TRIP TO WASHINGTON DC - DAY 5 - 11-04-10

WASHINGTON MONUMENT:
The last item on the agenda was a trip to the Washington Monument. While you can visit this monument free, you need a free ticket to go up the 555' tall monument in an elevator. These tickets are issued on a daily basis at the site on a first come first served basis. I was very keen to go up the monument. We were planning to check out at 12 noon and leave for home, so we decided that Chandu and I would make a trip and try our luck.

We started as early as possible, but, still managed to reach there only by 9am and we could get free tickets only for 11-30am. We tried to plead with the guard there, but, it didn't work this time. I was disappointed that i could not go up ( if you have read Lost Symbol, you would know why). However, we spent an hour there going round the monument and taking pictures.

It is shaped like an Egyptian obelisk, stands 555' 5 1/8" tall and offers views in excess of 30 miles.It was built in honor of George Washington who lead the country to independence in the war against the British and later became the first president of USA.It was finished in dec'1884.
The circular concourse is made entirely of white stone except for two decorative courses of dark stone which form two concentric circles around the monument (circumpunct?). The capstone weighs 3300 pounds and is made of marble.It is topped with a 9" pyramid of cast aluminum ( which was a rare metal in those days). As per Dan Brown that has an engraving of "LAUS DEO" (Praise God) but i had no way of verifying it. But no reason to doubt it either.

The observation deck at 500' offers an excellent view - to the East is the Capitol , to the North is the White House , to the West is Lincoln Memorial and to the south is Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial. This is the cross roads of America!!

We returned to the hotel by 11-30am, checked out by 12-30pm, had lunch at a Bombay Restaurant a Silver Spring and left around 2pm.We had excellent weather right through the drive. We reached Maumee, Toledo (Ohio) around 11pm and checked into Residence Inn, Marriott there. On the way we had our dinner of Panera bread Sandwiches at a service plaza.

We left next morning at 10am after a nice and leisurely breakfast , reached Chicago at 2pm, had lunch at Madras Restaurant at Ogden and reached home at 3pm on Monday the 12th April.Thus ended a wonderful trip, and, a long time wish fulfilled.