Monuments Day

Today we made an earlier start to try to beat the heat and get a lot done.  We made our way on the Metro to get as close as we could to the Washington Monument - a very imposing pillar dominating the National Mall. It's also a great spot to view the other monuments - Lincoln Memorial, Whitehouse, Jefferson Memorial etc.

We kept going and made our way to the WWII memorial which was quite moving and quickly overtaken by a marching band practising for 4th July celebrations.  Next stop was the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial - very overwhelming in terms of the huge numbers of names listed as missing or dying in the war - over 50,0000 US. It was also very moving to see the number of Americans on pilgrimages to see relatives and friends names. You can see the size of the wall with my reflection and the numbers of names on it.