We return to the tourist core of Washington, the neighborhood by the White House - Lafayette Square. We recommend that you get off Metro at the McPherson Square, Farragut West, or Farragut North metro stops.

We start at the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania, and start by looking out at the Corcoran Gallery and talk about their big construction project (1:47)

We continue on to check out the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building, also known as the Old Executive Office Building. (2:35)

We turn around and note the Renwick Gallery, Blair House and Lee House. (5:05)

We head up Jackson Place, noting some of the buildings along the way discussing the history of the square. (11:30)

We play the Liberty Bell March by Washingtonian John Philip Sousa, performed by The United States Marine Band, called "The President's Own."(15:27)

After this spirited march, we pay a visit to, and take a tour of, theDecatur House. (18:56)

We continue on to explore the statues on the square, which are of

• In the northwest corner, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben of Germany,
• In the southwest corner, Jean de Rochambeau of France,
• In the center, President Andrew Jackson,
• In the southeast corner, Gilbert de Lafayette of France, and
• In the northeast corner, Thaddeus Kosciuszko of Poland. (24:55)

In between we talk about the protesters, the Treasury Building, the Tayloe House, and the Dolley Madison House.(24:55)

 

We finish up with a short visit to St. John's Episcopal Church. (31:47)

You can email us at washingtontravelcast@yahoo.com.

We're thankful for Bill and George modeling our Washington Travelcast Ballcaps in their backyard during our recent visit. Hope you enjoy the photo!

Our Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans. Incidental music during the walk is from find me by H.

Photo Album for Lafayette Square.

This week,we make a pilgrimage to one of the most unique sights in Washington, the Franciscan Monastery in Northeast Washington, DC! We recommend you take the Brookland-CUA Station on the Red Line to visit.

We start out by talking about the Brookland neighborhood, and Washington, DC as a pilgrimge town. After arriving at the monastery we talk about some of the history of the monastery, and why it is called the "Commissariat of the Holy Land in America".

We head inside the church, talk about it's history, and the tour of the church and the replicas of the various holy land shrines.

We go out into the gardens, and walk along the rosary portico, then visit the shrines in the garden.

Our music today os Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd, performed on the CD Forever Blessed, by the Little River United Church of Christ Sanctuary Choir

Our Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans and our walking music today was from Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne by Buxtehude, performed by Craig Stapert, also on Forever Blessed. Logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia.

Our Photo Album captures some of the beauty of this place.

This week, we continue our visit the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, by visiting the Udvar-Hazy Center out near Dulles Airport! We recommend you take the Smithsonian Station on the Orange and Blue Lines to the mall museum, and take the shuttle to the Center, or, if you're based in the suburbs and have a car - drive out to the Center. We give full directions.

We pay for parking, park out front and admire the sculpture "Ascent" by John Safer as well as the impressive entryway. Then we go through security and enter the museum.(3:14)

We spend some time talking about the history of the museum, and the biography of it's prime benefactor, but Mark urges us on to check out the "Cool Planes".(4:36)

After walking down off the catwalk we admire the SR-171 Blackbird, the fastest jet in the world, and visit some exhibits dedicated to modern military aviation.(10:23)

We head into the World War II aviation section, viewing several German World War II planes and the Enola Gay. We listen to one of the volunteer docents speak about the airplane, and we add our own thoughts about it.(16:04)

We play the song wintersun by Melodius Thunk. (23:46)

Commercial Aviation is next - and we see the original Boeing 707 as well as the supersonic Air France Concorde.(29:00)

After a visit to the Vertical Flight exhibit, we climb the clock tower. After admiring the view from up there, we head on down the catwalk toward the McDonnell Space Hangar. We need to descend the other clock tower to do so. (36:57)

The first thing we see is the space shuttle Enterprise and we spend a minute or two oohing and aahing over that. Then we visit several exhibits related to manned space flight. (43:58)

We pass around the back of the space hall, and explore rocketry and sattelites.

(40:34)

Next stop on the tour is the Observation Tower, where we watch several planes take off and land at Dulles Airport. Then we visit the Air Traffic Control exhibit in the next level down.(56:52)

Finally we visit the gift shop and Cafe before heading out.(1:00:56)

Our Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans and our walking music today was from Find Me by H. Logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia.

I'm not sure our pictures do it justice - given the scope, but we have some interesting ones at Udvar-Hazy Center Photo Album.

This week, we visit the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum! We recommend you take the Smithsonian Station on the Orange and Blue Lines to visit this fantastic mall museum.

We start out in front of the mall carousel - and give you some basic, easy directions - then admire the sculpture "Ad Astra" by Richard Lippold while we wait in line to get into the museum.(0:53)

We head to the information desk as soon as we get in the building, and talk about logistics of finding your way around the museum, taking tours, Udvar-Hazy Center shuttle tickets, IMAX tickets. (5:19)

We head down to the flight end of the ground floor, where the flight simulators are, and visit the "Golden Age of Flight" exhibit. (9:58)

Between the military aviation in the Golden age and the military section of the "Jet Aviation" exhibit we play The Air Force Song, sung by the U.S. Air Force Band with the Singing Sergeants.(12:57)

We continue on to the hands-on "How Things Fly" exhibit.(17:28)

We head off for the space end of the ground floor - visiting the "Milestones of Space" hall.(19:04)

We play the song Moon Shy City by Maryland-based group Lejeune. (20:09)

After encouraging you to visit the many exhibit halls that we missed, we continue on to the "Exploring the Universe" exhibit, then heading to the upper floor of the museum, and appreciate the "Milestones of Space" hall from this new angle.(24:18)

After skipping a couple of exhibits, we enter the "Apollo to the Moon" exhibit. (28:55)

We head way back in time for the "Wright Brothers" exhibit and explore the very beginnings of flight.(36:02)

We pass a small exhibit on Lindbergh, then finish up by visiting the "Exploring the Planets" before ending our visit to the Air and Space Museum. (38:52)

Our Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans and our walking music today was from Find Me by H. Logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia.

Check out the pics Mark took with his new camera on our Air and Space Museum Photo Album.