My trip to the USA in December 2010 would not be complete without a quick tour at the nation's capital. I was determined to see the historic structures DC is famous for. The 5-hour bus trip from New York to DC in a freezing winter night was all worth it. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and
commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C.,
is the capital of the United States. The centers of all three branches of the
federal government of the United States are in the District, including the
Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to many national
monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National
Mall.
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Washington Monument |
Trivia:
By law, Washington's skyline is low and
sprawling. The federal Heights of Buildings Act of 1910 allows buildings that
are no taller than the width of the adjacent street, plus 20 feet (6.1 m).
Despite popular belief, no law has ever limited buildings to the height of the
United States Capitol or the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument.
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Great view of the Washington Monument |
Washington, D.C., is a planned city. In 1791, President
Washington commissioned Pierre (Peter) Charles L’Enfant, a French-born
architect and city planner, to design the new capital. The L'Enfant Plan
featured broad streets and avenues radiating out from rectangles, providing
room for open space and landscaping. He
based his design on plans of cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Karlsruhe, and
Milan brought from Europe by Thomas Jefferson in 1788. L'Enfant's design also
envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" approximately 1 mile (1.6
km) in length and 400 feet (120 m) wide in the area that is now the National
Mall.
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The National Archives |
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US Capitol Building |
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The White House |
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Lincoln Memorial Building |
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DC Train Station |
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Ulysses S. Grant Memorial |
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Smithsonian Museum |
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