December 27-30, 2006
Since we couldn't join our families for the holidays, we planned a romantic trip to DC. Unfortunately I came down with the flu the day we left, but I powered through as best I could, and in the end, we managed to have a good (although not very romantic) time in our nation's capitol. We also enjoyed some amazing dinners and pretty good weather, so overall, I'd have to say it was a good trip, if not quite what we'd intended.
Walking through Georgetown, Matthew had a nostalgic moment from his childhood visit to DC when we walked past this shop. The inside wasn't quite the same, but back then, this was one of the most memorable stores for he and his brother.
Veering off the commercial part of Georgetown, we wandered into the quaint neighborhood to view the cute houses and stumbled across the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
Bored with shopping, we walked down to The Mall to check out the momuments. Here's the side of the Lincoln Memorial.
Check out our tall shadows!
The Lincoln Memorial is a very grand structure. The columns around the structure represent the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death.
This statue of our 16th President is 19 feet tall and 19 feet wide, carved from 28 marble blocks.
Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
March 4, 1865
Looking across The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool towards the Washington Memorial. (I pointed out this was the site of one of the big scenes from "Forrest Gump", where Jenny and Forrest are reunited after his time in the Army, but Matthew thought it was a shame that this was my point of reference)
The Three Servicemen Statue at the entrance the the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1982, years after the veterans' return to mixed feelings. This memorial represents a sign of recognition and honor of our veterans, while allowing them to reflect and heal. We found it to be an extremely touching and emotional symbol of a very important (and messy) event in our country's history.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall contains the names of the 58,249 men and women who were killed and remain missing from that war. The names are listed in the order in which the men and women died or were declared missing, the first name located in the center of the memorial, at the top of the Wall.