Washington D.C. (part 1)

Hello from America's capital! It is hard to believe it's only 4 days since we left Australia - partially, I suspect, because if you take into account the time change it is actually 5 days. Regardless, we have walked and explored and seen and photographed a lot in the time since we've arrived. I can picture Mr Bite now sleeping for some of the time I'm off conferencing.

The White House, from afar

We landed in Washington D.C. shortly after 9am on Sunday morning. I'd harboured fears for how we'd survive Sunday, after 30+ hours of travel and with 6 hours until we could access our holiday apartment, and even longer until we could seriously contemplate sleep. Fortunately, we survived quite well. Sleeping on the plane (a rarity!) and walking in D.C. sunshine helped.

That first day, we traversed the streets around where we're staying, which is in the city's north-west between the Dupont Circle and U Street metro stations. It is a lovely area, with tree-lined streets and endearing architecture offset by cafes and wine bars and even a nearby Whole Foods.

North-west Washington D.C.

Once those streets where explored, we walked 20 minutes south to the White House precinct. Mr Bite commented that it seemed smaller in real life and it is certainly less imposing than some of D.C.'s other buildings. Still, I found it to be on a grand enough scale.

The White House

I also enjoyed seeing a security man on the roof, whom I managed to capture in one photo (below) before he disappeared off out of sight. There are security and police everywhere in D.C., and we have found there are even different branches of police for different areas (Capitol Police, Federal Mint Police, Metropolitan Transport Police...).

Spot the security guard...

On our second day, we took in the National Mall with its monuments and well-established views, before doing a tour of the Capitol. That day was the day of the navy yard shootings, although we didn't learn of them until the evening. We did see many police around the Capitol (even more than we had been seeing) and heard that the Senate wasn't sitting, so the shootings may account for why.

Before getting to there, though, we started at the other end of the mall, with Mr Lincoln in giant form.

Lincoln Memorial

It is a funny thing, visiting places that you have seen photographed and featured many times. There's a sense of familiarity even as they are novel, and it feels almost futile to photograph them - but then you do anyway, adding to the collection of photos showing those exact sights from those exact angles. (Or at least, I do. Perhaps more imaginative people do not.)

Looking down the mall from Lincoln Memorial

As we're southern hemisphere tourists, we also took the obligatory squirrel snaps, caught in the novelty of a foreign (cute!) animal even whilst knowing they will soon seem commonplace even to us. 

We don't have these in Australia!

The mall isn't very long, but traversing it took most of the morning. It was easy to imagine the atmosphere when people gather to celebrate (or protest, or mourn) along its length. The sense of space was immense when we were there, and it would clearly hold a great many people.

World War II Memorial

I was amused to note a sign for running tours, which are entirely compatible with my new belief that D.C. is a city of runners. They are everywhere, at all hours! I have never seen so much activity within a city.

Once we reached the top of the mall, we were greeted with the classic skyline views of the Capitol building. If the White House seems smaller than expected, I found this to be larger, with the building extending further in all directions than I'd anticipated.

Capitol building - front

For tours, you enter at the rear, which is where we obtained our first non-airport taste of American security. No water! No food! No large bags! And - no lockers to leave any of those things in! I hastily downed 600ml of water, whilst Mr Bite regretfully abandoned chocolate chips biscuits (cookies) we'd carefully packed that morning (fortunately not an entire packet, but still painful).

Capitol building - back

Happily, I think the chocolate chip biscuits were a worthy sacrifice. The tours are free, and encompass a 15 minute video presentation followed by small group guided tours through four core rooms in the building. They don't include 'active' areas, and there is a clear sense of the tourists being divided from actual politicians, but you do get the novelty of being inside an immense and infamous building. Standing under the rotunda that gives it its characteristic skyline was particularly impressive.

Capitol rotunda from within

I haven't touched on food in this post, and as I've done before, I think I shall cluster food topics into stand-alone posts. I will say, though, that our first day took in a supermarket trip that included the following:

Oh yes...we're not in Australia any more.

Have you visited Washington D.C.? Or had the experience of visiting somewhere new, but also not new, on account of its fame?

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