WHITE HOUSE AND TOURING D.C. BY NIGHT

Saturday, July 30 - Our White House tour is today at 9:00 a.m. Again, we took the subway to the Federal Triangle station. After a short walk we arrived at the White House gates. There was a brief mix-up, I believe due to our tour having to be re-scheduled, but after a short delay we were admitted through security.

Construction began when the first cornerstone was laid in October of 1792. Although President Washington oversaw the construction of the house, he never lived in it. It was not until 1800, when the White House was nearly completed, that its first residents, President John Adams and his wife, Abigail, moved in. Since that time, each President has made his own changes and additions. The White House is, after all, the President’s private home. It is also the only private residence of a head of state that is open to the public, free of charge.

The tour is a self-guided tour. Once you enter the White House you can leisurely walk through and enjoy the public area at your leisure. Of course, there are Secret Service officers in each room to watch over you and to answer questions. You are not permitted to carry anything with you, including purses, cameras, bags, lotions, etc... The only items permitted are wallets, ID's and cell phones. Phones must be turned off.

As you enter the White House, you can't help but notice the beautiful landscaped grounds and gardens. Off to the left is the new kitchen garden planted by Michelle Obama and Jackie Kennedy's rose garden.

Here is a map so you can follow along with our tour. Since we could not take any photos, all the photos of the rooms were taken off the Internet.

As you tour the historic home, you can't help but be amazed by the priceless pieces of art and Federal period furniture. We started out viewing the Vermeil Room used for a variety of official functions. Portraits of recent First Ladies are displayed here.

 

The next room, is the China Room where the china used by the Presidents is displayed in beautiful cabinets Each room is tastefully decorated in period furnishings and each has a huge chandelier hanging in the center of the room.

We then were directed upstairs to the East Room located on what is called the State Floor. It is the largest room in the White House. It is used for receptions, ceremonies, press conferences and other events. The bodies of seven Presidents have lain in state here, including Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy.

Next is the Green Room, which once served as Thomas Jefferson's dining room, is now furnished as a parlor and used for receptions. Most of the furniture was made in New York by Duncan Phyfe in 1810. The walls are covered with watered green silk with draperies of striped silk damask.

Our favorite room, the Blue Room, was next. It is gorgeous! Often used by the President to receive guests, it is furnished to represent the period of James Monroe, who purchased the furnishings in 1814. The White House Christmas tree is placed in this room during the Christmas season.

The Red Room, used for small receptions, has long been a favorite of the First Ladies......red is a “power” color for women, you know! The room is decorated as an American Empire parlor of the 1818-1830 era.

The last room seen on the State Floor, open to the public, is the State Dining Room. It can seat 140 guests at dinners and luncheons. Carved into the fireplace mantel is a quotation from a letter by John Adams. “I Pray Heaven to Bestow the Best of Blessings on THIS HOUSE and All that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under this Roof.” Hanging in this room is the famous portrait of George Washington. The only work of art to have remained in the White House since it's completion. It was removed briefly during the Civil War, when the White House was set on fire by Confederate troops.

The second and third floors are used only by the Presidential family and guests. Paul asked one of the Secret Service Agents if the First Family ever roam around in the evenings after all the tours are completed. “Yes,” he replied, “especially the first several weeks of their new administration. The children still run through with friends during sleepovers, but the President and Michelle pretty much hangout upstairs now.”

That concluded our tour as we strolled out the front portico and were permitted to take pictures – OUTSIDE - using our cell phones. This was a fabulous tour...a must see! Both Marsha and Paul consider it the highlight of their Washington visit! If you come to Washington, DC, be sure to contact your State Senator to arrange a tour!!!

Marsha said that they look like they are keeping bees….

Paul’s reply….”Now, do you really believe that is a bee stand?” “Duh, Marsha!”

Paul enjoyed watching the SS patrol the roof.

We Weren't done Yet!!! - Around 6:00 p.m. We headed back to the City to see the place lit up at night. Again we rode the subway, which was undergoing track repairs, and the trains were delayed by 30 minutes or more. We arrived downtown about 8:00 p.m. Our first stop, one of Marsha's favorites, the Korean War Memorial. We waited there for the sun to set and for the lights to start coming on. We enjoyed people watching for a while.....and boy was it crowded. People certainly have no fear of being out in DC after dark.

This Memorial does not have tons of light, but what lightning they do have make the faces of the men ghostly looking.

 

Next was the Lincoln Memorial.....AWESOME in the daylight and AWESOME at night. The crowd here was huge! The Lincoln statue is fabulous after dark. The crowds were sitting all over the stairs, enjoying the view of the city.

We then headed up The Mall toward the WWII Memorial and the Washington Monument. The Washington Monument seems to be the beacon of the city. Most every where you venture, you can see the Monument. Again, at night it's spectacular!

WW II Memorial in front.

