Finally, after two weeks I found time to work on the pictures taken in Washington, D.C. on the Thanksgiving weekend. Not only have there been more important things to do, but also did I lack a certain motivation to go through all the 800+ pictures and distill the ones to publish...
I took the overnight bus to D.C., a quite pleasant 10h journey. We arrived at Union Station at 9am and I was eager to have my first coffee in front of the Capitol, something I repeated on all mornings (not only because you get good and cheap breakfast at Union Station, which is only a stone's throw away from the Capitol).
The Capitol itself is quite an impressive building and is home to the Congress of the United States, which is made up of the House and the Senate. I must admit that the moment I stood in front of this building was the first moment I really felt like being in the US.
The Capitol seen from the Library of Congress across the street.
The Capitol seen from the below Capitol Hill.
Turning around on the spot gives you this impressive view down National Mall up to the Washington Monument. Most of the Smithsonian Museums are to the left and to the right of this mall, quite comfortable for tourists...
One of these museums is the National Gallery of Art, greeting its visitors with this beautiful fountain. I might write about the art museum in another post, so no more details here...
After my first visit to the museum I went to look for my hostel and finally found it right next to Chinatown. The outside look gives a pretty good impression on how it was inside: clean but not too comfortable, still enough for backpackers.
After a short rest I went on to get to what people might call the world's most famous residence: the White House. It is located in a beautiful and huge garden, fenced to keep away the tourists.
The second picture was taken two days later and shows the other side of the house (seen from H Street).
Washington, D.C. is packed with monuments: there are monuments for wars (here the WWI)...
... and monuments for famous historical persons such as the Lincoln memorial...
(This is the place where Martin Luther King gave his famous speech)
... the Washington Monument (in line with the Capitol in the background down National Mall).
The first night brought me to Georgetown and I was surprised to hear that these inconspicuous stairs were a setting in the 1973 movie The Exorcist.
That's it for the first day. I spent the second day in the Library of Congress and two of the Smithsonians. More on that later...
