National Talk in An Elevator Day 2024 is on Thursday, July 25, 2024: What to see in Washington DC in a day?

Thursday, July 25, 2024 is National Talk in An Elevator Day 2024. BLASTmedia Celebrates "National Talk in an Elevator Day" with a ... BLASTmedia team National Talk

These folks don't know what they are talking about. The White House no longer offers tours...unless you get preapproval from your Congressman. And even then, it is a very limited tour.

Here's the deal. Dress comfortable. Bring a digital camera. Most important...good walking shoes!

Go to the base of the Washington Monument and get yourself a ticket to go up the monument. Do this as early as possible. If you get there at say 12 noon, your ticket may allow you to take the tour at 2 PM. After getting that ticket and putting it in your pocket...walk south past the reflecting pool and see the WWII memorial. Not much to see, but it's on your way. Go to the Lincoln Memorial. Cool place. From there, you could visit the Vietnam Memorial, but it's about the same as the WWII memorial...kinda quiet and boring. (And no, I am not badbmouthing our vets...just saying, if you have a limited amount of time, skip it...unless you know someone who's name is on the wall.)

From the Lincoln Memorial, walk BACK to the Washington Monument. You could take the long way (to your left) and walk past the White House, but it's not like you are going to get very close to it. The street is blocked off and there are usually some bums and protesters out there with signs about something they feel is worth protesting.

At the Washington Monument, take the tour. They have an elevator that goes to the top and it's a great view of Wash DC (the tallest structure in DC). Ok, after the monument tour, head toward the Capitol. At this point, choose a museum on the Natinal Mall. I would hightly recommend the American History Museum. They have all sorts of interesting items including locomotives and so forth. The Natural History museum would be my second choice; mounted animals and things like the Hope Diamond.

Be sure to visit the Air & Space Museum! It's located closer to the Capitol building and has NASA space capsules, airplanes, you name it. Also, the Air & Space museum has a food court in the back (near the Lunar Module) that is about the cheapest place to eat on the National Mall (McDonalds, some pizza, and a sandwich joint). Your other eating options are going to be more expensive and the quality of food will not be as good (imagine that! McDonald's is quality!).

After Air & Space, if you have the time, there is the Hirshorn Art Gallery next door. Kinda cool. From there, be sure to walk toward the Capitol and get a good view and take some pics.

Everything I just described is FREE...except lunch, of course. Don't bring any knives, nailclippers, liquids or even food.

The Capitol tour is like the Wash Monument tour...only it's a bigger hassle to get in the place. (Think rude TSA airport people doing cavity searches and whatnot.) I was totally unimpressed by the Holocaust Meseum. More rude guards and the museum has a public place and another private tour that you have to sign-up for. I love the Jewish people...but how many times must humanity be reminded of the autrocities of the Nazi's? If you want to have a Holocaust Museum, put it in Gemany...I am just not sure how it relates to the Capital of the USA...unless we are talking more taxpayer funds for Israel.

Can you visit Washington D.C. monuments past midnight?

You cannot go up in the Washington Monument late at night, but you can walk around them all. Do not believe the handicap elevator to the Lincoln Memorial is open, but could be mistaken.

Come and enjoy your/my national capitol day and night.

This is my help from Washington, D.C. United States of America.

Please pick an answer as the best answer, even if it is not mine.

Is it safe to say that 1968 and 2001 were 2 dark years in American History?

Having had the somewhat dubious distinction (along with bazillions of others) of having lived through the times of these historic (though tragic) events, I'm inclined to agree.

I was in my teens in 1968 and, like most of my peers, was filled with lofty ideals--we thought that our generation would be the one to usher in a new era of understanding, peace, and love.

Just like most young idealists, we were wrong--though there has been progress made, we still have a long way to go; "miles to go before we sleep," to misquote Robert Frost.

Fast forward thirty-three years--I was the mother of two grown sons, one in the Army. I remember being in the local courthouse with 11 other people, deliberating on a civil suit when we were informed by the presiding judge that we needed to evacuate the building because of a bomb threat and to return the following morning.

We all filed to the elevators, and as we were going to the ground floor someone mentioned that she'd overheard someone in the hallway talking about "an attack at the World Trade Center."

I called a friend of mine who lived close to the area where I was, and found out what had happened that beautiful September morning.

When I got home, I tried to call my husband and then my younger son and got no answer from either of them, so I did pretty much what everyone else did that day--cried, called friends, cried some more, called relatives back in the Philadelphia area, and, of course, cried more.

Since I live in an area close to a major military installation (where my son was stationed and on which my husband still works), everyone was still wondering what might happen next.

Well, we all know the story, and I think a lot of us will no more forget the date of September 11 than my mother's generation would forget the date of December 7.

I totally agree with you that those years--and the sad anniversaries of what happened in April and September, respectively--were gloomy ones indeed for both the individuals directly affected by the events which occurred and for the nation as a whole.

I suppose you might say that they're forever burned into the American psyche.