[MX6]

The boad bus thing is actually called duck tour. It's amphibean. It's nice to do a tour in that as it take both the land and the river way.

[aargee]

@Chevelle - Welcome back; you'll not believe, I was just thinking last week about your travelogue on Newyork & how you ended it & it was pleasing & boom now I see you again. Great pictures as usual & shows your generousity to share your thread with MX6 on his pics - appreciate it.

But question time - Why do they ban tripod? I know few things sounds stupid in US, but they come with a deep thought, so what is this banned for?

[chevelle]

We arrived at our next destination - The Jefferson Memorial. It is to the East of Monument.

And we were greeted by some 3000 plantations of Cherry Blossom Tree. These trees apparently are gifts from Japan to USA.







That's my fiance, taking these memories on T90


The Jefferson Memorial



Washington Monument along the Tidal Basin and Cherry Blossoms. If you look closing in the photos below, the Monument has different shade of marble till 1/4th of the monument from bottom. This is because construction was stopped due to lack of funds and Civil War. It was resumed again and completed in 1884.









The man himself - Mr. Jefferson.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by aargee

@Chevelle - Welcome back; you'll not believe, I was just thinking last week about your travelogue on Newyork & how you ended it & it was pleasing & boom now I see you again. Great pictures as usual & shows your generousity to share your thread with MX6 on his pics - appreciate it.

But question time - Why do they ban tripod? I know few things sounds stupid in US, but they come with a deep thought, so what is this banned for?

Have I posted here? I don't think so. Someone else wanted to post their pics here. Nevertheless great generosity!

Answer time. It's actually not banned. You need a permit to use a tripod. And the permit is strictly given for specified period of time in a specified location that you ask for with proper reasons.
1. They don't want commercial photos to be rolled out of the Capitol.
2. Everyone setting their tripods can be cumbersome and cause hassles to pedestrians and traffic.
3. What if you mount something else than a camera on the tripod?

They are ok for personal photos on the fly. But wouldn't like 100s of photographers pitching tents and tripods there.
Debatable policies, but nevertheless it's a policy.

Now tell me, why take permissions from the department of archaeology to take tripods in to Ajanta/ ellora/ elephanta/ karla/ kanheri/ and innumerous caves in India, not to mention the beauracracy involved in getting the permission?

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by aargee

@Chevelle - Welcome back; you'll not believe, I was just thinking last week about your travelogue on Newyork & how you ended it & it was pleasing & boom now I see you again. Great pictures as usual & shows your generousity to share your thread with MX6 on his pics - appreciate it.

But question time - Why do they ban tripod? I know few things sounds stupid in US, but they come with a deep thought, so what is this banned for?

Thank you very much for following my travelogue.

Regarding the ban, I asked this question to the police who stopped me from using. The guy gave me 2 reasons. One was, it is like an obstacle for public. Somebody may trip and get hurt. Second was for security reasons. They have reason to believe that it can be used as a weapon.

When we went to White House, there also I was forbidden. They said i could use it on the streets but not on the walkway a.k.a footpaths. I saw a couple of people use monopod and they weren't restricted.

The same reasons have been explained by mx6, so there you go.

[Ranga]

Beautiful photographs . DC is the first place for any one traveling to US as a tourist . DC - NY - Buffalo - Grand Kenyan - Las Vegas - California is the best route from East to West of US .

Can u list out the Top 5 tourist places we need to visit in DC and how best we can visit them ??

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MX6

Have I posted here? I don't think so. Someone else wanted to post their pics here. Nevertheless great generosity!

Yeah, it was Senthil, I mistook you; but I'm glad for Chevelle. Thanks for the clarification. Pleasure is mine to read your travelogue with good pictures.

Originally Posted by MX6

Now tell me, why take permissions from the department of archaeology to take tripods in to Ajanta/ ellora/ elephanta/ karla/ kanheri/ and innumerous caves in India, not to mention the beauracracy involved in getting the permission?

@MX6 - I wouldn't even dream about this, it being a nightmare. Thanks for the clarification.

OT - What's the similarity between Chevelle & MX6? Both are names of car models, the former being American & the latter Japanese.

[MX6]

Now that you've asked, here's a couple of photos from my side. Please note that they were taken with a Kodak kb10 ordinary film camera. So quality is not that great.

Columbus memorial fountain in front of Union station at DC.
Columbus looks beyond the winged figurehead representing Discovery on the ship's prow. On his right, facing west, is an American Indian representing the New World. On his left, facing east, is an elderly man representing the Old World. Above him, supported by four eagles, is a sphere bearing the outline of the western hemisphere.


