Visiting the Mall in Washington DC
Previous weeks, we were on vacation in the US. We started our American roadtrip in the political heart of the USA in Washington DC on a bloody hot day.
My knowledge of Washington was no more than "the National Mall", an official National Park in the city center of Washington DC that stretches out a few kms between the Capitol, the Washington monument and the Lincoln Memorial with a connection to the White House gardens (I wrongly assumed the White House was on the Mall) and the West Potomac park with all the (presidential or commemorative) memorials. The National Mall is bordered by a few dozen Smithsonian musea that are all free to visit. So just thoroughly visiting the Mall can take you a couple of days.
We were only 2 days in Washington DC and didn't spend all of that at the National Mall but we walked the President's park / Lafayette park north of the White House and the area further north including the food truck bordered Farragut Square etc. We also walked a good portion of the National Mall but we toured for the rest of the city center, the Mall and the monuments of the West Potomac Park with an open tourist bus as this was more feasible with the children in the heat. Unfortunately this way I've not seen all the memorials as up close as I would have wished. If the children would have been a bit older, renting bicycles and touring the area with them on bike would have been a great fun alternative.
The White House
seen from the North side in Lafayette Park.
The White House is truly ridiculously small. I knew that but it still looked surprisingly small. From the north the West and East wing are not very visible behind the trees and slope and then you only see a building that is 10 windows wide. 10 windows for the official residence and working place of the most powerful politician in the world.
The Capitol
In contrast to the White House, the Capitol is an impressive monument towering on Capitol Hill over the east side of the National Mall. Its dome is, just like the Washington monument, visible from far and wide in the city. This is the legislative heart of the USA.
This was my favourite building. Its position not far from the Potomac river, makes it visible from highways miles away from the city center. To me it is THE symbol of Washington DC. It is the highest building of the city...which makes Washington DC a very cosy city without true skyscrapers. This is managed in the Height of the Buildings Act and was apparently Thomas Jefferson's wish to keep Washington low and light and airy.
The obelisk of the Washington Monument is 169m high and built of 2 types of marble, as they ran out of the first type during the construction period.
West Potomac park
As stated above, we toured the many monuments in the West Potomac park with a tour bus. So unfortunately I don't have many decent pictures (as I had to control the toddler next to me to keep him seated).
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| The Lincoln memorial |
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| The Jefferson memorial |
The trump international hotel
or the unofficial residence of the president in the city or the Old Office Building.
The Smithsonian Musea
We alternated our visits to the city with some short stops in 2 of the many free top musea that are available at the border of the National Mall. We also lunched at one of the food trucks bordering the Mall.
Our other museum of choice was the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The children ran around pointing to all the space shuttels, rockets, old planes, etc.. while we did our best not to lose them into the school crowds.
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