Washington is an exceptional city and one of the most interesting places we visited in our travels, so much so that we stayed an extra day – four days in total – because we felt that there was still more we wanted to do and see, and did not want to leave without experiencing them.

On our first day we did the tourist thing – and the thing we like to do best: We walked all over and took as many pictures as we could.  We surely know that they are better photographed by professionals with professional equipment, but these are ours.

To say that we were totally impressed with the magnificence of the seat of the greatest and most powerful country in the world would be an understatement.  We will always be Americans living in Israel, we love the U.S. and what it represents; and we love Israel and what it represents, and where we choose to live.

The central part of D.C. is logically organized with a large number of sites and buildings situated around the “National Mall.”  The mall is a large (between the Capitol and the Washington Memorial it is 1.2 miles), oval walking area with grass and pools of water in between two streets.  Around the mall are museums, government buildings, and monuments; the quality souvenir shops are in the museums themselves.

Our second day was spent at the Holocaust museum, a very emotional five hours, in a well-designed self-guided walking tour which takes you from the rise of Nazism through liberation.

General (later to be president) Dwight D. Eisenhower’s quote: “The things I saw beggar description…The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering….I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations to propaganda.”  What great foresight to realize that there will be people in the future who will try to disavow or even change history.  Humanity, and Jews in particular, will have to be vigilant, “Never Again!”

One of the really good parts of the visit was being able to get together with my old friend Robin Cook.  The three of us went out to dinner at one of the very few kosher restaurants in D.C. (and saw a fellow Efratean there), and I had the first hamburger, and Sima the first grilled chicken, that we’ve had in the last three months.  One of the sacrifices of traveling the way we do (but well worth it, we think), and it sure tasted good.

The following are some of the places we visited:

Library of Congress –Thomas Jefferson Building.  There are three buildings that make up the Library; this is the oldest and the most opulent.

National Archives Building – housing the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights; also one of the four existing copies of the Magna Carta is here

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Ulysses S. Grant Memorial

World War II Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Smithsonian National Gallery of Art – West Building for classical art; East Building for modern art

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – two halves: one side of the building “air” and the other side “space”

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History – specifically the collection of gems (including the Hope Diamond) and minerals, and the prize-winning nature photos

United States Botanical Garden – a stunning collection of plants from all over the world.  In the Mediterranean section, we saw several plants that we have in our yard.

 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (a very rainy morning when we got there just before it opened, and no photography is allowed inside)

All Smithsonian museums (and there are more that we did not have time to see) and government offices are free to the public.

We also saw the White House, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol Building (but were not able to enter these buildings), as well as numerous, humongous buildings dedicated to assisting the three cornerstones of government keep the wheels of bureaucracy turning: Departments of Justice, Treasury, Agriculture, Interior, the Senate and House office buildings….

We spent more time in Washington than in any other place we have been and still feel we have only just begun.  This place is worthy of a return trip and additional exploration.

As we realized last night, our travels are winding down and we will be on the last leg of our journey.  In the next week and a half we will be making our way down the east coast to Atlanta, Georgia, where we will be storing the RV.

When I am asked what my favorite part of the trip was, now that it is almost over, I realize that it’s living and traveling in the RV.  For Sima, it’s the beauty we have seen. There is a quote on one of the walls of the Library of Congress, “Nature is the Art of G-d” – how true.

We’ve traveled with only a general idea of how and where we were going and had the freedom to change our route and destination on a whim.  The Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Madeline Island, Salem, and Boston were some of the places we went to just because we wanted to.  It is true that this way of traveling sometimes came at the cost of efficiency, but it gave us the freedom to follow our wishes of the moment.