Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

3 May 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

© flickr.com - National Park Service/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – National Park Service/cc-by-2.0

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, commonly called the Vietnam Memorial, is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The two-acre (8,100 m²) site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those service members who died or remain missing as a result of their service in Vietnam and South East Asia during the war. The Memorial Wall was designed by American architect Maya Lin and is an example of minimalist architecture. The Wall, completed in 1982, has since been supplemented with the statue Three Soldiers in 1984 and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in 1993.   read more…

National Mall in Washington, D.C.

5 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Natioanl Mall from the Washington Monument © 54conphotos/cc-by-sa-4.0

Natioanl Mall from the Washington Monument © 54conphotos/cc-by-sa-4.0

The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and various memorials, sculptures, and statues. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the National Park System. The park receives approximately 24 million visitors each year. Designed by Pierre L’Enfant, the “Grand Avenue” or Mall was to be a democratic and egalitarian space—unlike palace gardens, such as those at Versailles in France, that were paid for by the people but reserved for the use of a privileged few.   read more…

United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

19 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

U.S. Capitol, west side © Martin Falbisoner/cc-by-sa-3.0

U.S. Capitol, west side © Martin Falbisoner/cc-by-sa-3.0

The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the meeting place of the United States Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the district’s street-numbering system and the district’s four quadrants.   read more…

Theme Week Washington, D.C.

27 November 2013 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Lincoln Memorial by night © flickr.com - CrashingWaves/cc-by-2.0

Lincoln Memorial by night © flickr.com – CrashingWaves/cc-by-2.0

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, “the District”, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country’s East Coast. As permitted by the U.S. Constitution, the District is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Congress and is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the preexisting settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria; however, Congress returned the Virginia portion in 1846. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. Congress created a single municipal government for the whole District of Columbia after the American Civil War.   read more…

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