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Post by htmb on Aug 10, 2012 3:03:19 GMT
On a hot and humid August morning I set off from the Foggy Bottom metro station to explore some of the monuments and memorials of Washington, DC. I made it to a few, and plan to continue my journey sometime in the fall. After a pleasant walk (it was still early morning, but would become swelteringly hot soon) I arrived at the Lincoln MemorialThe reflecting pool outside the Lincoln Memorial has been undergoing improvements, but work is supposed to be completed by the end of August 2012, and it looked to be pretty near finished. According to the National Mall website the goals of the project are to: • Replace leaking concrete pool on new pilings to bedrock • Retain existing coping stones of pool • Install systems for drawing water from Tidal Basin rather than from city drinking water, and for cleaning and re-circulating the water • Install sidewalks adjacent to the pool in place of existing dirt paths • Resurface North and South Elm Walks and install new lights and benches • Complete the perimeter security for the Lincoln Memorial at the west end of the pool • Improve accessibility from the pool level to the Memorial Plaza level ************** Vietnam Memorial************** Off to the east, if you look carefully at the middle of the photo, you can see the White House, which doesn't quite fit into the Memorials and Monuments category, but I would like to visit there again sometime soon. And in the opposite direction are the Jefferson, FDR, and Korean War Memorials, which will also have to wait for another day. ************** Through the trees I could see the World War II Memorial, a first viewing for me. The memorial was opened in April 2004, and is centered on the mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Momument. ************** Washington National MonumentI've never been inside the monument, but it is now closed for extensive repairs due to damage caused by an earthquake on August 2011.
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Post by htmb on Aug 10, 2012 19:58:46 GMT
You can see a lot of visitors in my photos, but I was actually surprised at how little I felt crowded on this trip of August 2012. The only time it was a bit unbearable was the afternoon everyone crowded into one of the museums during a heavy downpour.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2012 20:45:05 GMT
I'm still not sure if my best friend from 9th grade, a Texas romanichel, survived his tour of duty in Vietnam. I have never looked for the information and am waiting to visit the Vietnam memorial some day to see if his name is on the wall.
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Post by htmb on Aug 10, 2012 21:58:55 GMT
Perhaps there is a list online somewhere? One of my friends died during that time and I always thought it was in Vietnam. I had actually looked for him name on the wall some years ago. I recently found out he had died in a car accident.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2012 22:25:40 GMT
I'm sure there is a list online, but I don't want to see it. I want it to be my reason to go to the Memorial.
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Post by htmb on Aug 10, 2012 23:16:21 GMT
I'm sure there is a list online, but I don't want to see it. I want it to be my reason to go to the Memorial. Ah, yes, I understand. I've been several times now and, being that this was my war, too, I find it to be an especially powerful place. I'm sorry when I think of all those lives lost, but I also think the memorial is a brilliant tribute. So, all you have to do is plan a trip.
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Post by nycgirl on Aug 14, 2012 4:53:19 GMT
I've never seen the WWII Memorial, it looks very nice. I'll be sure to visit it the next time I'm there.
I agree that the Vietnam Memorial is beautifully done. I read that the design was the source of a lot of controversy when it was proposed. Opponents thought the black marble was depressing and shameful, and didn't like the fact that the structure was a "gash" in the ground rather than a tall, lofty monument. Many were also disappointed by the lack of representational figures (which is why the statues had to be added to the park, to appease them).
