before stopping for some very yummy Ben and Jerry ice cream - you have to love happy hour at Ben and Jerry's!! We also went into the National Archives to see the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.
We headed home back through the National Mall wanting to see the monuments again as they are lit up at night time and Washington has some of the most incredible sunsets, the colours were just spectacular!
 |
| Looking back towards Capitol at sunset |
 |
| The Washington Monument at sunset |
 |
| The sky just lit up! |
 |
| Looking at the Washington Monument from the WWII Memorial |
 |
| At the WWII Memorial |
 |
| The WWII Memorial |
 |
| Looking at the Lincoln Memorial from the WWII Memorial |
 | |
| A view to the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial | (an empty reflection pool :-( |
 |
| The Lincoln Memorial |
No comments:
Post a Comment