These United States [Wednesday, May 7, 2014]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Some people might view taking kids from a school in Maryland to the National Mall on the first day of a class about the United States a giant cop-out.

Josh prefered to think of it as "playing to his strengths."

"Hey guys," he said, adjusting his sunglasses. "Welcome to Washington, DC. This is the capital--with an 'a'--of the United States of America. The Capital--capital C, spelled with an 'o'--is that big domey thing down at the end of this, the National Mall. If you were expecting a shopping center, well, tough. We could easily spend seven weeks just exploring the buildings along this stretch of grass, but that would be super dull, even on Segways."

Which he'd totally provided from them. They were going to cover a lot of ground in the next class period.

"We're going to start here at the Lincoln Memorial," he said, "and do a ride by of everything. I encourage you to come back some time this summer to go into some of the museums: they could take an entire day by themselves and I just want to give you a flavor of the city."

Comments

Jefferson Memorial

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"You're just in time for the last part of the cherry blossoms," Josh said as they rode through the cherry trees on the way to the Jefferson Memorial (http://www.nps.gov/thje/index.htm).

"Modeled on the Roman Pantheon, it stands at the edge of the Tidal Basin, its domed Ionic colonnade an honor to the third President's love of classical architecture. Like so many neoclassic Washington buildings of the 1930s, this memorial was designed by John Russell Pope. In the center of the open-air monument, a bronze Jefferson stands holding a rolled parchment, a symbol of his Declaration of Independence and stares straight into the back of the head of the President all the way over there in the Oval Office. More of Jefferson's memorable writings are inscribed on the encircling walls. But let's be real--you're more interested in either taking pictures of the flowers or paddleboating in the Tidal Basin. And just FYI: this is the number one site for proposals in the whole city. We'll finish the class here, then head back to the Metro."

Paddleboat and photograph away!

Re: Jefferson Memorial

[livebytherules.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Will went for the paddleboating. For some reason, it attracted him more than taking photographs and maybe he'd need some boating expertise in the future.

Re: Jefferson Memorial

[spin_kick_snap]

It was still cooler than Kathy liked, so she eschewed the paddleboats for taking pictures of the Memorial. There were a few nice pictures of the cherry blossoms for good measure, but mostly she kept her eye out for any proposals in the vicinity.

Re: Jefferson Memorial

[pulseof_life]

It made Yeul smile to think of the proposals. It was certainly a lovely place for it.

She did not take pictures of the flowers--she hadn't taken a single picture all class--but she spent her just enjoying the beauty of them.