Mr. Laing Goes to Washington
3
We Arrive
Our first night in Washington, D.C. was spent resting up and eating dinner. And driving through unknown streets, seeking out the famous monuments, illuminated in the darkness. The Lincoln Memorial, the White House, Lincoln Center, the Watergate (!), and several trips back and forth across the Potomac on the Arlington Bridge. And the next day we set out to see the sights. And the sites.
Our first stop was the National
Archives, where we could view the original Declaration of Independence,
Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Inside it was cool and dim, with
the aura of entering a sacred space. In addition to the three documents,
there were copies of the Magna Carta, letters from Harry Truman and Ronald
Reagan, Ernest Hemingway and Richard Nixon, and many more. In what
was a relatively small display area we found a wealth of history there
before our eyes. (And just in time -- the Archives were closing within
the week for restoration and refurbishment, not to open again for another
2 years.)
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Across the street from the Archives was a sculpture garden, and further across the Mall we could see the Smithsonian headquarters, the Castle.
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And then we were off to the Capitol.