Washington D.C. Update and Pics

Here are a few pictures from the (still occurring) trip to Washington D.C.

The Washington Monument just before sunset

Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln
Washington Monument from inside the WWII Memorial

Lincoln Memorial at sunset
The Capitol Building after dusk

The skylight for the underground connection between the East and West Buildings of the National Gallery of Art - Designed by I. M. Pei

National Gallery of Art - East Building

Again

Inside the National Gallery of Art - East Building
National Gallery of Art - East Building ceiling
More National Gallery of Art - East Building
One more

Bonus(?): On the menu of the "restaurant" attached to my hotel the sizes of pizzas were listed as: personal, medium (one tray) and large (two trays). I had to order a medium pizza just to see what was meant by "one tray" (the place served Italian food, but was presumably run entirely by Asian people... weird). Yeah... the pizza was served directly on cafeteria style tray. With the relatively thin crust, I have a feeling it was baked directly on the tray. When it was brought out to the table my thought process was something like - "Hmmm... uh... okay? It is indeed one tray. Is that sanitary? Is it even possible to bake a pizza on a cafeteria tray? Surely they've done this before... they're still open. What the hell." It was alright, nothing special, but I wouldn't order pizza from there again. I apparently was only capable of eating a "half-tray" of pizza that night... I'm glad I didn't order the large (two trays). I would have had about six extra meals for the week, but who wants to eat the same mediocre food THAT many times.

Today: The conference is done (or at least I'm done with it), so I have a half day to myself in D.C. before I head back to KC. On the agenda - an 8-mile walk/jog from the hotel to the Lincoln Memorial, down the National Mall to the Capitol building and back! I can't think of anything that should be more motivating on a run than that scenery and what it represents. Then, I should have time to shower/change and get back out for my tour of The International Spy Museum! Sweet! Thoughts on the conference and more pics will be posted soon (hopefully tomorrow).

UPDATE: I wrote everything before this last night but didn't get around to publishing it, so I'll tack this part on here. (Hey, Dad!) I got up at 5 o'clock to run (eastern - so I guess I got up at 4, but that's a technicality). The route was awesome - from my hotel, which is by the Iwo Jima Memorial, I walked along Arlington Cemetery then crossed the Potomac River. I started the run at the Lincoln Memorial, then along the Reflecting Pool, around the WWII Memorial, Washington Monument, the National Mall (Smithsonian) and then around the Capitol Building Reflecting Pool (which is by the Grant Memorial), then back on the other side of the same route and finsihed by running up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. There, I paid my respects to Mr. Lincoln, and dragged my ass the last 2 miles back across the Potomac to the hotel. Total distance (according to Google Maps) was just about 10 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes. The run part was 4.6 miles in 47 min. My longest distance and likely the most memorable run I will ever have...