Towards the end of the week in the Washington, DC-Indianapolis vacation, we spotted some food trucks, went to a Washington Capitals hockey game and toured the US capital. Two days packed with food and culture!

Food trucks in DC

That was on Thursday morning. After that we went to the National Archives and saw, among other items, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights (no photos allowed, but that’s what Google Images is for). Then we went to the Newseum, a visit I can definitely recommend – especially the FBI section. They had various items, including the cabin where the Unabomber stayed and the SUV from the attempted Times Square bombing a few years back.

Thursday night Marco and I went to the Washington Capitals hockey game against the Dallas Stars. It was a lot of fun, especially since we weren’t rooting for either team. A good thing to, since the home team lost…

On Friday I had arranged tickets to the US Capitol tour. That was also a very interesting tour, which began with a very pro-America, very patriotic video (of course). The highlight was the National Statuary Hall, of which below is an example:

Each statue is allowed to donate two statues. The only rules are that the statue must be of someone who passed away and they must be made of either marble or bronze. The statues can be replaced with a different person’s statue as desired. In the middle with the black base is a statue from Nebraska of William Jennings Bryan.

There’s also an unmarked, empty grave in the middle of the rotunda. The intention was that George Washington and his wife Martha would be buried there once the capitol was completed, as the literal foundation on which the nation was born (the tour guide’s words). Unfortunately, they died about 30 years before the Capitol’s construction was complete and their family did not want them disturbed once the Capitol was ready.

the marker of the grave originally intended for George Washington and his wife

As mentioned previously, Marco and I recently returned from a trip to Washington, DC and to Indianapolis (for the Thanksgiving holiday). One interesting thing I that I didn’t know about was the Zero Milestone near the fence in front of the White House.

The Zero Milestone was a marker originally conceived to be the milestone from which all road distances in the US are measured. This never came to be (only the roads in Washington DC are measured from it currently). Which makes sense as the milestone is on the east coast of the country and not in the Midwest, a more logical starting point.

Nearby you have the Korean memorial, a memorial which contains a mural wall with images of the troops who served during the war as well as 17 statues which represent a squad on patrol, walking in a thick green brush at their feet.

After that we visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial. This memorial was recently finished in 2011 so it was the first time I had seen it. It stands taller than life. I didn’t crop the woman in the picture so that you could get a sense of its height:

Two facts about the memorial include the dedication ceremony being delayed due to the arrival of Hurricane Irene as well as the paraphrase of a quote which was later removed.

We were not able to see it up close, but directly across from the memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. is the Jefferson memorial.

The water looks very cold and uninviting in the photo. It was a windy day.

Continuing the story of Marco and I’s recent travels to Washington, DC and Indianapolis…

We visited the National Mall on one of our days in the city. And no, it does not mean a ‘mall’ like a ‘shopping mall’ – it’s a strip of land where the majority of important buildings and memorials can be found. One of the memorials we visited was the World War II memorial:

I was able to secure tickets for the Washington Monument (you can either pay a small reservation fee or take your luck at free tickets the day of). This monument stands 500 feet tall (150 meters) and is visible from a far distance.

View of Washington monument from the steps of the Lincoln memorial

I enjoyed the views from above – the monument provides great views of the surrounding area. Here are some examples:

View of … DC construction and remodeling?

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best example. Let’s try this one:

View of Lincoln memorial from above

View of WWII memorial from above

Marco and I went to the US for the last two weeks for Thanksgiving. We spent a week in Washington, DC being tourists (a lot of sightseeing) and a week in Indianapolis being lazy (a lot of coffee and relaxation).

We stayed in Arlington, VA (at a Holiday Inn hotel) just over the Potomac river. We chose it because it was only one stop from DC and it was on one of the main metro lines. In fact, three different metro lines could get us into DC and beyond so we rarely had to wait long.

A view from Vantage Point – the restaurant on the 17th floor of the hotel. You can see DC across the Potomac river.

Here’s a shot of the Arlington National Cemetery – just the rows and rows of graves you’ll see:

Something unexpected – there is actually a gift from the Netherlands to the US in the cemetery for the US’s aid during World War II. It is near the Iwo Jima memorial. The gift is called ‘Netherlands Carillon’, a set of 50 bells (Wikipedia: English | Dutch). Unfortunately a recent Washington Post article states that it has fallen into disrepair – during the summer the bells are played by a live person, but outside of the summer hours the concerts are done by computer. There has been an issue which prevents the automated concerts from happening. There is no word yet on when it will be fixed…

And a piece of labradorite held at Smithsonian’s Natural History museum:

What can I say. I am a sucker for blue.