DC Reflections

This shot of the Washington Monument in DC is from my trip to see the Cherry Blossom Festival a few years back. The Washington Monument is the tallest structure in the city (well, there's a radio tower that's taller but that don't count). Contrary to what I'd been told on a previous visit to the city, there isn't a law that says no building can be taller than the monument. Instead, the law says that no building can be taller than the width of the adjacent street plus twenty feet, which accomplishes the same thing.

Did you know that the Washington Monument is spying on you? At the top of the tower there are two windows on each side, visitors can look out one while the other is walled off protecting a surveillance camera that can supposedly see for miles. For some strange reason they don't allow knives in the monument although I'm happy to report that they do give them back when you leave. If you're wondering why the color of the monument changes part way up, its because they ran out of money during construction and when they finally started back (23 years later) they used marble from another source. That should be enough random information for now. . .