Episode 16
Washington Mall facts you didn't know
🎙️
Visiting the Washington DC Mall during the cherry blossom season made our visit that much more enjoyable. It is needless to say there is more than enough history for us to film and share with you! We even had a surprise celebrity sighting right on the Lincoln Memorial.
🚕 Google Map to Washington Mall
🎥 Washington Mall History and a Historian's Take
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Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:greetings and welcome to the talk with
Speaker:your tea podcast I'm your host Scott
Speaker:here with my wife and historian Jen
Speaker:hello on this podcast we talk about
Speaker:history's continuing impact on us today
Speaker:and our personal journey through YouTube
Speaker:is we continue to explore record and
Speaker:share our history walks with you
Speaker:now for today's podcast there really
Speaker:isn't much that I need to do to
Speaker:introduce one of the most famous
Speaker:locations in America the National Mall
Speaker:in Washington DC it's full of History so
Speaker:Jen Let's Just Jump Right In sure where
Speaker:did we start so the mall you know people
Speaker:when I say the DC Mall people are always
Speaker:like the shopping mall but that's what
Speaker:we refer to as that big grassy area in
Speaker:Washington DC that's kind of it's
Speaker:adorned with monuments and markers to
Speaker:the people who have shaped this country
Speaker:and it's visited by over
Speaker:25 million people a year yeah like it is
Speaker:and it's free so you can walk around you
Speaker:can go at any time and it's beautiful
Speaker:it's clean it's well kept yes and tons
Speaker:of History so we started at the Thomas
Speaker:Jefferson Memorial yeah and I had
Speaker:actually never been there before that
Speaker:was my first time too and so you see it
Speaker:you know you can always go oh there it
Speaker:is but I had never actually gone inside
Speaker:and it's beautiful so it's a huge statue
Speaker:of Thomas Jefferson inside he's bronze
Speaker:and then the outside of the pillars and
Speaker:and we went during the cherry blossoms
Speaker:oh it was gorgeous so right around it
Speaker:was it was so pretty like everything was
Speaker:in full bloom and there was petals
Speaker:everywhere it was awesome it was awesome
Speaker:so when I say Title Basin it's that
Speaker:curve of the mall around because it's
Speaker:basically kind of like a big almost like
Speaker:a l more like a u yes yes and that's
Speaker:when people say the cherry blossoms on
Speaker:the tidal base and that's what they mean
Speaker:but Jefferson was the third president
Speaker:that Monument was built for from 1939 to
Speaker:1943 under FDR and it really goes into
Speaker:it but they have like a bunch of like
Speaker:his sayings around him things that he
Speaker:wrote and it celebrates him as more than
Speaker:just president but like a scientist an
Speaker:inventor an architect like the pillars
Speaker:on the outsider his architectural idea
Speaker:yeah and so it kind of is more to him
Speaker:than just the president but of course
Speaker:it's he's the author of the Declaration
Speaker:of Independence so they have that on the
Speaker:wall it's um the statue is 19 feet yeah
Speaker:and it was a lot bigger thousand pounds
Speaker:like it's huge and you can actually see
Speaker:it at night you could if you kind of
Speaker:look through the pillars you can see the
Speaker:statue in there it's it's lit up but
Speaker:he's holding the Declaration in his hand
Speaker:so that's what he's standing there
Speaker:holding but it was and the statue was
Speaker:dedicated I think like in 1947 so after
Speaker:FDR so the the monument was there first
Speaker:and then they put in the Statue yeah now
Speaker:it was it was really really cool and and
Speaker:we actually went to kind of give the
Speaker:larger picture of like how we were
Speaker:filming this I mean we did this with our
Speaker:kids yes we did this with family my mom
Speaker:and the
Speaker:um electric electric wheelchair electric
Speaker:wheelchair although she wasn't she
Speaker:didn't start there with us so I so I
Speaker:actually dropped her off it was a lot
Speaker:and then kind of like hoofed it from
