Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

– Thomas Jefferson

Washington D.C. is amazing, there’s SO much to see and do, we didn’t get have nearly enough time there! It’s incredibly clean, the stone masonry is magnificent, and there are more museums than you can poke a stick at. We stayed at the RV park closest to downtown, which took us about 45 minutes each way via bus and train. It got up to 90֯F while we were there, which is only 32֯C but it was sweltering and as much as we wanted to explore, we were yearning to just go back to the RV and swim.

First stop (after Andrew’s iMaps repeatedly tried taking us through the Pentagon, resulting in a minor security response), Arlington National Cemetery, America’s most sacred shrine. Military burials began in 1864 and it’s now one of the busiest cemeteries with up to 30 funerals each week and up to eight funerals on Saturdays. Notable graves include two presidents, William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and over 400 medal of honour recipients.

The city is built around the National Mall, which is a national park. Everything is within walking distance, albeit some long walks and it was really hot so we hired scooters. These scooters are a common service at most major cities. You pick up one that’s been left on the street, scan the QR code via an app on your phone and away you go. There’s usually a cost to unlock it, ranging from $1-7, and additional cost of about 15c/minute.

Within the National Mall is The Smithsonian, a museum complex, all with free entry. The complex includes National Museums of American History, Natural History, African American History, African Art, Asian Art, Air and Space, American Art, The American Indian, National Portrait Gallery, National Postal Museum, Sculpture Garden, and the gardens surrounding the museums. In addition there are many private museums including the National Archive Museum, Museum of the Bible, Spy Museum, National Geographic Museum and more.

Then there are the monuments, memorials and fountains for Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt, Jefferson, wars, Martin Luther King Jr, Boy Scouts, and of course, The White House. On the north side of The White House were protest stands. The Anti-nuclear/peace vigil, the “White House Peace Vigil”, began in 1981 and is believed it to be the longest running uninterrupted anti-war protest in U.S. history.

We saw a section of the Berlin Wall, the Stallschreiberstrasse guard tower near Checkpoint Charlie, Pulitzer Prize winning photos, a Pygoscelis Adeliae (Adelie penguin); we learnt about the First Amendment, the Bill of Rights, that Dwight W. Eisenhower had a dog named Heidi, that between 1959 and 1999 (just 40 years) the human population doubled from 3 billion to 6 billion and continues to grow by over 90 million people a year, and so much more but not nearly as much as we could’ve or should’ve.

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