Friday, August 1, 2014
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| Look familiar? This is the House of the Temple in DC. It was popularized because of the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown |
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| The Philippine Embassy in DC. I didn't think I'd be giddy to see this but I was! |
Our hotel was a $100/night deal at a placed called the Normandy Hotel (I'll probably post a trip report about the hotel when I'm not lazy)
Since I am very, very particular about trip planning, one of the things I really wanted to do was go up the Washington Monument. It was closed for a few months because of some damage but luckily, it will be open a few days before we got there. Bingo!
It is highly advisable to reserve tickets to the Washington Monument in advance by going to Recreation.gov - the tickets are free but if you buy them in advance, you will have to pay a service charge. No worries for us - my boyfriend and I are lazy louts and would rather do something else with our time than queue up for two hours hoping to get tickets (but what if we don't?) - the service charge is very minimal - for the two of us we only paid like $5 and that includes shipping to my apartment. Score! (Of course, this only works if you live in the US. But fear not if you live outside the US, you can opt to pick up your tickets at the ticket counter on the day that you're supposed to go up). Booked our tickets for May 24th, 10:30 AM and we're all set!The ticket is timed, so you'll have to be there at least 15-30 minutes before your timed ticket and sit down at one of the marble benches and wait for your turn to go inside.
Before you go in, the park ranger will group you in batches (me and my bf along with 8 other people) then you'll have to go through an airport style security check (bags will be X-Rayed), and no food is allowed inside. You'll then wait outside the elevators which will take you up the monument.Since we were the first two inside, I got a chance to get my photo taken with Mr Washington himself. OK, a statue, but that's close enough.
There are two windows in every side of the monument (8 in all) and overall has breathtaking views of the National Mall & surrounding areas (if you went there on a clear day - when we were there it was very clear and sunny. Perfect weather, really).
Do take the time to take photos and marvel in those windows. I myself am a history buff and do love taking on amazing views, we ended up staying much more in the place than we expected to! Check out our photos in the rest of the post below. Please do not take and use them elsewhere without my permission though. You can grab hold of me on the contact me page on the right side of the page if you would want to use them.You should notice that there is a red light blinking up on the top of those two windows/viewing areas. Not sure what it's for though! I theorized it could be for airplanes - they do land quite close to the city center (via Reagan airport) but I could also be wrong!
Once you are done with the viewing area, you'll go down one level into a mini museum showcasing how the Monument was built, various trivia, etc - this is where you'll catch the elevator back down from the top.Watch out while you're elevator though! There are many commemorative stones that were donated by various states, some of them more interesting than the others! I managed to take a photo of some of them but unfortunately I didn't get to upload them! Oh well.
That concludes the Washington Monument trip.
Depending if you're a big history buff or not, it will take around 2-3 hours to do everything (including waiting for your turn to go up the top, waiting for your turn at the windows, taking pictures and then going to the other windows)Enjoy the photos in the blog - my camera is amazing isn't it?
It was a plus that we were there during Memorial Day weekend cos there was so many events going on!
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| WWII Memorial, Reflecting Pool & Lincoln Memorial |
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| MLK Memorial |
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| WWII Memorial |
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| The White House |
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| Me at the Monument |
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