Speaker:Lincoln down to the Jefferson Memorial
Speaker:in my steel-toed boots which actually
Speaker:like it gave me issues later that I
Speaker:suffered for so that's advice I always
Speaker:try to give people in Washington DC
Speaker:because you can see everything yeah
Speaker:pretty clearly you think it's closer
Speaker:than it actually is and it's not that
Speaker:close I think it's about I want to say
Speaker:it's about a mile mile and a half
Speaker:between the Lincoln Memorial and the
Speaker:Jefferson Memorial oh I believe it
Speaker:because there have been so many times I
Speaker:I've seen the Washington monuments so
Speaker:the big obelisk in the middle of
Speaker:Washington and I'm like oh that's not
Speaker:far we can make it there no problem and
Speaker:you'll be walking for like 20 minutes
Speaker:yeah and you're not even closer and it
Speaker:looks yeah I think we walked to I think
Speaker:I probably walked because I did a bunch
Speaker:of extra right dropping your mom off and
Speaker:then come and get you guys and then
Speaker:walking back and all this stuff I mean I
Speaker:probably walked jogged whatever and
Speaker:still took boots for like five or six
Speaker:maybe seven miles that day and that's
Speaker:good advice because it is very walkable
Speaker:yes and that is the best way to see it
Speaker:because you can't really drive from
Speaker:Monument to Monument yeah it's not an
Speaker:easy City to drive and there are there
Speaker:are folks who bike around a little bit
Speaker:but it's it's I would say it's probably
Speaker:better to walk because you kind of
Speaker:really get the experience and especially
Speaker:more going through what's the next
Speaker:Monument we walk through which is FDR
Speaker:which is awesome it was really cool if
Speaker:you haven't seen the FDR monument yet I
Speaker:definitely recommend getting out there
Speaker:it was only built in 1997 and in 2001
Speaker:they actually put a cloak around FDR to
Speaker:kind of I wouldn't say hide the
Speaker:wheelchair but they wanted to
Speaker:you know we emphasize it de-emphasize it
Speaker:yeah so they put the cloak around that
Speaker:but it was it's dedicated to his four
Speaker:terms of office and it's basically a
Speaker:walking Monument so you walk through
Speaker:each term
Speaker:and as we walked it backwards but if you
Speaker:walk it forward like you're supposed to
Speaker:yeah if you're walking from the Lincoln
Speaker:Memorial to the Jefferson that's the way
Speaker:you should walk it yeah and that goal
Speaker:will go in sequence of his time in
Speaker:office and they'll have different kind
Speaker:of monuments they have his Fireside
Speaker:Chats yeah that's cool they have people
Speaker:standing in line for the depression the
Speaker:bread lines the bread lines and
Speaker:they what's really neat is they um they
Speaker:have a water feature that was cool and
Speaker:the water will get more and more complex
Speaker:as his terms go on right because as his
Speaker:presidency goes on he's going to take
Speaker:America into World War II yeah and it's
Speaker:going to get more and more difficult and
Speaker:complex and so that's what that water
Speaker:feature is supposed yeah that was
Speaker:something that I had I'd seen it before
Speaker:I had been to the mall before but I had
Speaker:never heard that
Speaker:um and the kind of the reasoning behind
Speaker:that and and so I actually specifically
Speaker:kind of looked for it and the water
Speaker:wasn't running while we were there no
Speaker:but it but you could still tell yes it
Speaker:was really neat so he's our 32nd
Speaker:president you know being assisted
Speaker:through the Depression and World War II
Speaker:has four terms the only president to
Speaker:have four terms now you're not allowed
Speaker:to have four terms but he and it was a
Speaker:rarity even then because he wanted to
Speaker:bring America through the war yeah he
Speaker:felt like he got you know he was with
Speaker:America in the beginning and he wanted
Speaker:to see it through yeah so that was why
Speaker:he served four terms yeah and being
Speaker:there again I'm gonna foot stomp this
Speaker:because if anybody listening to this can
Speaker:pick a time to go go in the cherry
