Trip 5

05/18/04

During the rest of this day we went to the Library of Congress, Washington Monument, White House Visitors Center, The World War Two Memorial and a lot of ground.

The Library of Congress looks good. But we were only able to see the nice main room. It has some nice architecture and art, but few books. The exception being the Gutenberg and Mainz Bibles. So after a quick glimpse we started towards the Washington Monument, as we supposedly had to be there by 1:30.

Grandpa thought it is just a mile from the Capitol to the monument. It is much closer to two miles. So we ran most of the way and made it there in half an hour. Once we got there we discovered that we didn’t have to be there at 1:30. In fact, we had to wait in several lines. But the Monument has some very nice views. I found it interesting that every other window (there are two per side) was locked off. After spending some time there we advanced to the World War Two Memorial. There are two towers with the names of the battles that America fought in. Separating the towers is a large reflecting pool with fountains. These fountains keep the temperature at the memorial down, a nice lure. After enjoying this we headed back towards the hotel.

It so happened that the White House Visitors Center is on the way to the hotel. It was almost closing time when we got there but I was able to watch the end of a movie. After showing the Lincoln “Bedroom” etc. President Bush stated that he was honored to work in the White House. He then explained that it belonged to us, and so invited us to see it. Well, after a three-month background check which we did not have time to go through.

Now I get to the part of the paper that I love the best, closing paragraph. Other than the opening one, this is the hardest part to write. It is rather difficult to put in three sentences where there only needs to be one. But anyways, on this day we saw the Capitol, Library of Congress, Washington Monument, World War Two Memorial and White House Visitors Center.