I think that architect Maya Lin created a very poignant memorial, but I don't find its message to be bleak and hopeless. I also like the fact that she didn't include any representational statues or any sort of political comment on the "right" or "wrong" of the war; instead, she simply put the focus on the names of those lost.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 14, 2012 5:44:30 GMT
Htmb, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this thread. Really, I now have a much clearer idea of the spaces and monuments and their relationships to each other than I ever had before. Obviously I've seen scads of photos, but most are cropped to show one thing at a time, or as in the case of the Vietnam memorial, don't give a good idea of its place in the landscape. You've remedied all that & your photos are great, besides. I was a little shocked by the list of goals for the reflecting pool. You'd think all that stuff would have been done long ago! There are a couple of odd coincidences for me with this thread & your other excellent ones on the DC area. For one, the subject of the thread itself, as I'd just finished reading this info in Bill Bryson's book At Home: [For the story of how much of the built world got to look the way it does, we need to] take ourselves to ...northern Italy and the ... ancient city of Vicenza ... ...almost all visitors are soon overtaken by an odd sense of familiarity. Again and again, you turn corners to find yourself standing before buildings that you feel, in an almost uncanny way, you have seen before. In a sense you have. For these buildings were the templates from which other important buildings all over the Western world were derived: ... the White House, ...the National Gallery of Art in Washington ... The Villa Chiericati, with its striking portico of triangular pediment and four severe columns, isn't just rather like the White House, it is the White House ... end quoteThe influential buildings in Vicenza were designed by the architect Palladio in the 1500s. His designs and ideas were brought to the English-speaking world by Inigo Jones, who "discovered Palladio's work on a visit to Italy twenty years after Palladio's death and was smitten to the point of obsessiveness." Bryson goes on to say "that perhaps the two most interesting and original Palladian houses of the age [the Georgian period] were built not in Europe by trained architects, but in a distant land by amateurs." He is referring to Jefferson and Monticello and to Washington and Mount Vernon. (Htmb, this is the kind of digression that I find interesting, but perhaps not everyone does. If you feel it has no place in your thread, I will happily delete it.)The other coincidence actually happened years ago, when the Vietnam Memorial was being built. I happened to be reading a book by Franz Werfel set far in the future. A war memorial is described which sounds a great deal like the Vietnam Memorial. (I think the book was Star of the Unborn.) I also remember reading that the designer of the Memorial was most unhappy about the statuary group of the three soldiers, feeling it took away from the philosophic and emotional impact she wished the Memorial to convey. Do you, or others who have visited the Memorial feel that to be the case? What is the other bronze group, please, with the fallen soldier, the woman, & the standing man? Your remark about not feeling crowded was interesting. I notice in your pictures that the tourists seem to be displaying respectful interest and not forming clumps. Kerouac, what does "a Texas romanichel" mean, please? I've been several times now and, being that this was my war, too, I find it to be an especially powerful place. I'm sorry when I think of all those lives lost, but I also think the memorial is a brilliant tribute. I've never been and have always wondered if I could hack it emotionally, in the sense of, as you say, it being "my war". I agree it's a brilliant tribute. Very informative thread and beautifully done ~~ thanks!
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Post by htmb on Aug 14, 2012 12:25:16 GMT
Bixa, thank you for adding your thoughts and for expanding on this thread. I've read several of Bill Bryson's books and enjoy both his writing style and sense of humor. Unfortunately, I have not had an opportunity to read At Home, but it sounds like I need to check it out.
My experience of people at all the war memorials in Washington, DC has been that of calm respect. The first two times I visited the Vietnam Memorial I was with groups of school children, and even they were quiet and behaved very respectfully.
The Vietnam Memorial is a very fitting tribute, I believe, as it represents a time of turmoil in both the USA and on the war front. For me personally it was a time of being shocked over Kent State as a high school student. It was confusion as a college student as protesters gathered at my college administration building, and as my former high school friends went off to fight in a place we knew so little about. I was a time of watching the horror on television night after night and of questioning authority. This was not my father's war, for sure.
Walking up to see that deep slash in the ground has always been incredibly moving to me. The names on the wall, the progression of the war as represented by the increasing sizes of the panels, and the reflections of our faces make this more a "living" tribute than a more traditional-type of memorial.
The monument with the fallen soldier being cradled by one woman while the other looks in the air is a tribute to the women who fought, and died, in Vietnam. It is a wonderful sculpture. I have more pictures that will give you an idea of the whole thing, as there are more figures you can't see in that photo, and I will try to post them soon.
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Post by htmb on Aug 14, 2012 20:48:18 GMT
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Post by nycgirl on Aug 15, 2012 4:26:10 GMT
Walking up to see that deep slash in the ground has always been incredibly moving to me. The names on the wall, the progression of the war as represented by the increasing sizes of the panels, and the reflections of our faces make this more a "living" tribute than a more traditional-type of memorial. Very well put. I also like the fact that a lot of care was put into listing the names chronologically, according to the date they were killed or went missing, rather than list them alphabetically. It is more meaningful that way, and although a visitor looking for a specific name has to put a little effort into finding it, the process is a part of paying respects. I also remember reading that the designer of the Memorial was most unhappy about the statuary group of the three soldiers, feeling it took away from the philosophic and emotional impact she wished the Memorial to convey. Do you, or others who have visited the Memorial feel that to be the case? I agree with Maya Lin, the statue doesn't quite gel with the memorial. It isn't really possible to have a representational statue that doesn't make some kind of comment on patriotism, heroicism, etc. and she didn't want that. The memorial she designed is timeless, and honors the fallen without preaching or placing them in a political context. But, having said that, the statue was added because a group of veterans (I don't know if they were the majority of not) felt slighted or ignored, and their feelings should be taken into consideration. After what they've been through, if it makes them happy to have a traditional memorial, so be it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2012 5:51:42 GMT
Kerouac, what does "a Texas romanichel" mean, please? The Romani of the United States usually refer to themselves as romanichels (the term also exists in France). Romani sub-group in the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. Romanichals are thought to have arrived in Britain in the 16th century. They are closely related to the Welsh Kale and Romani groups in the UK and continental Europe.