Speaker:blossoms are are in bloom which is
Speaker:april-ish that's where we went over
Speaker:there right around Easter spring break
Speaker:time frame
Speaker:um I think it gives you a completely
Speaker:different experience being there with
Speaker:those cherry blossoms
Speaker:um and again me being the kind of more
Speaker:cinematic camera guy like I loved it it
Speaker:was great it was just gorgeous to shoot
Speaker:yes and
Speaker:it like I said this it's open air rooms
Speaker:big Grand and they have some of his
Speaker:famous speeches and things that he said
Speaker:quotes yeah I think they had his wife
Speaker:there yeah Eleanor Roosevelt has her own
Speaker:statue of course because she was such an
Speaker:influential first lady but just a lot of
Speaker:quotes that he had said and and I think
Speaker:there's almost a
Speaker:a touching wall remember we just talked
Speaker:about that yeah like a braille yes like
Speaker:a braille so they were talking about
Speaker:disabilities and handicaps and trying to
Speaker:embracing that yeah so there was a
Speaker:braille wall which back then was not
Speaker:embraced no that's why they are they
Speaker:kind of hit it yeah he tried not to have
Speaker:any pictures taken of him in the
Speaker:wheelchair and that's why the front of
Speaker:the Resolute desk was put on so people
Speaker:wouldn't see him in the wheelchair and
Speaker:at the time the Press was very
Speaker:accommodating to that for him yeah it
Speaker:would be that way nowadays but uh yeah
Speaker:it was it was that was
Speaker:I don't know if that was my favorite one
Speaker:but that was up there it was pretty cool
Speaker:it was pretty neat well the next one
Speaker:Martin Luther King I had never seen
Speaker:before
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:so I hadn't either because it's not a
Speaker:lot of these you can kind of see from
Speaker:the road right the Jefferson Memorial
Speaker:Lincoln Memorial the Washington Monument
Speaker:but the the MLK one it's it's I wouldn't
Speaker:say it's tucked away it's just not
Speaker:easily viewable from the road it has a
Speaker:great view of the tidal base then yes
Speaker:but you have to walk over to it and it's
Speaker:neat it's kind of like he's coming out
Speaker:of the mountain it's like he's cut out
Speaker:of the mountain moving forward and it
Speaker:that's also a new one 2011. it's called
Speaker:the stone of Hope
Speaker:it's 30 feet high and he's only the
Speaker:fourth non-president to be memorialized
Speaker:on the mall yeah I didn't I didn't know
Speaker:that either so as we're we're doing this
Speaker:and you're kind of telling me about it
Speaker:almost as like a warm-up for you to
Speaker:actually put say it on camera
Speaker:um I mean I was learning things left and
Speaker:right you know I got to see all his like
Speaker:super famous quotes yes right so so
Speaker:walking up to it there's like a bunch of
Speaker:his famous quotes from his speeches and
Speaker:stuff like that that are kind of carved
Speaker:into the wall so it's you're walking up
Speaker:to the and then here he is like kind of
Speaker:like you said it's it you can tell it's
Speaker:it's kind of yeah he's 30 feet high
Speaker:intended to to kind of be coming out of
Speaker:this
Speaker:um this Stone embankment which then
Speaker:you'll then walk behind them yes you
Speaker:know on to the next one but uh the MLK
Speaker:one was it was really really neat and
Speaker:you did say that there's a
Speaker:some people kind of said that there was
Speaker:a little bit of controversy because the
Speaker:marble the stone is white it's white so
Speaker:I had you know when I went to grad
Speaker:school at the University of Memphis uh
Speaker:we had talked about this monument and
Speaker:some of my fellow
Speaker:cohort in my class who were
Speaker:African-Americans said why why would you
Speaker:have a monument to Martin Luther King
Speaker:and make it white and I never thought
Speaker:about that but it's true it is that's a
Speaker:good point bright white yeah yeah
Speaker:um but do you know the other three
Speaker:people who are uh on the mall that are
Speaker:not presidents I did when I was making
Speaker:the video a year ago I do not anymore so
Speaker:John Paul Jones that's right uh John
