Washington DC Day One Part Two

When we left the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial we had to check out the memorial to Albert Einstein at the National Academy of Sciences.

As we continued along the mall we came upon a lovely little pond with an island in the middle.  On the island was a  memorial to the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.   I'd never even heard of this before, but it was very nice.

Continuing along the mall, we decided to walk all the way around the Tidal Basin to see the Jefferson Memorial.  And it was a good thing we did.   Along the way, we came upon a fantastic Memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Besides this statue

there were tons of beautiful rock formations, waterfalls, statues, and quotes from FDR's three terms in office.

Further along the route, we also came to a stunning memorial to Martin Luther King Jr.

There was a whole stone wall here as well that had quotes from MLK during his lifetime.

We finally came to the Jefferson Memorial.  This is one that most people are familiar with, as it can be clearly seen from across the Tidal Basin.

From the Tidal Basin we walked all the way back to the East Side of the National Mall and spent a little time in three different Art Museums.....The National Gallery of African Art, the Freer Art Museum and another one whose name I cannot remember!   All three of these were situated at the Smithsonian Castle.

Most of the museums closed at 5:30, but we found out the American Portrait Gallery was open until 7, so being the masochists we are, we walked further north to that museum.   Sadly, I didn't take any photos, because some of those portraits were amazing.

We'd been told to check out Union Station and that there were many restaurants there, so our last stop of the day was Union Station.  I was quite disappointed because I expected something like Grand Central Station in New York, and it was nothing like that.  It was basically a big mall with the train station inside.   We had a rather disappointing meal in the food court.

After walking from one end of the mall to the other, we were quite happy to take the Metro back to our hotel.   Day One was over -  wonder where we're headed for Day Two?