Washington DC (days 46-49)

---

Washington DC as the US capital has lots of government buildings, national institutions and shrines- it has some similarities to Canberra but on a bigger scale. The highlight for me was attending the 50th anniversary of the Martin Luther King's march and famous speech - President Obama spoke at the ceremony as did former presidents Clinton and Bush- I was there from 12 noon to 3 pm along with 100,000 people - I was about 1 mile away from where Obama spoke on the steps of the Lincoln memorial but there were big screens and speakers about the place - it is interesting that the event was co-ordinated by the National Parks and Special Services- I bought a tee shirt as a memento of the occasion.

I also visited the various memorials in Washington and traveled round by the Metro,the underground generally light rail system which seems very efficient- Washington has a district population of about 600,000 and a regional population of about 6 million - it is bigger than I expected. The memorials were good and I was particularly impressed with the National Archives where their is a depository of over 9 billion records covering the US history and development over the last 300 years and the Lincoln Memorial, particularly at night time- there is a lot of upkeep on the memorials and public facilities but they are proud to promote the capital although security is very obvious- particularly when we visited 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A special treat for me on the last day in Washington was a visit to the National Arboretum to see the Bonsai and Pen-sing collection - there was one tree in the collection that started its life as a bonsai tree in 1625. Taking the plane from Washington to Tallahassee in Florida where we will stay with my youngest brother Vinny for a few days. Talk to you again soon - lots of nice photos of activities listed above.

---

Photos

Martin Luther King
At the memorial for Martin Luther King - "he has been to the mountain..."

Lincoln
A very impressive 19 feet high statue in a big shrine - the Lincoln Memorial

Einstein
There are lots of museums in Washington DC- this statue was outside the Smithsonian museum for sciences

Easter Island
A "Moai" or very large stone statue from Easter Island in one of the museums

Martin Luther King March 28/8/13
People started getting ready for the ceremony at 8 am - police in hand to control

The anninversary
if it seems I was a long way away from President Obama speech is because I was- almost 1 km away seating on the grass of the national mall

The anniversary
It always rains when you are waiting for people to speak!

Thomas Jefferson's memorial
Jefferson wrote the words for the American constitution - which is stored in the National Archieves

Jefferson's memorial - front
Giving you all angles for this one

Roosevelt's memorial
This memorial is fully accessible by wheelchairs- the president during the second world war was wheel chair bound.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Guess who lives here?

Night tour
People even visit the White House late into the evening and security is present 24/7

National Bonsai collection
This tree was first put into a bonsai container in 1625 - do not let me at it - I may kill it!