Speaker:Erickson
Speaker:kind of like a forefather of America and
Speaker:George Mason
Speaker:to America yeah good old jpj father of
Speaker:the Navy
Speaker:I know
Speaker:MLK is Korea yeah so you kind of walk
Speaker:behind MLK and then you will kind of
Speaker:walk along the path over towards the
Speaker:Korean and you'll be walking and you'll
Speaker:see these the Korean memorial is so cool
Speaker:it was um it was built in 1982 to 19 uh
Speaker:1992 to 1995 and it's called the column
Speaker:because it's supposed to be men walking
Speaker:in a column as if they're on patrol and
Speaker:their life size yeah so it's so nice and
Speaker:you can kind of you can kind of walk
Speaker:between them yeah it's really cool and
Speaker:it's 19 men 14 Army three Marine Corps
Speaker:One navy one Air Force oh representation
Speaker:and it's just there have like their
Speaker:ponchos it looks like it's harsh weather
Speaker:because Korea was harsh weather and
Speaker:they're walking through yeah yeah it's
Speaker:just it's such a neat Memorial I think
Speaker:because it's so life-like to be yeah you
Speaker:that that one you almost feel like it's
Speaker:trying to take you there more than more
Speaker:than anything else more than any of the
Speaker:other monuments in my opinion because
Speaker:it's it's really it's almost more about
Speaker:the scene than it is about any specific
Speaker:person yes and I think because they call
Speaker:it the Forgotten War yeah because most
Speaker:people forget Korea because it's it
Speaker:relatively fast lifespan-wise right like
Speaker:mash they say about the Korean war was
Speaker:longer yeah than the actual career
Speaker:that's right yeah and so I think when
Speaker:you when you walk through it like that
Speaker:you're like wow I feel like a part of
Speaker:this yeah it's a very very neat Monument
Speaker:I really like it
Speaker:um I they said 1.5 million people
Speaker:actually served in the Korean War so
Speaker:it's dedicated to everyone who served so
Speaker:there are pictures etched in and you can
Speaker:see and they do that again
Speaker:representation it's all services and you
Speaker:see women and you see everybody this
Speaker:kind of like depicts moments from the
Speaker:Korean War yeah and that's really cool
Speaker:to see too yeah it was a neat one and
Speaker:again we were we were there and it was
Speaker:you know spring break April time frame
Speaker:you know so there was a fair amount of
Speaker:people out but you could still I mean
Speaker:when you if you see the video I still
Speaker:got pretty good oh sure Vantage Point
Speaker:yeah it was it wasn't super crowded or
Speaker:anything like that and after that was
Speaker:Lincoln yeah which the Lincoln Morris
Speaker:I don't that might be one of the biggest
Speaker:just kind of just area wise ones on the
Speaker:entire mall and that's what people want
Speaker:to go that's that's so cool it's so cool
Speaker:and and who did we see when we were
Speaker:there so so we saw and I didn't I didn't
Speaker:even notice it and I think you did be
Speaker:more I think he more heard his voice so
Speaker:we saw a very famous actor yes we did
Speaker:what would we see Denzel Washington
Speaker:that's right we heard him and we saw him
Speaker:I think did he like look at us and wave
Speaker:at us no I don't think he waved at us I
Speaker:think Jr and Tiffany my brother yeah so
Speaker:they went over and tried to get his
Speaker:attention but he was actually there
Speaker:filming a movie filming a movie and he
Speaker:was actually I think he was teaching
Speaker:like some George Washington film
Speaker:students I think it was Howard was it
Speaker:Howard I think it was Howard so but
Speaker:there was like you could tell there were
Speaker:students there with him and he was
Speaker:talking them through probably some sort
Speaker:of course or just like a guest for film
Speaker:for something like that um but he was
Speaker:filming that movie that's now out
Speaker:Michael Jordan yes letters from home or
Speaker:something I think that's the movie yeah
Speaker:they were filming that right on the
Speaker:steps of the Lincoln Memorial which I
Speaker:didn't see my I don't remember seeing
Speaker:Michael Jordan I don't think he was in
