Trip to DC

In late January I took my first trip to DC, one of many that I suspect my new job will have me doing.  It was my first time in the Capital and I ended up with only two or three hours in the late afternoon to see the monuments. Maybe my next trip will offer a bit more free time; I'd love to see the Air and Space museum.

Entrance to one of the Smithsonian Art Museums.

The underground commuter train station. I really enjoyed the lighting on the concrete vaulted ceiling.  It felt less like a cave and more like a cathedral.

The famous Washington Memorial.  I saw it first on my train ride from the airport to my hotel and I couldn't believe how prominent it was.  It makes a great sign post for the mall area.

Looking from the Washington Memorial to the WWII Memorial and then the Lincoln Memorial.

 View from the WWII Memorial back to the Washington Memorial. Though the fountain wasn't running in the winter, I really appreciate the WWII Memorial.

The also famous Lincoln Memorial.  There are alcoves on either side of the central statue, one with the Gettysburg address engraved on the wall and the other with his second inaugural address. This is the first time I read the second inaugural address and it made an impression on me. 

"... If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether...."