Finally, DC Photos

This is an aerial shot of the pentagon -- it is hard to see, but it is right under the tip of the plane's wing -- I wasn't supposed to but I had to snag a photo of the pentagon -- because of terrorism, they blocked all the roads and re-routed them away from the Pentagon. But you can't even tell that the Pentagon is indeed a pentagon unless it's from above, so here ya go. It rained the night before I left, so it was cloudy/foggy up in the air.

These bears are ubiquitous. They sit virtually on every corner, and they are decorated/painted in different themes. My cousin told me that they are sponsored by different businesses and therefore are decorated in a theme in accordance with the business. I saw about 10 of these bears on different street corners. This particular one, is in the airport, just outside the terminal.

This is an original painting by Leonardo da Vinci -- the only original work of da Vinci that is in the US. The title is below:

This is the Jefferson Memorial, from across the Potomac (I think) river. These memorials are just monumental. So grand. So awesome. Breath-taking. It is hard to put in words.

Another photo of the Jefferson memorial -- a close up. Very Roman. (I saw Roman, and not Greek, because as a student of art history, I know that the dome is a Roman thing, not a Greek thing, and as this structure contains a dome, it is inherently Roman-like.)

This is the famous Monet that I have actually touched. It is one of my fav paintings of Monet, and you can also see it in my profile (link is on your left, up there somewhere). These paintings are just not the same in real life. There is so much texture that is missed with reproductions and posters and whatnot. The Smithsonian hold so many original artworks. Briliant. I could live there. I could soooo live there.

This is a painting of the Pantheon. I forgot the artist's name, but it is a vivid photo of the Pantheon's interior. I believe it is the Pantheon, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm pretty sure that it is. Pantheon is also built by the Romans.

Here is another photo of the Pentagon. This one is dead center in the photo, but it is hard to see because of the fog/cloud. But if you squint hard enough, you can just about make out the five angles!

Finally, a photos with yours truly. Without this, you may have thought that I have produced these photos from thin air and that I have never been to DC. Well, here's proof that I had been at DC. This is the newly built WW2 memorial -- opened last Spring-ish, I believe. Very clean and very nice. Nice fountain, marble walls etched with various quotes, mostly from dead people such as old presidents, etc. The gal on the left in pink is yours truly, and the much tinier and tanned individual is my cousin, Anne, who is a resident of DC, by way of the windy city of Chicago.

I have tons more photos to share, but I have to crop them down to a suitable size and hike'em up on Ripway.com. As you know, with the free account, I only have a limited space for storage and a limited bandwidth, so I'll have to go though this slowly, a few at a time. But it'll get done. I just love falling into nostalgia with these photos -- I have a poor memory so I have to keep jogging it and run it over and over in my mind so that they are etched more permanently in my brain. I always conjure up images and even the particular smell, and sounds come back to me. Such a lovely place. As I said, I could live in the Smithsonian. What a museum.