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Post by htmb on Aug 15, 2012 23:19:27 GMT
This is someone you knew from Mississippi?
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 17, 2012 15:53:41 GMT
Thanks for those details, Kerouac. I sure learned something new!
Htmb, I'm so absorbed by this thread and salute the way you've put it together, with images flowing logically one into another, and with space for comments. I heavily identified with your comments in #8 and they also helped greatly in imagining the experience of the memorial.
And NYCGirl, your thoughtful remarks prove the success of Lin's vision, showing that it remains immediate and profound beyond any emotional connotations it might have to those of us who were young adults during the Vietnam war era.
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Post by htmb on Aug 17, 2012 16:26:54 GMT
Thank you, bixa. It's a work in progress
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2012 16:48:00 GMT
This is someone you knew from Mississippi? Yes, his family lived in a trailer in my town during 9th grade. Apparently they changed location every school year -- but at least they stayed the whole school year.
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Post by nycgirl on Sept 9, 2012 2:55:24 GMT
Last weekend I took a train to Virginia and I got a brief glimpse of the Jefferson Memorial. It looked nice with the floodlighting.
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Post by htmb on Sept 9, 2012 3:59:25 GMT
Yes, it's pretty at night. I hope to get some pictures on my next trip.
Am curious, how long was your train trip from NYC to the DC area?
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Post by nycgirl on Sept 9, 2012 6:04:50 GMT
I think it was about 4 hours, not bad. The train got excruciatingly slow once we were past DC, though.
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Post by htmb on Sept 10, 2012 2:28:17 GMT
I'm sure everything slows down on the rails once you get out of the corridor that runs from DC north. I could probably drive from Jacksonville, FL to DC much faster than I could travel by train. And if I wanted to travel to the southwest by train, I'd have to go from Jax to NYC, west to Chicago, then southwest, and it would take several days. At least you have fairly decent trains in your part of the country. I believe the only other place in the U.S. where it's efficient to travel by train is in parts of California. It's really a shame we don't have a decent passenger train system in this country.
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Post by nycgirl on Sept 10, 2012 4:15:36 GMT
I agree. Europe has it so much better in that department. Fortunately, I've been able to do a bit of train travel in California and NY. I like it.
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Post by htmb on Oct 20, 2012 13:36:20 GMT
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Post by htmb on Oct 20, 2012 22:09:45 GMT
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Post by htmb on Oct 21, 2012 11:06:06 GMT
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Post by htmb on Oct 21, 2012 23:20:18 GMT
The District of Columbia War Memorial recognizes the 26,000 citizens of Washington, DC who served in WWI. It was dedicated in 1931. Construction on the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial, which was being restored on my August visit, has now been completed. The entrance to Arlington Cemetary can be seen from a distance.
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Post by nycgirl on Nov 3, 2012 16:21:11 GMT
From what I can see in your photos, DC sure looks beautiful in the fall. I'd like to see it during the spring, too, when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.
The statues of the Korean War Memorial are very moving, even eerie. Glad to see the "forgotten war" isn't truly forgotten.
Great photos. I've said this before, but they really make me want to spend some time there. I've never gone for longer than half a day, which isn't nearly enough.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 7:32:29 GMT
I was imagining what the Korean War memorial must look like on a foggy day.
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Post by htmb on Mar 1, 2013 23:59:33 GMT
A few photos taken from the backseat of a fast moving car on a late winter day: Thomas Jefferson Memorial U.S. Airforce Memorial on the Virginia side of the Potomac River
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Post by htmb on Jul 20, 2014 20:19:18 GMT
I've been looking through old threads to see what I might have missed. It seems like years ago that I took these photos.
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Post by anshjain97 on Nov 3, 2014 14:18:16 GMT
I need to remind myself to take a closer look at this, as well as all your other threads on DC. I am visiting my brother in mid December for a few days. These threads are a treasure-trove of info. Thanks htmb!
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