Speaker:the scene and and the funny part was
Speaker:it's like when when you pointed Denzel
Speaker:Washington now the only way I could tell
Speaker:who he was because we were everybody was
Speaker:kind of still where a lot of people were
Speaker:still wearing masks even outside at the
Speaker:time
Speaker:um but I could tell by his walk yes so I
Speaker:could tell by his by his walk I was like
Speaker:that's Denzel Washington I I don't I
Speaker:can't see his face because he's this
Speaker:guy's wearing a mask and a baseball cap
Speaker:yeah
Speaker:um and it was pretty cold it was
Speaker:um so he was wearing a big thick jacket
Speaker:but I could tell by his walk it's crazy
Speaker:like you've seen someone in enough
Speaker:movies that you could tell he kind of
Speaker:had that that Denzel walk yeah I had
Speaker:that Swagger and uh so that was that was
Speaker:that was pretty cool it was pretty cool
Speaker:and it was neat to see
Speaker:the Lincoln I mean I've I every time we
Speaker:go to the link Memorial I love it so
Speaker:16th president of course a great
Speaker:emancipator you know you have the
Speaker:Gettysburg address on one side of the
Speaker:monument you have the Emancipation
Speaker:Proclamation on the other side of the
Speaker:monument uh it was it's 36 columns for
Speaker:the 36 States during the Civil War it
Speaker:was built from 1912 to 1922 and
Speaker:his son was there for the dedication and
Speaker:and we actually went there probably two
Speaker:or three times while we were there so we
Speaker:went there actually the night before was
Speaker:it the night before that we went there
Speaker:and you actually found the spot where
Speaker:MLK stood yes so I I had no we went
Speaker:there that day and I had seen it and we
Speaker:took pictures of it we went back we went
Speaker:back that night and people kept asking
Speaker:where it was and what they do there to
Speaker:make it so picturesque is they really
Speaker:make it super dark on the steps and
Speaker:around and really lit up inside so the
Speaker:the statue really glows but you can't
Speaker:see much on the steps so I had to hold
Speaker:my light for my cell phone yeah for
Speaker:people because it's just cut into the
Speaker:marble that says Martin Luther King is
Speaker:it was is it cut into it or is it is
Speaker:there an actual marker no it's cut into
Speaker:the marble it says Martin Luther King
Speaker:stood here when he gave the I Have a
Speaker:Dream speech and so if you don't know
Speaker:where it is you wouldn't be able to see
Speaker:it yeah and so I I showed a couple
Speaker:people that but it was so beautiful to
Speaker:go there at night yeah it was like if
Speaker:you go there during the day do your best
Speaker:to go back at night because it's it's
Speaker:almost a different experience right
Speaker:there's a little bit less people but
Speaker:like you said they they they're very
Speaker:intentional about their lighting setup
Speaker:um in a quick aside that actually was a
Speaker:disadvantage to one of the people in the
Speaker:in the area when we were there so we
Speaker:were we had gone inside I think we had
Speaker:done some additional filming yes taking
Speaker:some pictures or something like that and
Speaker:then all of a sudden like what did what
Speaker:did we hear so we walked down
Speaker:um some of the steps so you just need to
Speaker:be very aware the Lincoln Memorial is at
Speaker:the head of the reflecting pool right
Speaker:and around the reflecting pool is
Speaker:different levels of granite steps and
Speaker:you have to just be very aware of your
Speaker:footing and your steps because like I
Speaker:said it's dark they make it dark so the
Speaker:Lincoln Memorial kind of glows and you
Speaker:can rent those bikes
Speaker:e-bikes yes which are kind of plastic
Speaker:bikes yeah and there were a couple guys
Speaker:riding their bikes and all of a sudden
Speaker:we hear this huge crash plastic and it
Speaker:ought to be perfectly honest it didn't
Speaker:sound like a crash it sounded like a
Speaker:small explosion I mean that was the
Speaker:first thing that popped across my mind
Speaker:maybe that's the military in me but I
Speaker:mean everybody stopped because it just
Speaker:echoed yeah it was so loud and I think
