Washington D.C., USA - awesome capital during cherry blossom season and Arlington National Cemetery
We visit Washington D.C., the capital of the USA. Our tour takes us from the Capitol along the National Mall to the Washington Monument. After a detour to the White House, we continue to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. From the Lincoln Memorial, we walk under beautifully blossoming cherry trees to the Jefferson Memorial. Finally, we visit Arlington National Cemetery with the grave of John F. Kennedy. Washington has been the capital of the USA since 1800. The states could not agree on a capital before then. That is why the city has its own district (DC = District of Columbia), which does not belong to any state. We begin our tour in bright sunshine at the United States Capitol. This is the seat of Congress, the legislature of the United States of America. The Senate and House of Representatives hold their sessions here. The impressive 229-meter-long building, built between 1793 and 1823, consists of a rotunda with a dome, to which the two parliamentary wings are connected. To the east of the Capitol we can also see the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. The National Mall, the national promenade that leads to the Lincoln Memorial, begins at the Capitol. There are many museums in the extensive park, such as the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Castle, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Our next destination, the Washington Monument, can be seen from afar. It is a 169 m high, massive obelisk in honor of George Washington, the first President of the USA. The monument was inaugurated in 1885 and was the tallest building in the world at the time. Unfortunately, we didn't get tickets for the observation deck at the top. A short detour takes us to the White House. It has been the seat of the President of the USA since 1800. Unfortunately, you can only admire it from a distance, fences and barriers keep us at a distance. We continue to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The names of the more than 58.000 died American soldiers are engraved in a wall made of polished black granite. An unusual, touching memorial that makes the horrors of war tangible. Right next to it is the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which was built for the victims of the Korean War. Around 37.000 US soldiers died in this war too. The figures on the memorial represent a squad on patrol in the combat gear that was typical at the time. At the end of the National Mall is the Lincoln Memorial, a hall of columns in honor of Abraham Lincoln. We walk further to the Martin Luther King Memorial in honor of the civil rights activist who was murdered in 1968, which is located directly on the Tidal Basin, a reservoir. It is spring, the cherry trees are in full bloom, and the path along the lake is a sea of white and pink blossoms. In the middle of it are two more memorials, one for Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in honor of the third president and author of the American Declaration of Independence. Finally, we visit Arlington National Cemetery. It is located on the other side of the Potomac River and belongs to the state of Virginia. Arlington is the largest military cemetery in the country and serves as the final resting place for more than 400.000 soldiers and their immediate families. The endless rows of plain white gravestones with the names and dates of the soldiers and their place of deployment illustrate the dimensions of the wars. The most famous grave in the cemetery is that of President John F. Kennedy. At his funeral on November 25, 1963, an eternal flame was lit that still burns today. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is also located here, a memorial to unidentified died soldiers who fought in World War I and II, Korea and Vietnam. It is a large white sarcophagus that is guarded 24 hours a day. We see the somber ceremony of the changing of the guard and a wreath-laying at the memorial. Link to the trail: https://www.komoot.com/de-de/tour/177... Washington is the third stop on our 3-month road trip through the USA. The journey continues! Now the nature of Shenandoah National Park awaits us. If you liked it, please like and subscribe to the channel so you don't miss anything. You can find the complete channel playlist for our stay in the USA here: • USA Roadtrip Visit in March 2024 Chapter: 00:00 Intro 00:49 Capitol 06:53 National Mall and Washington Monument 08:17 White House 09:07 Constitution Gardens 09:55 Vietnam Veterans Memorial 11:30 Lincoln Memorial and Korean War Veterans Memorial 12:17 Martin Luther King Memorial and cherry blossom 16:37 Arlington National Cemetery Music by Zakhar Valaha from Pixabay Music by Anastasia Kir from Pixabay
