Carol writes: Even though we have both been to Washington, DC previously, this time we mutually agreed that it would make most sense to see some of the sights we have never seen before, and so the sightseeing list was formalized...
First, there was that burning desire of mine to visit the White House, or as it is also called, The People’s House. I soon discovered that White House rules throw all kinds of obstacles in your path, all the while frankly admiting chances of getting a visit approved are not very good. In a nutshell, you must request tickets for a visit through your member of Congress, preferably 3-4 months in advance. Even then, you will not be notified if you have scored the coveted tickets until approximately two weeks before your requested dates. Let’s just say, our South Dakota representative (we are legal South Dakota residents) didn’t let us down!
We showed up bright and early on the assigned date at the proper portal to the White House.
Reflecting the character of the times, security was pervasive, unyielding, and serious. No purses or backpacks were allowed on the tour. I observed a group of four who were forced to abandon their much-anticipated tour because all the women had purses but, sadly, no place to leave them…
To be perfectly honest, The People’s House looked a little worn, as in this photo of the East Room.
The items of interest to me in the East Room were portraits of two former presidents—the priceless one of George Washington that Dolly Madison rescued just before the White House went up in flames in 1814,
and the one of Theodore Roosevelt that was painted by renowned artist John Singer Sargent.
I was expecting a little more glamour in the State Dining Room.
On TV, I have seen it decked out to the nines for formal dinners, but on this day it was in tourist mode setting...
The loveliest rooms in the White House were the rooms named for their color scheme:
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| The Red Room |
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| The Green Room |
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| The Blue Room |
Al thought the most interesting part of the tour was the collection of presidential portraits that hung throughout.
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| President Kennedy |
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| President Reagan |
The White House library and theater room were mildly interesting.
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| The White House Library |
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| The White House Theater Room |
At the conclusion of the White House tour, getting a selfie at the door seemed the popular thing to do, so that is what we did…
We devoted one entire day to visiting two of Washington, DC’s most famous houses of worship:
the Episcopalian Washington National Cathedral
and the Catholic Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
The National Cathedral was a Gothic beauty with classic flying buttresses on the outside that supported its soaring walls and roof.
Inside, the noon Eucharist service was just about to begin behind the choir screen.
Unknown to us previously, we came across President Woodrow Wilson’s burial tomb in a side aisle. The most modest presidential burial site we have ever seen…
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| Tomb of President Woodrow Wilson in the National Cathedral |
The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception has laid claim to being the third largest church in the United States and North America. Clearly, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was the theme. Countless dazzling multicultural chapels dedicated to Mary occupied niches everywhere.
The main body of the church was immense, with a controversial dazzling mosaic of Jesus Christ in the dome area above the main altar. The story we heard is that people either think this depiction of Christ is great, or not so great.
On a day devoted to a walking tour of Washington, we unexpectedly found ourselves across from the Trump International Hotel. We had to satisfy our curiosity, and so we popped inside. Staff couldn’t have been nicer to us!
The bar atrium definitely had a wow factor. The TV over the bar was tuned to Fox News, and the hotel’s namesake was on the screen…
Comfy chairs in the hall across from a set of gold elevators (of course!) beckoned to us for a few minutes of rest.
A wonderful 360-degree view of the greater Washington area could be appreciated on the top floor of the Clock Tower of Trump International Hotel.
From on high, this was a great view of the Capitol!
For convenience sake, we decided to take advantage of one of the perks offered by our campground. We signed up for a daytime bus tour that would take us on a Potomac water taxi ride all the way up to Georgetown, then down to Arlington National Cemetery by bus in time for the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The taxi ride along the Potomac gave us a perspective that was out of the ordinary, like these of the Watergate Complex
and the Kennedy Center.
The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
was a solemn, flawlessly executed ceremony like no other. The very large crowd was totally stilled and hushed. The only sound that could be heard was the click of cameras.
As the wife of a Navy veteran and mother of two children who both chose the military as their career, I was emotionally moved at the unwavering devotion to duty shown by the guardians of the tomb as they perform their sacred duty every hour, every day of the year, rain or shine…
The Arlington grounds were lovely on this cloudy day in early fall.
The eternal flame burned bright at the Kennedy gravesite. I found it poignant to learn that Jacqueline Kennedy was the one who decided that President Kennedy would have an eternal flame burning at his gravesite when she recalled that her husband had admired the one at Gettysburg on his visit there 8 months prior to his assassination.
For a long time, the National Air and Space Museum complex near Washington Dulles International Airport has been on Al’s bucket list. This museum had quite an impressive collection of historically significant aircraft and spacecraft. The highlights of the collection were the Space Shuttle Discovery;
the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima;
a Concorde, the first supersonic airliner;
my favorite—the SR-71 Blackbird, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft;
and the Boeing “Dash-80”— the precursor to the KC-135 tanker, a plane my daughter once piloted.
And finally, completing my Washington bucket list was a visit to the Supreme Court of the United States.
On the way we detoured into historic Union Station for a look-see.
Washington, DC is awash in superb architecture on a grand scale. Many people would agree that the Supreme Court building is the most beautiful of all.
The architectural style is that of a Greek temple intended to convey the absolute sanctity of the law. The brilliant whiteness and impeccable cleanliness of the marble on the exterior certainly conveys a sense that what takes place here is of utmost importance to our nation.
In the courtroom, we were treated to a 30-minute docent lecture that told us everything we ever wanted to know about how a case progresses to the Supreme Court. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom, but afterwards we were able to get a zoom shot between the curtains.
The docent lecture and the 15-minute film narrated by the Supreme Court justices themselves heavily emphasized their collegiality, openness to persuasion, and commitment to reaching decisions based solely on the law and the Constitution. However, events of recent years have caused me to question these best of intentions. The west façade of the Supreme Court building displays the motto EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. My fervent wish is that the present court lives up to its promises as advertised.
Once again, Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem “Pity the Nation” seemed most apt…
“Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.”
Carol Galus
Photo-Blogger
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