Washington DC

I went to Baltimore, Maryland for a trip for work.  While there, I had some time to do a little site-seeing.


Here is leaving Salt Lake City:
     

First up, was the Baltimore Basilica.  It was only about a mile away, so I decided to walk.  The Baltimore Basilica was the first Roman Catholic Cathedral built in the United States.  It's also a National Shrine and it was built between 1806 and 1821.

It's a beautiful building.  Although it's open for tours, it's still used several times a day for mass.  When I went, mass was going on so I had to quietly leave and wait about 15 minutes.

So I walked another 10 minutes to the Washington Monument.  I know what you're thinking, you walked all the way to Washington DC to the big pointy building?  Nope.  Yes, I was confused too when I found out there is a Washington Memorial in Baltimore!

The one in Baltimore is named after the person, and George Washington lived in area in Baltimore called Mt. Vernon and is buried here as well.  This monument was built in 1815 and was the first monument to honor George Washington. It's just a tall column, with about 230 steps inside going up to the top.


         

Then I headed back to the church.


It was very beautiful inside and very ornate.


     

Yes, this is the outside of the church

Another afternoon, I took a bus to Fort McHenry, about 15 minutes away from downtown, where I was staying.  I didn't even know this place existed, but it was the place where Francis Scott Key, who was in a boat in the harbor, saw the American Flag flying and he wrote the Star Spangled Banner after seeing the flag at the end of the War of 1812.    The flag was huge!  It was 30 x 42 FEET!

This fort, now a National Park, defended the Baltimore Harbor from the British attacks.  It's not a big place, but was pretty interesting.

     

The last day of my conference ended early, and I researched Washington DC was only an hour's train ride from Baltimore.  First however, I had to get to the train station..so I had to walk to a special bus station that was free, as the light rail wasn't running due to construction. Once at the train station, the train took about an hour to get to DC.



This is Penn Station - Amtrak and commuter train station. Very big and busy!

   

\It was a Saturday, so DC was pretty quiet - no traffic anywhere which was really nice!  I first headed out of super nice Penn Station (Train Station) and walked to the US Capital.  I didn't have a tour appointment, but went to the stand-by line and got right in!

The US Capital is extremely ornate and full of symbolism.  These photos do not do it justice. Every carving and every panel and painting all have a story and symbolism.

     

Looking up at the NINE MILLION pound Cast Iron dome!

The painting at the top was made to look like it's 3D, but it's flat.  Due to the curvature of the dome however, it looks 3D. 

The part in the middle, also looks 3D, but it's flat as well.

An interesting story is each state is allowed to have two statues of famous people from their state.  They can swap statues once every ten years, and when they do swap or add one, they have to take another away - they can't have more than two.  Utah's statues are Brigham Young, who led the pioneers here, and Philo Farnsworth who invented the TV at BYU.


After the tour, I walked across the street to the Library of Congress, which is another beautiful building.  This is the research library for Congress. It's the largest library in the world,

     

The Supreme Court building was right next door, but wasn't open, but is very ominous looking with the huge white columns.

   

These are the doors to get in. They are meta engraved.

I then headed to the National Mall, which is where all the dozens and dozens of free museums, most notobaly, all the Smithsonian Museums are.  It was crowded with people.  I went in a few, but was running out of time and it was getting cold.  It was 70 degrees and sunny when I arrived, but when I was done with the tour, it was about 50 and getting really windy and dark clouds.  I wanted to make to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial before it started raining.


Did you know there is a National Botanical Garden?  Yeah, neither did I!
   

By the time I made it to the monument, it was so windy, the rangers were trying to shoo people away from the Monument because it was so windy, it was difficult to walk, and they didn't want anyone falling on the marble tile floor.  And it was cold!

     

Anyhow, I think I walked 5-6 miles that day, and only spent about 3 hours there, but I can now say I've been!  You could spend a week there going to all the free museums and things to see.