Washington DC Day III the White House, Washington Monument & World War II Memorial

Our 3rd day in DC,  was all on foot. We got off the subway, and started to walk toward  the White  House.

We walked pass the US Treasury Department.

We ask a policeman on duty if this was the front entrance of the White House. He told us we were on the north entrance. The main entrance was on the south side.

Across the street from the north entrance was a protester, with a signs saying they have held a vigil since  1981, 24 hour a day. Wow, is all I can say.

We walked around the block and went passed the east side of the US Treasury to get to the south entrance of the White House.

Another look at the Hotel Washington while walking around.

And another close up of the architecture.

We get to the south  side of the White House. Now this is the big front lawn, I was looking for.

With a close up you can see a sniper, on the roof top.

If you want to tour the White House, you need to get  hold of your congressman, six months in advance, to schedule a tour. 

This is the closest we got to the White House this trip.

We started across the field toward the Washington Memorial, and stop to take another look. It's only going to get more crowded with summer coming. We had a very hard time getting pictures of it!

This little squirrel hit the jackpot. He was drinking water from a concaved area in the trash can. He also was eating some bread he dug out of the trash.

Across the lawn we find a bench and have lunch. We got a late start that morning. The large lawn in front of the White House, called " The Ellipse" is where protests are held.

On that day we watched some locals play soccer on their lunch break.

This is an old building next to the White House that is being worked on. It is called the Old Executive Office Building, according to our map. We thought it was a very neat old building.

After lunch we headed towards the Washington Monument.

But before we head there, I saw this red bus. I wanted to tell you that DC also has these open top buses for touring.  These touring buses would be great for picture taking, if you can not walk long distances. The trolley's we took were not good for picture taking, but great if you wanted a narrative of the city.

We got to our 1st Presidents Memorial, and I looked up. It stands at 555 feet 5 1/8  inches, and is the tallest structure in DC.

You can see the US Capitol to the east.

You can see the Lincoln Memorial to the west. 

And you can see the White House to the North. You can also see the dome of the Jefferson Memorial to the south, though I forgot to get a picture.
 

From the Washington Monument we walked west to the World War II Memorial.

A look back at the Washington Monument from the World War II Memorial.

World War II  1941 to 1945

 The design of the memorial consists of 56 granite pillars, each 17 feet tall , arranged in a semicircle around a plaza with two 43 foot arches. Joe is standing under one of the arches.

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 Each pillar is inscribed with the name of one of the 48 U.S. states of 1945, as well as the District of Columbia, the Alaska Territory and Territory of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico,Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This is a beautiful memorial.

No matter where you are, you see the Washington Monument.

Looking toward the other arch, though you can not see it, because the fountain is so high. 

On one arch it says, "Atlantic", and on the other it says, "Pacific".

The Second World War is the only 20th Century event commemorated on the National Mall’s central axis. 

I was standing between the Lincoln Memorial Reflective Pool, which has been under construction since October 2010,

and the World War II Memorial  in these pictures.

We were headed for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial when I finally had to sit down on a bench. My sandals was giving me a blister. I had brought a second pair of sandals in my backpack, just in case this kind of event happened. While putting on my other sandals, I watched this little squirrel eating near my bench. Look at his cute little fingers. To be continued.