We hopped off the bus at the Lincoln Memorial – see blog post below – for a quick bite to eat and a look round the memorial. While we were there we also saw the Korean War Memorial – one of several war memorials on the mall. I learned that Britain taken part in that war what was news to me – I suppose I watched too much MASH and only thought it was the Americans that were involved in that war. 

Back on the trolley we went passed several of the Smithsonian museums, including the Museum of American History, the castle and Museum of Native Americans. The number of museums and art galleries on the mall are astounding. I don’t think we’ll get to them all but we will certainly visit a few more before we leave Washington. 

As we had time before going back to the Washington Monument we went on the outer tour of the city. Here we had a better view of the White House, complete with snipers on the roof the first time we passed. We had a view of the national cathedral – we did not get off. Interesting fact is that there is a gargoyle in the image of Darth Vader – the cathedral was only completed in the late part of last century. Heading back into the city we passed through Georgetown, another place we plan to visit – a great shopping area. 

Both tours were excellent and highly recommend doing something like it. The tours gave us ideas of where things are away from the mall and what else we still want to visit. It is beginning to look like a week is not enough time to see everything we want to see, but we’ll try to do our best.