Just around the corner from my Bread & Breakfast I came across these pride rainbow flags decorating Safeway's store and other businesses.
There was much evidence of security outside the White House today including these police sniffer dogs.
This is the memorial to American soldiers who died in the First World War. I created an earlier blog about the Black Isle Foundry near where I live who created a memorial to the Rainbow Division who were the first US troops to be sent to the front line in 1917 The link to that blog is http://blackislebronze.blogspot.co.uk/ and there is more information at this page http://croixrougefarm.org/the-sculpture/
The Washington Monument
This is the entrance to the huge World War 2 Memorial.
Left and right side of the World War 2 Memorial.
Around the memorial are these relief plaques featuring people listening to the announcement of the outbreak of the war
And here a grave detail burying their fallen comrades
And here the victory celebrations.
These wreaths were placed recently by several countries including the one on the left from the British Embassy.
Another photo of the World War 2 Memorial.
This photo looks back through the memorial to the Washington Monument.
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
I hadn't heard of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial until this morning until a fellow guest mentioned it at breakfast at the B&B. You can see the entrance here with the middle cut out and pushed forward.
The middle part has an inscription which reads "Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope" which comes from King's 'I Have a Dream' speech.
This is the mountain mentioned on the inscription with the middle section being the stone of hope.
I then went around to look at the 14 panels with quotes from King's speeches including this one which reads "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." Norway 1964.
And this one which reads "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." 1963. His words are as true today as when they were first spoken over 50 years ago.
I then walked around the front of the Stone of Hope block to be greeted by this magnificent sculpture of King. I am so glad that I came along ignorant of this statue as its impact on me was so much the greater. I live in hope that in the future other leaders will come forward to inspire and move future generations in the way that my generation was inspired and moved by King's speeches.
This photo gives an idea of the scale of the Stone of Hope and its relation to the Mountain.
On the way to the Lincoln Memorial I asked this sailor if I could take his photo. I told him that my wife would have loved to have seen him in his dress whites as one of her favourite films was Richard Gere's An Officer and a Gentleman.
The Lincoln Memorial with crowds of visitors.
Unlike King's memorial I knew what to expect with Lincoln's memorial having seen it often in film, TV and photos but still the size and presence of the statue is overwhelming.
This is the second time in a few days that I have read the inscription of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address but the closeness of Lincoln's statue made it much more emotional.
Some more shots of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument and the Capitol.
Although I was aware of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall I hadn't seen this sculpture of the Three Soldiers which looks over towards the Wall.
The beginning of the Wall.
One of the many volunteers helping visitors take rubbings from the Wall.
The memorial has been designed so that visitors see their own reflection in the list of names which is meant to bring the past and present together.
And here another volunteer helps a visitor.
A solitary photograph is left under a column of names. I spoke to one of the memorial's staff who told me that all mementos left at the Wall are collected and stored. He told me that one day someone left a Harley Davidson motorcycle with licence plate 'Hero' by the Wall.
The last section of the Wall. It's hard to believe that 58,318 names including eight women adorn the Wall. Of these over 60 percent were younger than 21years of age.
I saw some visitors looking through this list of Vietnam dead and asked if them if it was someone they knew but they said they were just looking for someone who had the same name so I decided to look for my namesake and found two.
After such an emotional experience viewing all the memorials it was refreshing to see this duck-filled pond.
On the other side of the duck pond I saw this grey squirrel and his two friends.
I then saw this collection of ducklings whose parents obviously felt safe leaving a stranger in charge.
Near the Washington Monument stands this wonderful modern building which houses the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
As I walked up to catch the bus back to the B&B I came across Trump's second residence in DC.
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