The best things to see in the National Mall (Washington)

For our Washington visit, in the Coast to coast trip through the United States, we had a reservation to stay at the motel Ramada inn, riding a College Park, near the federal capital.

But first we had to travel 254 kilometers from Lancaster, from where we leave at 08:30 hours.

We arrived to College Park around mid-morning, and once settled in the motel, we headed to Washington DC, whose center downtown It is located 15 miles away.

Washington DC, located on the banks of the Potomac River, is a city planned in the late 18th century to serve as the permanent national capital of the United States.

Previously, various other localities held this position since the country's independence in 1776.

Due to its political importance, Washington It is a place of frequent demonstrations, particularly in the National Mall.

This grand avenue is also a popular destination among tourists due to the numerous monuments and places of national interest, as it is a center of American history and culture.

At National Mall is the museum complex largest in the world managed by the Smithsonian Institution.

National Mall Monuments

For an hour we drove through Washington and, finally, we parked very close to the Casa Blanca. As it is Saturday, parking is free, as indicated by the meters.

From then on we began a long walk, exploring the exterior of both facades of the Casa Blanca (to visit it inside you have to make a reservation well in advance, which we had not done so as not to condition the trip), and then we surrounded the great obelisk of the Washington Monument.

We have also visited the World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial (there were flowers and a South Korean flag) and the Vietnam War Memorial.

The latter is the monument that moves the most, simply, with the names of all the American soldiers who died during that war.

There is a statue with the figures of three life-size soldiers, and each of them represents one of the majority ethnicities (whites, blacks, Hispanics).

We also visited the Lincoln memorial, where in a building with large classical columns is the grandiose statue of the President Lincoln.

This monument is very well known as it has appeared in many films, including the Planet of the Apes, although, in this case, with a Lincoln with the face of an ape.

From the steps of the Lincoln memorial There is a great view of the enormous esplanade of the National Mall, with the great obelisk, and in the distance, the Capitol (about 5 kilometers…).

We sat for a long time in the Lincoln Memorial steps admiring the panoramic view, with the rectangular pond in the foreground, a corner that has been the scene of large political gatherings of Martin Luther King and against the Vietnam War, and from films like Forrest Gump.

We continue our walk/walk between ministerial and official buildings, all stately, until 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (The Casa Blanca again).

There, exhausted, with legs that were already going alone, we took the car and headed towards the Arlington Cemetery with the intention of visiting, above all, the graves of the brothers Kennedy y jacqueline.

After crossing the Potomac River, we appear before him Pentagon, huge building, and we surprisingly discovered, on the other side of the Arlington Cemetery, monument to american soldiers which represents the famous image of the putting of the flag in Iwo Jima, almost at the end of the Second World War.

The statue is not identical to the famous photo, but it suggests the same idea and has been inspired by said photo which, by the way, was not spontaneous, but was repeated several times.

We leave the visit to Arlington Cemetery for the next day and we headed towards our motel, where we arrived tired, but satisfied and prepared to absorb what we had seen and experienced.

En Washington It is shocking that due to municipal regulations there are no skyscrapers, and instead it shows a very stately city center with its buildings, imposing avenues and numerous monuments, all associated with American films.

Ah! It should be noted that in Washington DC Museums and almost everything that can be visited is free!

Washington day trip from New York

If you are limited on time on your trip to the United States, and being in New York you don't feel like it visit Washington on your own, you have the option of signing up for a excursion to Washington, which will take you to visit the capital of the United States with a guide in spanish in one day.

Photos National Mall

Here you have more photos of the visit to the monuments and museums on the National Mall in Washington.