Holiday 2013 Photo Essay - Part 3 - Washington DC,

On Saturday we explored the National Mall. There is so much to say on 'The National Mall'. A very short summary is that its a place where there a lot of memorials to some of the early Presidents and wars. Also in this area are a lot of Smithsonians (Museums) of all sorts of things. All of the Smithsonians and Memorials are free. The girls did Junior Ranger badges for some of the Memorials. There is quite a bit of American History here. Here are some webpages to look at if you like more info: National Parks, The National Mall. So while Albert and the girls looked at the Memorials I visited the International Spy Museum. I really enjoyed visiting the Museum and while I would have loved to see all the memorials as well, I couldn't do it all, so Spy Museum it was :). One interesting fact about the cold war in particular was that the 'enemy' always tried to be one step ahead of the other (ie Russia and the USA) in the spying game, always looking for innovative ways to 'spy'! Albert and the girls had a blast also, doing the educational stuff :). 

A '007'Car

This was fascinating 'spy' object, a gift school children
gave to the President which had a 'bug' inside it, very clever

Another '007' car

They had a display of all the gadgets of the 'Bond' movies.

The gardens were gorgeous!
Mama and Elizabeth thought of you!

The Capitol and the lawn

Zara having a well deserved rest

Apollo 11 (the real deal)
(What another Air and Space Museum?)
(Number 3 for the summer!!)

You could touch a 'moon rock'!

The Capitol again

Cooling off our feet in a pretty fountain!

ohh, how sweet
(The building at the back is the National Archive Building
where the original Constitution is held)

Very cool 'fake' tree

This Museum had the original
USA flag which was pretty cool!

The White House
(Albert and the girls had walked to it but Albert graciously
drove by there for me so that I could see it in person!)

Girls and Albert in front of The White House!

FBI building plus the flags see below

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial National Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Washington Monument
(It was being repaired so we were unable to go in)

Lincoln Memorial

The Reflection Pool between the
Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument

WWII Memorial

Washington Monument

The White House

The White House in close up.

Grace actually took at lot of the photos in this post as I took my camera to the Spy Museum. I also had to ask her what the Memorials/Monuments were :). I've linked (red lettering) the relevant Memorials/Monuments should you wish to know more about each. Phew that concludes Washington DC, onto Philadelphia next :).