Reflection tank in between lincoln memorial and Washington memorial. The famous place where a person gave a famous speech that went, "I have a dream". The person was none other than Martin Luther King, also called as American Gandhi!

[aargee]

Haha, so MX6, I'm right in my assumption that you would've visited DC & you should be having some pics & now you proved me right. Its always better to see the same place through different lens & it gives a different perspective. When are you going to post that 30 odd GB right? pictures?

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by Ranga

Beautiful photographs . DC is the first place for any one traveling to US as a tourist . DC - NY - Buffalo - Grand Kenyan - Las Vegas - California is the best route from East to West of US .

Can u list out the Top 5 tourist places we need to visit in DC and how best we can visit them ??

Yes DC is a very good place to visit. Especially the architecture and museums.

I haven't roam in DC too much to know everything. But starting from Union Station, there is pretty much everything that comes in the way has a history.

If i really have to be picky then here it goes. The top 5 would be

Capitol Building, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, War Memorial (Vietnam & WW2), White House.

Make that top 7.

You can also visit Archives of USA, Pentagon which is in Virginia across the river, Luray Caverns in Virginia. There is also Tyson's Corner in Maryland which used to be USA's largest mall.

Originally Posted by aargee

but I'm glad for Chevelle. Thanks for the clarification. Pleasure is mine to read your travelogue with good pictures.

OT - What's the similarity between Chevelle & MX6? Both are names of car models, the former being American & the latter Japanese.

Thanks. Chevelle used to be my fav muscle car, now taken over by Camaro

[chevelle]

So continuing from Jefferson Memorial, we went inside to find statue of Jefferson standing tall in black. He is facing towards the Monument tower and White House.

For those of you interested in reading the thoughts of the big man, here it goes.









This is how memorial looks from outside.



Once we came outside, we were greeted by US Navy's Copter doing the rounds.





The downtown of DC.



Also there is IAD(DC's international airport) just across the river. So most of them take off this side. Delta Airlines.

[chevelle]

After spending some time at Jefferson Memorial, we hop on to the trolley and started for next destination. That would be Abraham Lincoln Memorial. The weather was just awesome.

At the Lincoln Memorial we were greeted by this view. The tank, The Monument tower, The Capitol Building and the dome of famous US Govt's building whose name i forgot.



The top two portion above the pillars have 50 states mentioned on all four sides of the memorial. Above the names of the states are the eagles.



Abraham Lincoln. I like his personality. This one is taken from outside at full zoom from where the above photo is taken.









This is what it looks like when i look damn straight towards the tower. Before the Monument tower you can see WW2 memorial. To the right is the Smithsonian Castle.

[chevelle]

Some more photos of the Lincoln Memorial from different angles.







Look who came visiting the Memorial. The Navy's again.

[aargee]

Whoa!!! how long were you there? I've seen these pics from every possible angle. Where did you head up next? Tell me something, how did you know those copters were from Navy & why were they patrolling over there?

Originally Posted by chevelle

Thanks. Chevelle used to be my fav muscle car, now taken over by Camaro

I love Camaro in addition to Mustang

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by aargee

Whoa!!! how long were you there? I've seen these pics from every possible angle. Where did you head up next? Tell me something, how did you know those copters were from Navy & why were they patrolling over there?


I love Camaro in addition to Mustang

Our whole trip was from 10 am to 6.30 pm. We spent almost 1 hour at all places. To get from one place to another, it would take a while too as there was lots of traffic.

Also we were hunting for memento of each place. Wasn't easily available, at most places it was sold out or very costly. Finally we managed to get White house, Capitol building and one that had all four. These were then send to India to our parents. Needless to say, they are planning a trip here asap.

Here is how the one with all four landmarks in one looks like. Taken with sony cybershot c905 phone.

The front of white house, to its left is Capitol Building, behind the monument tower is Jefferson Memorial and to the right of White House is Lincoln Memorial. The three soldiers between two memorial are of Vietnam Memorial.






As for those copters being navy, they are the same color, the previous copter has Navy written on it, so just a wild guess. They were frequently going these route, that is from Lincoln Memorial to Capitol and coming back. I have no idea why there we doing that. The last time i went in 2008, the same ones were doing the rounds.

Next up is visit to WW2 Memorial that is in between Lincoln Memorial and Monument Tower just after the tank.