Galivanting Around Washington D.C.

After going to Arlington, I decided to wander around Washington D.C., I was hoping to do more but I think I picked the hottest day of the year to visit there.  As it was, I took two trips to do my wandering.

 This is the view of the city from my hotel room.  It was actually a pretty nice hotel and was within a couple blocks of the Pentagon.  It gave me a pretty nice view.

 Another view of Washington D.C.

 One of the subways as it passed my station.

 This picture was taken at Arlington.  Looking down Memorial Drive towards the Lincoln Memorial.  I was thinking about walking this but it was pretty hot.

 Two subways pass each other.

 After Arlington, I headed over to the area around the White House.  This is the U.S. Treasury building.  It was constructed from 1836 to 1861 in various wings.  Not shown in the picture is the statue of Alexander Hamilton, who was the first Secretary of the Treasury.  The architecture fits in with the rest of Washington.

 One of the Park Service Helicopters flying over the Mall.

 The Washington Memorial.  I think I've commented on it before.

 Unfortunately, I couldn't get any closer to the White House than this.  I guess it is the fairly famous view of the White House. 

 I forget what building this was on but I kind of liked the sculptures.

 This is the statue of William T. Sherman near the White House.  After taking pictures of this, I headed back to the hotel for a bit.

 As it got a little later, I decided to head back out.  This is the dome on top of the Library of Congress.  It is named after Thomas Jefferson and was first opened in 1897 and serves as the main building of the library.

 This is the statue of Neptune (although I was going to guess Posieden).  He is flanked by the Tritons.

 A closeup of Neptune's face.  The statue was completed in 1898 by Roland Hinton Perry.

 I kind of liked the way this picture ended up.  She is a sea nymph.

 A pull out of that statue.

 Another view of Neptune.

 The full view of the Thomas Jefferson Building.

 The US Capitol Building.  I've mentioned it on this blog before, so I'm not going to go into much detail on it.  For this picture, I was shooting into the sun.

 A closeup of the dome.

 Another closeup.

 Of all the times I've been in Washington D.C., I can't belive this is the first time that I've taken a picture of the Supreme Court.  Up until the completion of construction of this building in 1935, the Supreme Court occupied a room in the Capitol Building.  It was decided that they needed a separate building to display their stature as an equal branch of the government.

 I'll have to admit, it's a pretty impressive building.

 One of the bronze doors.

 One of two statues on this side of the building.  He represents the Authority of Law.

 On the opposite side is the Comtemplation of Justice.

 A closeup of the bronze door.  Each of the pictures represents a different iteration of the law.

 Looking at the Capitol Building from the Supreme Court.

 I kind of like the symbolism of this shot.  The Authority of Law looking over the Congress.

 Looking up at the facade of the building.

 From another angle.

 I was kind of amused of a squirrel gathering nuts on the Capitol Lawn.  For some reason, I thought he was looking in the wrong place as the nuts are inside the building.

 Another angle of the Capitol Building.  This time, I was not shooting into the sun.

 With the sun setting, the light on the dome was getting better.

 Looking up at the building.

 I kind of liked the view of this building.

 I think one of my favorite parts of the Capitol Grounds is the statue dedicated to Grant in the front.  This is an artillery carriage from the Civil War.

 There are a combination of emotions on the people's faces.  You can see determination, fear and tiredness.

 Some ducks swimming in one of the pools.

 The statue of Grant.

 From another angle.

 A statue of Cavalry on the other side.

 I kind of liked the fact that this was included in the statue.  The guy falling under his killed mount.

 The Cavalry officer issuing commands to his troops.

 An overall look of the Grant statue.

 Some of the artwork at the base.

 I kind of liked the look of this, especially with the moon in it.

 Another angle of the Cavalry statue.

 An overall shot of the Artillery statue.

 Grant looking into the sunset.

 James B. Garfield.

 Another angle of the Capitol Building.

One more shot before heading back to the subway.

I really like visiting Washington D.C., the buildings there are really cool.  Like I said last time, I wish the people that occupied them would live up to the ideals embodied by them.