Wahington, D.C. - Part II

We were excited to travel through the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It has been a long time since we've both been to D.C., and this wasn't even on the map.

The memorial is an open-air design, comprised of four "rooms" each of which is dedicated to a term of office of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Although designed in 1974, it took Congress 20 years to appropriate the funds and was finally dedicated on May 2, 1997. It's located along the Cherry Tree Walk by the Tidal Basin - a nice walk between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials. We actually walked through it backwards - but don't tell anybody. We don't think anyone noticed, anyhow.

The designers chose granite (Carnelian granite from South Dakota) for the memorial because it is one of the most common stones - and Roosevelt was a champion of the common man. It's spread over 7.5 acres and contains enough granite to build an 80 story building.

A few facts on FDR:

• Lived from January 30, 1882 to April 12, 1945, dying during his fourth term
• Served as 32nd president: from 1933 to 1945
• Only president to serve more than 2 terms
• Only president to serve in the office while in a wheelchair
• Considered one of the greatest U.S. Presidents (right up there with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln)

During his lifetime, FDR did make his wishes known concerning a monument: "If they are to put up any memorial to me, I should like it to be placed in the center of that green plot in front of the Archives Building. I should like it to consist of a block about this size [of this desk]." His wish was granted, and a small memorial was placed on the corner of 9th St and Pennsylvania Ave about 30 years before the present memorial was built.

We believe this quote from a Washington Post architecture critic really sums up the purpose of the memorial: "to give people as many options as possible to go this way or that, to reverse directions, to pause, to start over, to be alone, to meet others, and to experience as many different sights, smells and sounds as the site permits."

Round Two! What is this memorial?

I'll give you a hint... It is between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials. It was dedicated by President Hoover to honor the 26,000 men and women who served in the Great War, or what would later be called World War I.

The D.C. War Memorial.
It's an "open Doric bandstand" designed to exactly fit the 80 members of the US Marine Band. Our first impression was that it really needed a good scrubbing. It seems like this memorial is rarely visited, and the upkeep reflects this.

And now for round three of "Guess the Memorial."

The Lincoln Memorial.
There had to have been at least 50 times more people here than were at the Jefferson Memorial. Poor lonely Jefferson.

Did you know that the land under the Lincoln Memorial were mud flats? During construction, workers had to dig down 100 feet before hitting bedrock. Amazing!

For almost 90 years since its dedication on May 30, 1922, Lincoln has had one of the best views in Washington D.C.

And last but not least... The Einstein Memorial.

We both have visited D.C. on several occasions before now, but had always just hit the highlights - the Capital, the "big" monuments, and some museums. This time around, we really wandered about and found all the little, lesser known monuments. And man are there a lot of 'em - it felt like Gettysburg all over again! In front of the National Academy of Science sits The Einstein Memorial. And I literally mean "sits." This is a 7,000 pound, 21 foot tall bronze statue of Einstein resting on a granite bench, casually holding some papers on which his most famous formulas are written.

Albert Einstein is probably best known for his work on Special and General Relativity. In fact, he did most of his work within one year, 1905, receiving his doctorate and writing three papers, each of which became the basis for a new branch of physics. What many may not know, is until his death in 1955 Einstein worked adamantly on behalf of world peace. But nevertheless his heart remained with science. Discussing his political activities, he said "...politics is for the present, but an equation...is...for eternity."

Another quote that was located on a display nearby was, "As long as I have any choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance, and equality of all citizens before the law prevail."