Speaker:he was riding on one level and all of a
Speaker:sudden it jumped up to be about chest
Speaker:level granite and he just like and he
Speaker:plowed he plowed zero he probably didn't
Speaker:see it at all at all and I think it
Speaker:actually like it made it probably
Speaker:damaged the bike pretty good some of
Speaker:them have like these like plastic
Speaker:plastic box things on them or whatever
Speaker:like that I think that's what caused the
Speaker:sound it's one of these plastic boxing
Speaker:just kind of exploded off off of this
Speaker:and we were like oh my gosh what
Speaker:happened but uh it turns out like you
Speaker:know he had some buddies with him and he
Speaker:ended up being okay he was okay we
Speaker:checked don't worry we didn't just walk
Speaker:away he was he was just shocked and that
Speaker:bike I think was destroyed but so just
Speaker:be careful if you're out there at night
Speaker:it's very dark it's beautiful it's safe
Speaker:but you just need to be very aware of
Speaker:your footing especially around the
Speaker:Lincoln Memorial but it was so cool
Speaker:because you've seen it in movies a
Speaker:hundred times you've seen it in pictures
Speaker:growing up and in in school books and
Speaker:stuff like that light of the museum like
Speaker:at Night at the Museum I kept thinking
Speaker:of Forrest Gump yeah right I kept
Speaker:thinking of that like it was just so
Speaker:Sony Abraham Lincoln is seated and he
Speaker:has like a passive
Speaker:pose passive face kind of just looking
Speaker:out and he like I said it's the head of
Speaker:the reflecting pool so he is looking out
Speaker:onto the Washington Monument like that's
Speaker:what he sees so it's it's just like a
Speaker:very head place of the monument yeah it
Speaker:was it was really really neat it's
Speaker:actually surprisingly tricky to get an
Speaker:Uber over there yes so you you just like
Speaker:now they all know like where to drop
Speaker:people off and this that and the other
Speaker:but trying to get get picked up like
Speaker:again you have to be super aware of kind
Speaker:of where you're going to be and you like
Speaker:they're not just there's no common
Speaker:stopping spot no you know so that you
Speaker:have to like just kind of you know up
Speaker:your senses a little bit and it's a
Speaker:difficult City to drive yeah just be
Speaker:aware yeah I would I would highly
Speaker:recommend you know just taking an Uber
Speaker:or taxi Metro whatever
Speaker:um you I think we talked about this
Speaker:before the podcast you really can't park
Speaker:and drive anywhere no not around the
Speaker:mall you might be able to do it like one
Speaker:end but even then like I don't know
Speaker:where where you would park near the
Speaker:Jefferson Memorial no I think you might
Speaker:have to just park maybe by the capitol
Speaker:yeah and walk the other way and even
Speaker:that's really difficult so just
Speaker:recommend parking much further away Uber
Speaker:Metro and Metro and then just just plan
Speaker:on walking
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:we stopped at the Vietnam memorial yes
Speaker:and that's always powerful it is so
Speaker:Vietnam memorial looks like a V yep and
Speaker:it was built in 1982
Speaker:it has 247 kind of like columns and it's
Speaker:58
Speaker:245 names of the people who gave their
Speaker:lives in order of Life lost yeah and of
Speaker:course I stopped there and left a flag I
Speaker:have a friend whose father was killed
Speaker:over Vietnam and he's still missing in
Speaker:action so I left a flag for him and it's
Speaker:it's people can leave anything there
Speaker:yeah and that's one of those places you
Speaker:will see wreaths you will see any
Speaker:people have left there was a group that
Speaker:left a Harley there really I didn't know
Speaker:that left a Harley motorcycle there holy
Speaker:cow so you can leave anything there
Speaker:you're allowed to leave anything out of
Speaker:that now I have all sorts of questions I
Speaker:know that's crazy awesome so like the DC
Speaker:like mall I'll just call them janitors
Speaker:like how the hell I don't even know how
Speaker:to ride a bike right you're like how do
