WASHINGTON D.C.

May 2014

The Wonderful D.C.

White House and vicinity and Arlington National Cemetery

For the Monuments part of our trip click here       -       For the Mall and the museums click here

THE WHITE HOUSE

  South Facade [above] North Facade [below]

The closed-down-to-traffic Pennsylvania Avenue [above left] and
the pitiful condition of the fence around the White House [above right]

The First Division Monument
Located in President's Park it commemorates those who served and died in the 1st Infantry Division of the US Army.

The monument to General William Tecumseh Sherman in President's Park

 He served under General Ulysses S. Grant in the Union Army during the Civil War. 

The statue of the American Revolutionary War hero, General Comte de Rochambeau, in Lafayette Park [below]

The statue of President Andrew Jackson sits across from the Executive Mansion in Lafayette Park.

It is the first bronze state cast in the United States, and according to White House Historical Association. the first equestrian statue in the world to be balanced solely on the horse's hind legs.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB)

General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing statue in Pershing Park

The Treasury  and Albert Gallatin Statue

Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849)  - Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, founder of New York University, politician, diplomat, congressman, Senator and the longest-serving United States Secretary of the Treasury

Arlington National Cemetery

One afternoon determined to see the Marine Corps Memorial I got in a taxi, crossed the Potomac and went to the Arlington National Cemetery.

A very solemn experience to say the least. Rows and rows of headstones speaks volumes about the sacrifices this country has gone through for freedom.

As an Armenian American all I can do, is say :  I understand. Thank you!

I paid and got a ticket for a bus tour.  After waiting for an hour a bus came by got filled with the people before me and the leftovers were told we will have the bus when it comes back.  Apparently they have one and no one bothered to warn us.

So I left the line and started walking.  I walked and walked and visited all the sites in the cemetery.

I then followed my map and walked out of the cemetery in search of the monument I had wanted to see all my life.

The Marine Corps War Memorial! 

Statue honoring U.S. Marines in World War II, depicting the iconic scene from Iwo Jima from 1945.

It is as impressive as I had expected it to be. Walked around it pondered in silence and took some pictures.  A  group of retired marines were also visiting the monument which made all kinds of emotions go through me and I ended up in tears.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!