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| Kate & Jim said I needed to show pictures, so here are some more flowers.
(We certainly enjoyed looking at the gorgeous blooms that filled some of
their exhibits.) |
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| Garden catalogs can be fun, but not as much as seeing the real thing... |
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| And that a thrill to wall through a tropical forest... |
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| And you not only can walk through the greenhouse, you can climb stairs
up to a second floor walkway and then up another flight to a third floor walkway
(there is also an elevator) so that
you can see the upper parts of the rain forest. (See those benches?
There are a number them throughout this huge greenhouse and there were
people seated here and there reading in this warm and humid tropical forest,
escaping from a cold February day. Well, it's certainly cheaper than a
flight to Hawaii.) |
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When we left the botanical garden we crossed the National Mall by the Reflecting
Pool with its view of the U.S. Capitol building (which, for those of you
outside the U.S., is where the two houses of Congress meet).
For those who are not familiar with the layout of the National Mall area,
here's a rough idea. Left is west, right is east -- from the steps of the
Capitol to the Washington Monument is 1.2 miles (the Lincoln Memorial is
west of the Washington Monument -- it's 1.9 miles from the Capitol steps
to the Lincoln Memorial). |
| |
National Museum of American History |
National Museum of Natural History |
sculpture garden |
National Gallery of Art (West) |
National Gallery of Art (East) |
|
|
Washington
Monument |
The National Mall |
reflecting
pool |
Capitol
Building |
|
| |
|
The Smithsonian
Castle |
Hirshhorn Museum
(art) |
National Air & Space Museum |
American Indian Museum |
Botanic
Garden |
|
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So... now with the Capitol at my back, I've turned to snap a picture of
the Washington Monument -- 555 feet tall -- the tallest man-made structure
in the world when it was built (surpassed by the Eiffel Tower) and still
the tallest stone structure in the world and the tallest obelisk.
Ah, but the hour grows late and I must pause here and resume tomorrow... |
