“I know what your problem is! The Lincoln Memorial was too crowded! No one ever comes to see me… I never did anything important! Just the Declaration of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, the dumbwaiter…”
I beg to differ. I was in Washington, DC on Saturday, July 7, and I can tell you exactly why I didn’t pay a visit to the Jefferson Memorial. It’s well off the “beaten path”, that line that runs from the Capitol Dome to Abraham Lincoln’s nose. And if you think that I was going to walk even more than I already did… um… no. If you’re familiar with the District of Columbia in the vicinity of the Capitol Mall, you know it’s pretty darn far on foot. I came out of the Metro at Capitol South, which is about two or so blocks from the Capitol. From the station, I went past the Library of Congress (didn’t go in due to time), and the Supreme Court building. Stopped at the Supreme Court to get some photos. Continuing along, I went around the Capitol. Since it was the peak tourist season, and the wait for the self-guided tour was around two hours, I decided to pass, and would do that outside of the March-October tourist season, when there are no lines. From there, I went down the Capitol Mall, through the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art, stopped at the American History Museum, had lunch and looked around and took photos, went to the Washington Monument, walked along the reflecting pool, visited the Lincoln Memorial, visited the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, passed by the White House and then left the District by way of McPherson Square. If you look at this aerial photo of the region of DC in question, you can see that my route (on foot!) was a killer, indeed…
The photo you see above, minus the Metro station markings and my red lines, is courtesy of MapQuest. My travels started at the M in the lower right hand corner of the map, which is the approximate location of the Capitol South station (I think I might have overshot it slightly). Then just follow the red line around, and you’ll end up at the second M, which is the McPherson Square Metro station. I took a total of 325 photos while I was up there, and I’m currently taking them all and trying to make a photo essay around them entitled “The Schumin Web Salutes America”.