Speaker:I get to start it gets probably sold I'm
Speaker:sure the money donated or something like
Speaker:that but yes you're allowed to leave
Speaker:anything one of the interesting was that
Speaker:the one that was designed by like a 25
Speaker:year old architecture or student 21 year
Speaker:old 21 year old that's that I found
Speaker:super interesting simplistic and
Speaker:Powerful yeah because of the v-shape
Speaker:yeah and then it has the three
Speaker:servicemen statue in bronze from that
Speaker:was in a 1984. yeah it's kind of off to
Speaker:the side and those you know they're it's
Speaker:the first African-American on the mall
Speaker:yeah so that's a really neat one because
Speaker:it kind of shows the Brotherhood of them
Speaker:all to together and the shared hardship
Speaker:kind of what that looked like is that is
Speaker:that with the one with the nurses so
Speaker:there's also the nurses and that's close
Speaker:by too and that was built in 1993. that
Speaker:was that was pretty neat and that's the
Speaker:three women nurses now it's
Speaker:it's a little inaccurate because no
Speaker:Vietnam nurses were ever in combat
Speaker:that's right and so they're they're kind
Speaker:of taking care of a wounded it's
Speaker:symbolic it's symbolic right yes but
Speaker:it's cool yeah so you have one like
Speaker:looking up probably looking for kind of
Speaker:like a air support sure and they're
Speaker:another one's tending to like the
Speaker:wounded soldier and another one's kind
Speaker:of like supporting both of them yeah so
Speaker:it's a very it's very cool but it's kind
Speaker:of like a together in unity kind of idea
Speaker:I think but what was neat that I never
Speaker:had seen before was that World War II
Speaker:Memorial
Speaker:all right that was that was honestly my
Speaker:favorite one
Speaker:I had never been to it I don't remember
Speaker:seeing pictures of it but that was
Speaker:honestly probably like one of the most
Speaker:moving ones for me it was it was it's
Speaker:huge and I think
Speaker:one of the reasons that I think it might
Speaker:have
Speaker:not not be as common commonly known or
Speaker:commonly seen in pictures these kids
Speaker:kind of set down it's set lower it's set
Speaker:it's set lower so you kind of walk and
Speaker:then you walk down into it and you kind
Speaker:of don't even notice it if you're
Speaker:looking at the reflecting pool it's
Speaker:along the way to the monument Washington
Speaker:Monument Washington Monument so it's not
Speaker:it's not impeding The View right right
Speaker:you can look past it and so you don't
Speaker:really even know it's there unless
Speaker:you're looking for it it was it was
Speaker:really really it's beautiful so it has
Speaker:like two Pavilions one for the Atlantic
Speaker:one for the Pacific so for each kind of
Speaker:front and then it has 56 pillars and
Speaker:they represent the states and the areas
Speaker:and the you know the Sovereign countries
Speaker:that fought in World War II yeah and
Speaker:then it has the stars for I think each
Speaker:star represents a hundred Americans and
Speaker:this
Speaker:4048 stars and so all the lives that
Speaker:were lost yeah in World War II and it's
Speaker:this big a kind of like water fountains
Speaker:and you can go down and the nice thing
Speaker:is like the kids loved it so you kind of
Speaker:walk down into this and the nice thing
Speaker:is if it's windy you kind of get out of
Speaker:the wind a little bit so it's very it's
Speaker:a little bit calmer down there minus the
Speaker:water yeah right and so it was just I
Speaker:was just caught completely flat-footed
Speaker:when I got up to it I was like man this
Speaker:is is beautiful and it reminded me of my
Speaker:grandparents yes right that generation
Speaker:the greatest Generation
Speaker:Um I I was just floored and honestly it
Speaker:probably was my favorite monument that
Speaker:we got to see relatively new 2004. yeah
Speaker:I didn't realize it was that new
Speaker:military new but it's such a neat one
Speaker:and I would definitely recommend if you
Speaker:haven't seen that to stop and see yeah
Speaker:and then from there you can is that
Speaker:where you walk right on to the
Speaker:Washington Monument yeah so of course
