The free walking tour is a 4 hr tour around the National Mall. This is where all the great DC monuments are located – the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII, Korean and Vietnam War memorials, the Jefferson, FDR and Martin
Luther King Jr memorials etc.
We meet near the Jefferson Memorial, and by the time 2 pm rocks around, there must be 60 people who have presented for the tour. Fortunately the organisers know this (bookings are essential), so another guide has turned up and we are split into 2 groups of around 30 people.
Out tour starts at the Washington Monument, where our guide keeps the group spellbound telling us its history which is rife with hypocrisy, secrets, and confrontation. If this is what the tour is going to be like I lucked out in the group split up (though I no way on knowing what the other guide is like). There is no script for the guides to follow – each of them has to do their own research and tells their stories somewhat differently, whilst the facts remain the same.
It’s hard to see, but the needle changes colour about a quarter of the way up, where construction stopped for a while and was resumed with marble from a different source. There are so many interesting stories involved here – from earthquake damage, secret societies (the aptly named Know Nothing Society) and the ups and downs of funding.
After our lesson, we move on to the next stop – the WWII Memorial. Again we are told its history, though it is nowhere as rich as before. From the hidden “Kilroy was here” drawing, to the circle of columns and fountain, it is not really a particularly sombre place, though the respect for all who served is clearly evident.
After 10 mins here (we really don’t need a lot more), it’s off to the Vietnam War Memorial. The design story behind this is fascinating – the winning design was selected by placing the 2500 plus entries on the floor of an aircraft hangar and eliminating them one by one. The designers names were kept secret from those doing it to safeguard against “big name” entries and in the end the winning design was by a 21 year old college student Maya Lin.
Her design was highly controversial, and critics ranged from members of Congress to the Secretary of the interior, and it certainly didn’t help that Maya was Asian. The telling of this story, together with the more subtle design concepts and the additional components that have been added since (the 3 servicemen, the women’s memorial and the in memory plaque) keeps the entire group transfixed.
The memorial itself is a highly sombre place, the black reflective walls and the engraved eerily transporting you to a place of remembrance and respect. The mass of families, ex servicemen and the complete silence that is universally respected adds to the atmosphere. It is compelling, and I think Maya’s design has certainly been justified.
From here we move to probably the most iconic of Washington monuments, The Lincoln Memorial. Honest Abe is impressive, as is the view down the reflective pool, which we have all seen on movies like Forest Gump. This is where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech and you can stand in the exact spot he did (there’s a marker).
We are about halfway through our tour, and that makes it an appropriate place to take a break. You should probably do the same, so I’ll continue this in a future post.
