It's fair to say that Washington DC is one of the places that I had been looking forward to the most since planning the trip. The tiny district (it's not a state or part of one) is packed full of famous parks, museums, monuments, and government buildings and due to time constraints we only had one day to see as much as possible.
The campsite that we had reached late the previous night was actually quite far south of DC in Pohick Bay, Virginia. We planned to drive to the closest Metro station (Springfield - Franconia) and use that to get into the city. Due to traffic congestion we had been advised not to try this before at least 9am which gave us a nice sleep in after the late night.
What should have been a 25 minute drive to the station took 40 minutes thanks to google maps taking us to a suburban cul de sac which was right next to the station but completely cut off from it by train tracks. After finally arriving and parking in a huge parking building we bought day passes which would allow us to get in and out and travel within the city if needed. We caught a Blue line train which took us to the Federal Triangle station in the heart of the city.
Arriving via Metro
One of the cool things about getting a Metro into a city for the first time is the way everything is obscured on the way in. Coming out of the station and suddenly being surrounded by everything was fun. Our first destination was the White House but we made a visit to the Visitor Centre on the way to get an idea of how we could see all of the things that we wanted to (or at least as many as possible).
The station architecture was impressive.
The US Treasury
It quickly became apparent how much security there was around the city as we walked. Several streets were blocked off by raised barriers with guard houses and security fences. There was a large police presence as well as other security forces. Unfortunately for us a man had recently scaled the White House fence and made it on to the grounds before being caught. Because of this a second fence had been erected a few metres in front of the first which made it impossible to take good photos. There were also no tours allowed because of this. The building was much smaller than we had imagined. I think it's often confused with the Capitol building which is huge.
White House featuring fence.
We didn't manage to get a glimpse of Obama (no idea whether he was there or not) but we did see the Mayor of DC who made a speech at an anti gun rally outside the White House. An interesting fact we learned is that citizens of DC have no representation in the US government. They cannot vote for Congress or the Senate. Because of this all DC registered number plates bear the message "Taxation without Representation". It seemed ironic that those who live within the heart of the US government have very little involvement in deciding it's formation.
Anti-gun rally. The speaker is the Mayor of DC.
The back of the White House had a better view but was much further away.
After seeing the White House we made our way onto the Mall, a huge parkway that joins the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Capitol Building. The Washington Monument was much taller than I had expected and tours to the top were free. Unfortunately they had to be booked early in the day and we were much too late. It would have given a great view, especially at sunset, but I'll just have to save it for next time. It was around midday by now and as usual another thunderstorm was on its way. The clouds were slowly building and thunder was rolling in the distance. It was another extremely hot and humid day and just walking through the Mall was tiring.
The Washington Monument viewed from the Lincoln Memorial.
Next up we walked down to the Lincoln Memorial which had great views back toward the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool. We had to take a few minutes to rest inside the memorial where it was relatively cool, although crowded. The Memorial was impressive with the statue of Lincoln being much larger than what I had imagined (seems to be a bit of theme really).
The Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool.
After having a short rest we headed back towards the Washington Monument and onwards towards the Capitol Building. The Capitol contains both the House of Representatives (Congress) and the Senate and is absolutely huge. Unfortunately the day we were visiting was the day the dome was closed for renovation work. As we walked towards the building the rain began to fall and the thunder sounded much closer. As we walked all of our phones received flash flood warnings almost simultaneously through some emergency broadcast system (the floods never eventuated). We quickly passed by the many museums of the Smithsonian Institute and after a few minutes of being lost found our way inside the Capitol Building.
We were pleased to find out that both Congress and the Senate were in session and that we were able to view from the public gallery. We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes until we were finally admitted to view the House of Representatives. Unfortunately there were only a few members there and they seemed to be going through the motions of passing some fairly procedural sounding bills relating to airport security. It was cool just to be there though and I'm glad we waited. There was a strict no photography rule so there are no photos from inside.
We stepped out of the Capitol Building into clear blue skies with no sign of the earlier storm. We visited the Supreme Court which was a big deal for the Law students and walked past the Library of Congress. It was fairly late at this point and many buildings had closed to visitors.
The Supreme Court.
We then split up for a bit to have a quick look in some of the Smithsonian museums. I visited the Air and Space Museum while the others went to the Natural History Museum. I only had about half an hour so I didn't have much time to focus. I should mention that all of the museums are free. I was surprised to learn that the Smithsonian is not one single museum but a collection of 18 different museums ranging from art galleries to history and science museums.
We met up at the Washington Monument and set of to see our final sight (or site) of the day, the Jefferson Memorial. The evening was very still and a much nicer temperature than before the storm. The Memorial looked very picturesque from across the water as we approached, with the sun slowly setting.
The Jefferson Memorial.
We finished up with awesome pizzas at a restaurant where you picked your own ingredients in a similar manner to Subway. A quick visit to Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was shot was all we had the energy for before getting back on the Metro and heading back to our campsite. It was probably one of our most action packed days and we must have walked a serious distance. I think we managed to do really well in one day. There's still plenty left to see for next time.
The city itself felt quite European in terms of layout and architecture. All of the landmark buildings share a classical style which feels really cohesive and civic. We had the option of using the Metro to get around but in the end we just walked everywhere as it was the best way to take it all in.
Tomorrow's plan is an epic journey to New York City with a number of interesting stops.