From there, we back tracked a bit to the White House. Gee, we were just there about twelve hours ago...ha ha! It looked like everyone was home. Lit up on the second floor…inside and out.

Then the long walk up Pennsylvania Avenue all the way to the Capital Building. A much longer walk than we were prepared for....about 15 blocks. We hadn't seen the Capital close up yet. We'll be touring it on Monday. WOW!!! That is a beautiful and humungus building and again AWESOME at night.

Approximate walking distance is 10.07 miles from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol via the walk along the highway. Of course we had to walk 8 blocks from the Metro to the Lincoln Memorial, took a side trip to the White House and had to walk another 8 blocks to catch the Metro for home.

Now to find the subway. Marsha's been an outstanding tour guide taking Paul all over the Capital city. Darting here and there. If you know Marsha, you probably wonder why Paul turns over the Tour Guide title to her. When told to turn East...she gives you that, “Yeah, Right Look.” But we found the Subway with only a couple......”I'm not sure about this” statements and after walking in only a few circles and after only a couple “small” arguments and after another L-O-N-G walk. It was sure enjoyable to sit down and ride the subway home.....even if it was experiencing construction delays. We eventually arrived back home at 1:00 a.m. Now remember, be hit the road this morning at about 6:00 a.m., so it was a full day of sightseeing. We immediately hit the sack!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon.

MORE TOURING IN D.C.

3^rd Day Touring DC – We did a little something different on the subway this morning. We started on the Blue train and transferred to the Yellow train....interesting, but we didn't think it saved us any time.

We got off the subway at the Federal Triangle Station and went first to the Old Post Office. This was awesome! Originally built in 1899, a highlight of the Old Post Office Pavilion is its 315 foot Clock Tower. The Old Post Office Clock Tower also proudly houses the official United States Bells of Congress, a bicentennial gift from England celebrating the end of the Revolutionary War.

The place was nice.

We wondered how they kept it so clean. Well, here is one way. They were polishing all the brass.

We rode the elevator to the 12^th floor observation deck and were able to look over downtown DC.....really neat!

We also visited the bell tower and saw the bells.

 

On the way out of the post office we ran in to President Obama. Paul gave him the thumbs up and Marsha, unbelievably, gave him a KISS! Holy Cow!!!!

We then went over to the White House for pictures. We walked completely around the White House. They sure don't let cars get anyway near the building.....pedestrians don't get very close either. We were a little surprised that it wasn't as large of a building as we expected. There were guards everywhere, including on the roof. We have a tour coming up on Saturday morning (rescheduled) so will get a closer look! Pictures in next post.

Next was the Blair House, which is directly across the street from the White House. The original Blair House was built in 1824. What is today known as Blair House is in fact the combination of that original home and three other handsome townhouses. While they appear from the outside to be independent of one another, the four homes are connected internally.

Together, the complex is larger than the White House, with 119 rooms and total area of 70,000 square feet. There are 14 guest bedrooms, eight staff bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, four dining rooms, kitchen facilities, laundry and dry cleaning facilities, an exercise room, a flower shop, and a fully equipped hair salon. Blair House strives to be comfortable, discreet and secure, and to provide any service that a visiting dignitary might require.

We also visited the famous Willard Intercontinental Hotel. This grand Washington DC historic hotel has hosted almost every U.S. president since Franklin Pierce in 1853. On August 28, 1963, the Reverend Martin Luther King wrote his famous “I Have A Dream” speech while a guest at the Willard. Other notable guests have included Charles Dickens and Buffalo Bill. If you plan to spend the night, be ready to cough up at least $400.

Lobby

Next stop....the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the nation's first collection of American art. The American Art Museum is the home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world.

On the second floor of the Museum is where President Lincoln held his inaugural ball.

We really enjoyed the Folk Art section.

Marsha’s favorite sculpture. Do you know who this is?

And there was this very odd sculpture in the hallway. No one seemed to know who this was or why he was here.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the history of America through individuals who have shaped its culture. Home of all the OFFICIAL PRESIDENTIAL PORTRAITS. Also, the museum was having a special showing of Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. No photography was permitted in this area. 

The most famous portrait of George Washington. The original one is in the White House hung in the State Dinning room.

These priceless paintings were wonderful to see. We could have spent an entire day in this art museum but had to move on to our next stop.

The National Archives and Records Administration is where the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are housed. The only Magna Carta permanently in the United States is displayed here. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. No photography is permitted in this building.

 

We had a little wait to see the documents but it was well worth it! It's amazing to see these historical documents in real. We've all seen them in history books but there they were, right before our eyes....truly amazing! The Archives also had a special display of Civil War historical documents. Marsha being a history buff, really enjoyed reading almost every piece of history......ha ha!

Then it was time to head back to the Metro for the ride home. It was nice to get back to the motor home and relax for the evening. Whew.......a long day, but very enjoyable!

