The Monuments at night

Monday night, Justin and I were set to visit the monuments at night, it provides great photo opportunities to see the DC monuments in a different light, we initially elected to walk but having been presented with the cold weather and not forgetting the sheer distance between the monuments we decided to drive.  We set off at about 8pm, bundled up in our coats.

Starting off we went to the Capitol building, just south of China Town.

Roughly where I stood during Barack Obama's inauguration.

Amazing photo that Justine took, he's so artistically gifted.

The Washington Monument from the Capitol building.

Moving further down the National Mall, Justin and I stopped to get a closer shot of the Washington Monument,

and a far away shot of the Capitol.

Our next stop was the White House, waving hello to the Obama family and being glared at by a secret service guy we hastily took photos in the front,

and then moved on to the back.

The charm and allure of DC would be incomplete without protests, and its fitting that we acknowledge the presence of the permanent protest against Nuclear Weapons.  The youth of today is often discredited by not being commited to a cause or seeing tasks through to completion.  We could take a leaf out of the book of this protest group, promising to be here until there are no more nuclear weapons.  This guy (one assumes they work on a rotation, is fully equipped with his lap top wrapped up in a blanket and beanie for this crisp winter night, he shows us what it means to fight for a cause.  I only wonder what happens when it snows like it did this last winter, do they stay there and someone has to come dig them out?

Biding good night to Barack, Michelle, Sasha, Malia and Bo; Justin and I embarked on the next leg of out DC night light adventure - the Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial allows for great photo opportunities to Capture all 3 landmarks (Capitol, Washington and Lincoln) in 1 photo.

You have to admit these are really great photos.

Its hard to pick the best ones so you will need to bear with me while you scroll through some amazing ones, mostly of Justin, when you have such a great photogenic subject to work with its hard to discern which is the best picture.

My FAVOURITE photo

After Lincoln we took a walk up to the World War 2 memorial.

It lies above the reflecting pool that leads up to the Lincoln memorial,

and across the street from the Washington Monument.

Our last stop was the FDR memorial, laid out to depict FDR's 3 term presidency, this memorial has quickly become my favourite.

"This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny"

Food line at FDR depicitng the effects of the Great Depression.

The waterfalls at FDR are great they drown out city life and give the memorial a sense that the memorial is removed from the city.  Probably why I like it, its in the city but it doesn't feel like it.

We stopped to say hi to FDR,

and pet his dog.

Justin, jealous of my TLC time with FDR, thought Eleanor was in need of some ummm, well just look at the pictures.

Now that a first lady has been a victim of sexual harassment, we're able to move onto our final sight and enjoy a great view and photo op of the Jefferson Memorial.

and another fantastic view of the Washington Monument.

Heading back to the car and home at about 10h30 Justin and I both exclaimed how enjoyable our expedition was.

Next Capitol blog will be the Christmas lights at the White House and Capitol - they were amazing in 2008, I don't doubt they'll be just as phenomenal this year.