Damn it's Hot

We need to walk about a kilometre to Independence Ave, to look for the hop-on trolley we have booked. Did I mention it was 35 degrees, and we are walking on asphalt and concrete with no shade? According to our instructions, the closest stop was east down Independence, and they come through every 30 minutes. We make it about 800m, to where we think the stop is, and wait. There are no signs here, but there are other tour buses stopping here. There’s our one! Wave him down. He just drives past, pointing ahead of him. This is a busy area, so maybe he moved ahead to find a park. Aahh no! But we keep walking in the direction he pointed, back the way we came. He is nowhere in sight. We are back to where we started on Independence, and waiting. Here comes another one. There he goes past us. This guy stopped about 100 yards away. Off I go to catch him. We make it. Yes, he’s the right company, but he is full. There’s another one 10 minutes behind him, and he has seats. Yeah right.

The good thing is that I discovered the temperature at which Sarah’s patience melts. 35 degrees. Tired, grumpy, hungry, hot. Perfect storm.

Luckily he was right. Within 10 minutes another trolley arrived, and there were seats onboard. We’re off.

It is amazing how many memorials are in this town.

• Thomas Jefferson Memorial
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
• Dr Martin Luther King Memorial
• Korean War Veterans Memorial
• Vietnam War Veterans Memorial
• Lincoln Memorial
• Iwo Jima Memorial
• Roosevelt Memorial (no, I’m not repeating myself)
• Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Albert Einstein Memorial

And that’s just in one tiny corner of the city.

Don’t get me wrong. The memorials are spectacular. But jeez, so many! Memorial Overload, man!

And then there are the government buildings.

Oh!

My!

God!

They are all huge. They are all stone. They are all ornately decorated. And there are so damn many of them!

They are all dedicated to somebody important. Sometimes after they are built, so some buildings may get retreaded with a new name when some new favourite dies.

Interesting, though. Maybe that’s the Amrikan version of the British knighthood. Be a favourite in town and get a building named after you. Just a thought.

Without getting too Dan Brown on you, though, the centre of Washington is laid out like a giant cross on its side. The top is facing west, and the bottom east.

• The Washington Monument is the centre.
• The Lincoln Memorial at the top.
• Thomas Jefferson Memorial to the left.
• The White House to the right.
• The U.S. Capitol at the bottom.
• The main shaft of the cross is filled with the National Mall, and decorated with an assortment of Smithsonian museums.
• Between the Washington monument and the Lincoln Memorial is the Reflecting Pool.

This would make for an interesting crucifix. Out of all of the souvenirs, tacky and otherwise, available in this town, this crucifix is definitely not one of them. Mmmm.

That’s about all I can say on the matter. I am sure at least four agencies have already started tracking this blog because of this observation.

So after finishing part of the tour, we get off for lunch at a Hard Rock Café. Sarah’s DFWM look is starting to wane.