Trip to D.C. - help, please!

[Angela]

                       

Hello everybody,

I just wanted to report back after my most recent trip to Washington and ongoing quest for Lincoln sites.

It was a wonderful little vacation with quite a few highlights thanks to the many awesome suggestions I received! I finally managed to spend some quality time at the Portrait Gallery that currently has an exhibition named “Grant and Lee” – it was very worth it!

I also spend a crazy amount of time at the capitol again – we got SO lucky and were held up for some reason in the rotunda, which holds one of my all time favorite statues by Vinnie Reams. Since none of the groups were allowed to move on for a good twenty minutes I got to take pictures from every angle and inspect it thoroughly.

Another amazing trip was the visit to the Cottage! Best idea ever!!! It was a very small tour group and the nicest people taking care of the visitors. Even though the house sits on a still active veteran’s home, there is no harsh security and only a friendly request to respect people’s privacy.
The tour itself is very interesting and while the house is sparsely furnished, there are some interesting things to explore and all my questions were answered.
And, yes okay, I loved the slippers! They come in a size 14, which makes the embroidered goats pretty much life size.

On a totally non-Lincoln related note – I FINALLY got to tour the Washington Monument! Thanks to a new friend who works closely with all those wonderful memorials and monuments, it was an exceptionally beautiful tour and I’m glad that the reason why I’m today such a big Lincoln fan is now not a total stranger to me anymore.

Said new friend gave me two gifts which made this fourth visit to Washington an outstanding one – she encouraged me to take a boat tour to Mount Vernon which we did on a wonderful sunny day (Four hours is not enough time, though!) and she gave me a gorgeous statue to take home and which rested on my lap the entire flight home.
It now sits in my bookshelf and reminds me every day that I should soon make time for a return flight!

I have still not seen the Douglass house because on the day I had initially planned it we ended up taking the tour to Mount Vernon. Next time!