The Sights

WARNING! LOTS OF PHOTOS!

On Saturday, we went on a four hour walk. We started in Chinatown.

Arch in Chinatown

Starbucks in Chinatown

The other side of the arch in Chinatown.

While walking down the street, we passed a woman carrying a pastry box. I told David that I wondered what was in the box...the next thing I knew, we were in front of the bakery! We stopped inside and all they sold was cupcakes! We bought one and shared it.

Red Velvet Cupcake....yummy!

David not understanding my need to photograph everything!

We kept walking and started to see the "real" sights of DC.

The National Archives

The Lone Sailor

The Capitol

The Washington Monument

My favorite moment of the day occurred at the World War II Memorial. The memorial is a large circle with walls built of stone. Some idiots (late teens/early twenties?) decided it would be a good idea to climb on top and sit on the wall. They were on the opposite side of the memorial and David said something to me about how they should get off the wall. We kept walking. Within moments we heard a man screaming, "GET! OFF! MY! WALL!" He repeated this several times when we realized it was one of the park rangers. He walked very quickly to them repeating his demand until they finally responded. Many of us just stopped and stared. A few minutes later we crossed paths with the ranger....he looked 16 years old and maybe weighed 110 lbs soaking wet! We smiled at eachother and David thanked him. All he could say was, "They were on my wall!" in such a hurt and frustrated tone. I was thankful and afraid of him all at the same time!

The World War II Memorial

This wall is along the Korean War Memorial. These images are of actual soldiers from the war. Their faces were laser-cut into the stone. It's amazing to see in person.

The Korean War Memorial

The faces of these statues are haunting. I would love to see this at night - I'm sure it must be even more dramatic with the lighting.

View from The Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

The Vietnam War Memorial

My uncle. David Mendez.

After seeing these sights, we were probably 2 1/2 hours into our walk. I was getting hungry and had the idea to "stop-by" The White House and see if anyone in the kitchen would be available to make me a quick snack.

After I saw this, I decided not to ask. :) We ended up eating a pretzel from a street vendor instead!

A sniper on top of The White House. "Are you looking at me?"

The White House

This was the end of our Saturday tour. We walked back to the metro station and headed back to the apartment to relax for a little while before we went to dinner.

The weather was perfect for our walk and we had so much fun taking our time and enjoying the sights and the company.