Washington DC - Day 2

Day two was probably the busiest of the days in Washington, D.C..   We had to make up for the lost time from day one.  We started out at the Air & Space Smithsonian Museum at the National Mall.  It was pretty awesome!  They had a lot of really incredible planes to see, including the Spirit of St. Louis.

(this is not the Spirit of St. Louis)

They also had some cool exhibits from space, including a lunar lander.

It looks fake with all the gold foil stuff!

Jess, Jill, and I were all amused/horrified by the 1950s Flight Stewardess exhibit.  They showed the standards that stewardesses were required to meet, and suffice it to say, none of us would've been able to fly the friendly skies!

Could you be a flight stewardess?

For example, the following requirements had to be met:

• Height: Between 5'2 and 5'6
• Weight: No more than 135 lbs
• Age: Between 21 & 26
• Education: 2 years college or nursing degree
• Looks: "Just below Hollywood standards"

Wow!  It definitely wouldn't "fly" in today's world! (Ha--forgive the pun!)

Next we headed to the Holocaust Museum.  I don't have any photos of this as photography wasn't allowed inside, but it was well worth the visit.  It was absolutely horrifying, but so necessary to see and to realize how much evil humans are capable of when they get into a position of power.  The videos they played were especially sobering.

More cherry blossoms!

After that, we headed to the Library of Congress.  Most people don't visit the Library of Congress when they come to DC, but they are missing out!  It was my favorite building that we went to!  The architecture inside was gorgeous!

Library of Congress

LOVED the architecture

Reminded me a bit of Italy

They have a Gutenberg Bible on exhibit there, which was incredible to see.  It was also pretty empty, which I appreciated since I like to avoid the crowds.

Next (told you we did a lot!), we headed to the botanical gardens.  By this time, my feet were starting to kill me but I was determined to see as much as we could possibly see!

Miss Jess!

Shorts!

The gardens were well done, and they had a lovely orchid exhibit.  I'm a sucker for pretty flowers!

Purple!

After that, we headed to the White House but unfortunately the President was having a news conference regarding the Trayvon shooting so they had most of the walkways closed down to tourists.  You could see all the snipers on the room of the building which was pretty crazy!  

After the White House, we went to the National Archives to see the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.  I was surprised to find that most of these incredibly important documents have faded into being nearly illegible.  I'm glad that we have some great methods of preservation currently in place to prevent any further destruction.  Again, no photos (one of the prevention methods!).

Finally, we headed down to get to the Lincoln Memorial.  We had tried to get there the day before, but missed it because we wanted to be by the cherry blossoms before the sun set.  It was a good decision.  On the way to the Lincoln Memorial, we passed the Vietnam Memorial.  So many names...

Too many to count

I think that all the war memorials in DC are so poignant and done really well.  It is crazy how many people have been affected by all the wars.

Eventually we made it to our last destination of the evening.

Lincoln Memorial!

It was perfect timing as the sun was nearly set and my feet were SO ready to be done walking.  We sat on the steps and read the words of Abraham Lincoln engraved on the walls.  It was a perfect spot to end the day.

Mr. Lincoln

My feet had had enough so we vowed that the next day would be much nicer to our poor feetsies!   Luckily, we had gotten most of my "must-sees" out of the way and so now we could enjoy the bonus sites of the city.

Have any of you been to DC?  What was your favorite spot?  Did you go to the Holocaust Museum?