A tourist in Washington.

My new (temporary) roommate and I were out for about 7 hours today, and spent most of that time walking, taking in the Washington sights. It was fun! We headed downtown and started at the Mall and then saw pretty much all the monuments and memorials that one can see around that area. These included: the Washington monument (the big phallic symbol); the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials (large columned structures with enormous statues of the men inside, along with excerpts from their famous speeches etched into the walls); the George Mason memorial, looking lonely and neglected; the sprawling FDR memorial; the various war memorials (the famous Vietnam one, the Korean one---way cool, and the large new WWII one). The other J was a real trooper, despite his aching legs and feet!

Here I am in front of the Jefferson memorial, and that's J in the red hoodie behind me.

Here's part of the Korea War memorial. Images of soldiers are etched into the granite. It's very cool.

This last one is of part of the FDR memorial, which is huge, and covers all four of his terms as president. Neat-o. This is a scene memorializing the depression.

We of course managed to get lost on the way to find some food, but eventually found a place and got out of the rain for some good college boy fare near George Washington University: chicken wings, burgers, beer (for J), fries, and frat boys yelling at football on a big screen. It was an excellent day.

Tomorrow, back to the archives!