America pics - part 2

The Lincoln Memorial has always been my favourite of the big monuments. 

Someone said one time about America that rather than building giant cathedrals like Europe that America builds temples to their leaders. 

From the US Park Service:

"The individual responsible for this design was architect Henry Bacon who modeled the memorial after the Greek temple known as the Parthenon. Bacon felt that a memorial to a man who defended democracy, should be based on a structure found in the birthplace of democracy. The final design featured thirty-six exterior columns to symbolize the thirty-six reunited states at the time of Lincoln’s death. The names of those states appear in the frieze above the columns.

 French (the statue's sculptor) depicted the president as a worn but strong individual who had endured many hardships. He positioned Lincoln's hands in a manner that displayed his two leading qualities. One of the president's hands is clenched, representing his strength and determination to see the war through to a successful conclusion. The other hand is a more open, slightly more relaxed hand representing his compassionate, warm nature."

The reflecting pool was nearly drained while we were in DC. The engineers had drained it so that repair work could be undertaken. They left enough water so that you can still see the Washington Monument reflected in the shallow bit of water in the middle. I guess you can't deny all us tourists our photo op.

This photo is taken from the steps of the Lincoln memorial.

(photo from http://havecamerawilltravel.com)

We visited in mid-August, and by Labor Day on September 3 (my birthday!) the renovations on the pool were complete. 

I didn't realize this, but Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech was made from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington. This action is commemorated by an engraving directly outside the memorial.

King's speech in August of 1963 was given on the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

This is the World War II memorial. I really like how it has the arenas of conflict separated into Atlantic (European) and Pacific. Each column has the names of one of the states on it.

Seeing the Hope diamond has always been on my "gotta see" list. I finally can mark that one off. Its really huge.

Denise and I outside the White House.

The National Museum of the American Indian. I love how the architecture of the building has the feel of the Great Plains or the southwest. 

The Wright Brothers plane that flew at Kittyhawk.

Lindburgh's Spirit of St Louis plane at the National Air and Space Museum.

You've got to love a museum that's so huge you can hang planes from the ceiling.

I had to take a picture of this Toast-o-lator. We have a family joke about everything being an "entator". So close enough.

Apparently the word "avocado" is impossible to spell correctly. And I loved "micro greens", do you need a microscope to see them?

America pics - part 1

When I was away at an IT conference earlier in the year I won a travel voucher for a trip to New York City. I added some $$ of my own allowing me to make a 2 week whirlwind tour of NYC, Washington DC and Oregon (of course).

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's hoping!

First, pics of New York City...

The way most people get around in New York City is via the subway. It's incredibly loud when there is a train coming and it's quite easy to get disoriented regarding which way is north or south (geographically challenged travelers take note!)

You are expected to know that "uptown" is north and "downtown" is south.

Two small town girls loose in the Big Smoke!

In case you wondered why you can't catch a cab, it's because they're all at the stop light. :)

Also, NYC operates a "medallion" system where only 13,000 cabs are licensed to pick up passengers who hail them (wave their arm) from the street. The rest of the taxis are called "black cabs", and can be hired by telephone. And of course there is a new iPhone app (usable only in major cities on the east coast) where you summon a cab based on your GPS location.

New York City is a very old place in U.S. terms (first settled by Europeans in the early 1600's). Many of the side streets in the older parts of town are cobblestone.

Visiting the Statue of Liberty is something I've always wanted to do. It sits on a lump of rock called Liberty Island. Nearby is Ellis Island where many of the early immigrants to America were processed.

Incidentally, processing is a strange word to use in talking about humans...makes them sound like some kind of cheese product.

If you look carefully on the tablet that Lady Liberty is holding in her left hand you can see that it reads July 4 1776 in Roman numerals.