Speaker:Washington Monument that was one of the
Speaker:first monuments ever to be built and it
Speaker:took forever it took from 1848 to 1888
Speaker:because they stopped during the Civil
Speaker:War yeah right that's right yeah they're
Speaker:like hey guys we need money for the war
Speaker:stop building the monument so people
Speaker:always say the different color Stones
Speaker:because they were 1812. no the different
Speaker:color Stones is because they stopped
Speaker:during the Civil War and then when they
Speaker:went to Curry the Marvel they had to
Speaker:query from another place so that's what
Speaker:the different color stones are for
Speaker:um it was halted for 23 years they just
Speaker:you know didn't cut the funds but it's
Speaker:555 feet it's the tallest masonry
Speaker:Obelisk and it has 50 flags around it
Speaker:which are beautiful if they're all
Speaker:pristine beautiful American flags at a
Speaker:certain circle it and
Speaker:it has so it's supposed to have like
Speaker:kind of this meaning
Speaker:of the three branches of government
Speaker:right because you can see the White
Speaker:House from there you can see the capital
Speaker:and then you're supposed to be able to
Speaker:see the Supreme Court
Speaker:and so you're supposed to be able to
Speaker:represent the three branches are all
Speaker:equal and you know what I have seen it a
Speaker:bunch of times driving by it again I
Speaker:think this is the first time I actually
Speaker:walked all the way to it and you can
Speaker:walk up to it and like
Speaker:touch it yeah like lean on it like the
Speaker:kids sat down really I for some reason
Speaker:like in my head I just didn't think that
Speaker:right
Speaker:um but that's that's actually the case
Speaker:with most of these monuments is that you
Speaker:can just like walk right up and you can
Speaker:lean up against it and you know sit down
Speaker:and have lunch then
Speaker:then you're good to go yeah it's I mean
Speaker:it's there for you so after after the
Speaker:Washington Monument the reflecting pool
Speaker:ends yeah and then the rest of the mall
Speaker:is grass yeah and the capital is like
Speaker:behind yes you can keep walking there's
Speaker:more
Speaker:to see like so the James Garfield
Speaker:markers are further undone there's more
Speaker:information and stuff to see yeah then
Speaker:you're not far from the Smithsonian
Speaker:Institute and all the great place to
Speaker:picnic and they always have food trucks
Speaker:out there so it's just a really great
Speaker:family yeah I think we wrapped it up
Speaker:with there was they had an ice cream
Speaker:which is great it was like I was like
Speaker:this is perfect I mean we were like
Speaker:exhausted right you know we had we had
Speaker:walked I mean our kids held in there and
Speaker:I think that's just because we were
Speaker:walking the entire time so I was super
Speaker:proud of them I would say like the video
Speaker:this time probably wasn't as fun for me
Speaker:to make as actually doing the event this
Speaker:we got to walk so much we got to see so
Speaker:much we got to be walking through what's
Speaker:so iconic in our country and the
Speaker:National Mall is it's a bucket list trip
Speaker:for a lot of people and we were no
Speaker:exception so I felt lucky to be able to
Speaker:do this with my family as well as record
Speaker:it while covering all of the history
Speaker:that it contains
Speaker:and if you haven't seen our Washington
Speaker:Mall video I highly recommend it because
Speaker:perhaps you will learn something that
Speaker:you didn't know before
Speaker:so thank you again for listening to the
Speaker:talk with History Podcast and please
Speaker:reach out to us at our website talk with
Speaker:history.com but more importantly if you
Speaker:know someone else that might enjoy this
Speaker:plot podcast
Speaker:please share this with them especially
Speaker:if you think today's topic would
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Speaker:them to look up the talk of History
Speaker:Podcast because we rely on you our
Speaker:community to grow and appreciate you all
Speaker:every day we'll talk to you next time
Speaker:thank you
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:[Music]
