Arrived on Thursday, checked in, and then hurriedly figured out how to use the Metro, the lovely Metro, to get to our destination.
We had made reservations with Bike the Sites for a tour of the monuments at night. We got our reflective vests, helmets, and bikes.
Out tour group of about twenty included families with young children. Daylight was fading by the time we had biked over to the National Mall.
Our first stop was the Jefferson Memorial, which looks fabulous at night. I'm sure it looks fine in the daytime, too, although plenty of people told me that it's better at night.
The next stop was the FDR Memorial, which features lots of waterfalls.
And there were plenty of professional or semi-professional photographers busy taking photos in the dark.
And several sculptures showing people during the Depression, such as this man listening to FDR on the radio.
Then to the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.
Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.
Next, the Korean War Memorial, a field of sculptured soldiers marching through the night like ghosts, and a wall behind them in which the faces of the dead have been etched. These are taken from photographs of the people who died in the war. The effect is uncanny.
And then to the most famous, the Lincoln Memorial.
From the Lincoln Memorial you have a clear view of the Washington Memorial, and its reflection.
Even in the dark it is quite moving, particularly as one goes deeper and deeper into the ground, and the names rise up higher than one's head. All that loss.
Next we rode over to the World War II Memorial, which is enormous. I have only a photo of the fountain in the middle, and this doesn't give a very good idea of how huge this monument is.
We ended up at the Washington Memorial, which has been closed to visitors since the earthquake damaged it.
I loved this tour. Never would have seen all these monuments on foot, but it was easy and fun on a bike.
Back to the Normandy Hotel, and our comfy bed. In the morning, a feast for breakfast! I had a bagel with lox and cream cheese.
There was a very impressive coffee machine, which made lattes and espressos and cappuchinos on demand.
And wonderful fresh fruit - even blackberries! Yum. The breakfasts were part of the package deal.
We ate plenty, which turned out to be a good thing in view of our afternoon plans. We managed to get to Alexandria (this time we took a taxi, and met an Ethiopian taxi driver who is a huge fan of Reagan and Bush, and of America in general), where we picked up a couple of bikes and a map of the Mount Vernon Trail.
It wasn't all trees and water. One of the more interesting parts of the trail is the park that lies directly under a highway. In addition to picnic tables and playground equipment, there are acres of space for biking and skating.
The Mount Vernon Trail is much more hilly than anything we were accustomed to, and it was a bit of a challenge to bike the nine miles to Mount Vernon. Once we arrived, though, we fortified ourselves for the return trip with lunch. I had the Virginia peanut and chestnut soup.
And salmon corncakes.
And we did manage to make the return trip to Alexandria - our longest bike ride to date! That evening, we met friends for dinner, at Kramerbooks and Afterwords - a combination bookstore, cafe, bar, and restaurant. When we last saw these friends they were planning their wedding. When we met them in Washington DC, they were planning their daughter's wedding. Time flies, but sometimes in a very nice way.
Saturday morning we had another fine breakfast and drove back to Pennsylvania.
I really like these little mini-vacations. A long one would be even better, but these are just fine.
It was great to see you and Neil. Let's not wait 30 years until the next time!
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