There was really only one thing that I felt like I absolutely had to see when I visited Washington DC, and that was the Lincoln Memorial. I was not disappointed. The statue is so huge and majestic (see the photo I took), and I found a certain peace there even among the crowd.
On the day that I was there, Saturday, May 30, 2009, there just happened to be a rededication ceremony going on. This day marked “four score and seven years” (i.e. 87 years) since the first time the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated. This rededication of the Lincoln Memorial sounded like an interesting idea, but the execution seemed haphazard and not so slick. It didn’t seem well-attended or publicized, and in fact it seemed like the audience was primarily comprised of random passersby. There were some performers dressed in Civil War uniforms and a band playing period music and low level politicians or bureaucrats making boring speeches. I didn’t stay for the ceremony (which I actually found to be a distraction), but just stayed a while to admire the building and the statue…