SOME WASHINGTON DC OBSERVATIONS:

1. Things are really clean. The streets and subways.

2. The people are friendly. For some reason, this surprised us. They are eager to help tourists.

3. 9ll really did have a huge impact on Life in DC. Everything is done with security in mind!

4. Washingtonians drive VERY aggressive......fast & not allowing merging.

5. The Metro really works great! Best to use it!

6. Living here must beEXPENSIVE

7. Beautiful

8. This city is a National Historical Treasure.

9.  Young people give up their seats on the subway for seniors!  (No one gave Marsha or Paul their seats….this is a good thing!  Ha Ha!)

10.  Since young people use the subway for “going out” on Friday & Saturday, they head out about 7 p.m. not 10 p.m. like back in Ohio.

11. Glad we came!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all real soon.

OUR COUNTRY’S CAPITAL…D.C.

Wednesday, July 28 – Let the touring begin!!! Well, we took on the heat in DC and I'm not really sure we won.....LOL! It was a HOT day to say the least.

We drove into Springfield to catch the Metro to Washington, DC. We purchased “Fast Passes” which give us unlimited Metro riding for a week. We parked free at a neighboring mall and walked a couple blocks to the Metro Station.

This is one of the trains leaving. The place is so clean!

This is looking down on the roof of one train arriving and one leaving.

The ride in on the subway/train was very nice. We exited the train at Foggy Bottom/GW University station. We didn’t spend much time in Georgetown, but it looks just like what Marsha said she thought it would look like. You be the judge.

 

On our way to our first stop, we passed the Department of Navy. WOW…they are serious when they say NO TRASPASSING!

Our first stop was the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial stands at the west end of the National Mall. It is surrounded by a peristyle of 38 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the thirty six states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death.

President Lincoln is Marsha’s favorite President. She was so excited to get her picture taken with him.

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd by the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 .

Paul is showing me where he stood when the speech was given. Right on the edge of the water.

This far away.

Now if you believe that….

Korean War Monument was very impressive. From 1950 to 1953, the United States joined with the United Nations forces in Korea to take a stand against what was deemed a threat to democratic nations worldwide.They had a ceremony the day before our visit, that’s the reason for all the flowers.   The wall had different scenes from the war etched in the stone wall.

Vietnam War Memorial (The Wall) was bigger than we both imaged. The 58,191 names are inscribed in chronological order of the date of the casualty, showing the war as a series of individual human sacrifices and giving each name a special place in history. It is a pretty amazing Memorial.

There are several books available with all the names listed, what wall they are on and the line number.

World War II Memorial honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home.

There are scenes depicting the war surrounding the Memorial.

The Washington Monument  is shaped like an Egyptian obelisk, stands 555’ 5 1/8” tall, and offers views in excess of thirty miles. The Reflecting Pool 167 feet wide, 2029 feet long, 18 inches deep on sides - 30 inches in center and has approximately 6,750,000 gallons of water.

This was taken from the WW II Memorial.

The Mall, The Ellipse, The White House, The Vistors Center, Smithsonian Castle, and finally the National Air and Space Museum. Those pictures will come in the next blog.

We caught the Metro at L'Enfant Plaza for the relaxing ride home. We were BUSHED (no pun intended using a former President’s name to describe our condition).

Paul liked the Lincoln Memorial the best, with seeing the Washington Monument a close second. Marsha rated the Lincoln Memorial number one and the Korean War Memorial number two. All the famous monuments are worth seeing......it's going to take quite a few exhausting days to see most of them.....stay tuned to see if we survive!

From the Frying Pan into the Skillet = HOT IN DC !!! Day 2 started out much like Day 1 ended.....HOT ! We awoke to 82 HUMID degrees....eeeeek!

I don't know if it's due to poor wiring in the campground or brownouts due to the heat, but we can't run our AC in the motor home without tripping our EMS (electrical management system). Actually, we can't run much of anything.....aaargh. Paul's about ready to die from the heat. He spoke with the campground management, but it appears there is little they can do about the problem????

We have our White House tour this morning. We headed out for the subway/train at 7:30 a.m. At least the subway has AC. You are not permitted to take ANYTHING other than you money (LOL) and ID on the tour. No storage lockers are available in downtown DC either. Must be a post 911 precaution – which there are numerous. So, we had to leave camera, etc... in the car and will need to return there after the tour.

Well, so much for our White House tour......Cancelled....no explanation given. Sounded a little weird. They actually called us on the cell at about 9:30 to tell us it was canceled. They will try to reschedule if possible.

The good news is we moved to another camp site. After failing to get power in site 99 they moved us to site 73, a full hook-up site (no additional charge). Now we have 50 amps, water, and sewer. We also decided to extend our stay here an additional four days. That way we can slow our sightseeing pace down and get some relief from the heat. We decided to just relax at camp for the rest of the day!!!

New site…so much room!

Down the road.

Just as Marsha was getting the pictures ready for the blog, she received an email telling us we are rescheduled for the White House Tour for Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m…..YIPEE!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all real soon.