Like Nichole mentioned in her post about Jimmy T’s, sometimes I too feel like I take the city for granted. I remember when I first moved here I was excited to visit all the monuments and museums and do all of the touristy things that you stop making time for once you’ve been in town for a while. I loved spending time downtown, marveling at Lincoln and Jefferson, admiring the waterfalls in the FDR memorial, or trying to convince a friend to go paddle-boating with me in the Tidal Basin. After a while these activities lost their luster, and most of the time I don’t really think about the fact that the city we live in is sort of a big deal. Then the Cherry Blossom Festival happens, or Fourth of July rolls around, or, you know, the President gets inaugurated.
On January 20th, I joined the masses on the mall and spent a few hours freezing my butt off in the shadow of the Washington Monument and I remembered that in my four years in DC, I have never made it inside. So this week, in honor of its namesake’s impending birthday, I decided to take the “official” tour.
After an uncharacteristically boring ride down 14th Street on the 52 bus, I stopped into the Washington Monument Lodge, (in the monuments eastern shadow) at 15th and Jefferson to pick up my free ticket. I made it just in time for the 10am tour and ran up to the front entrance to get in line. If you have the opportunity, it’s probably the most pleasant to go on a week day, when you won’t have to battle long lines and crowds. During busy season, people start lining up as early as 7am and tickets frequently run out early in the day, but you can always reserve them ahead of time for $1.50 each. Continues after the jump. (more…)
