Sunday, September 2, 2007

Memorials Day in DC

The Bar Mitzvah festivities for my Great Nephew David ended this morning as relatives and friends began to scatter across the country to their homes. I will be writing more reflectively about the synagogue service and David's "passage" through the rites that confer upon him full responsibilities as a Jew at a later date after I return to California. But this afternoon began the vacation and sightseeing part of our stay in the DC area. You might say that today was Memorials Day as we visited several of those sites that commemorate major events and people in our history. The pictures below represent the order in which we visited the sights.

The first 2 are of the World War II memorial; the first a panorama of the Pacific side of the memorial and the 2nd focusing on the recognition of fighting in Western Europe with a further pinpointing of Alsace, an area in which my father-in-law Sy Brenner was taken prisoner.




Next, a view of the Korean War Memorial, one of the most haunting displays I have ever seen.



Then a shot from just below Abraham Lincoln.



Then we walked over to the Tidal Basin where we viewed the Jefferson Memorial from across the waters.



And finally, our last stop of the afternoon and a shot of FDR at the entrance to the massive memorial honoring his presidency.



So that was our awesome afternoon. Tomorrow will be spent along the mall and a visit to the Holocaust Museum.

3 comments:

Eric Valentine said...

Very nice shots Leon, lots of history there.

bonnie said...

I've made a couple of short trips down there. So much wonderful stuff to see. The last time I went, my dad was there for a teacher's conference & was able to arrange for me to stay with him - we'd get up in the morning, have breakfast, then he'd go off to his sessions and I'd go soak up history all day & report back at dinner.

Conferences really shouldn't be held in interesting places.

He did get a tower bell ringing session in at the Old Post Office, at least.

btw, I hate to be flippant in a comment on a somewhat serious post, but did Earthlink send you your Starbucks coupon-by-way-of-apology yet?

Leon said...

Nothing from Starbucks . . . but I did get a free DSL modem from them.