Fortunately for us, it was not yet crowded. Given all the seat choices, Marlon opted to sit by the yellow seat so he would always remember which row he was in.
Officially opened in 1989, the Canadian Embassy was built on a vacant lot formerly occupied by a Ford dealership and a public library. The Canadian Embassy is the closest Embassy to the U.S. Capitol.
We dropped by the IRS Headquarters on Constitution Avenue to check on the status of our Economic Stimulus Act payments.
They were in the mail.
The original Old Post Office opened in 1899 as Washington, D.C.'s first skyscraper, in addition to being the first government building with its own electric power plant. By 1914, the building was already dubbed the "old" post office. Targeted for demolition in the early 1930s, it was saved from the wrecking ball due to lack of funding as a result of The Great Depression.
It continued to be used as overflow space for several government agencies until finding itself a demolition target once again in the 1960s. Thanks to a group of local citizens, the building was saved from demolition in 1973 when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is now known as The Old Post Office Pavilion and is home to many restaurants and stores, as well as a Romanesque grand atrium large enough to hold 1,900 guests which has served as the setting for both New Year's Eve galas and presidential inaugural balls.
Next we came across Ford's Theatre...the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The building was used by the government in a variety of ways until 1968, when it again became an active venue for the theatrical arts. It is currently being renovated and scheduled for a Grand Reopening in the Winter of 2009.
Across the street sits the Petersen House where Lincoln was taken after the shooting. He subsequently died the next morning.
This is another very famous house.
Doug poses for a picture and misses the Washington Monument...he saw it back in 1976 anyway.
American Civil War Major General George Brinton McClellan was, in U.S. Grant's words, "one of the mysteries of the war."
The Washington National Cathedral is the second largest Gothic cathedral in the United States and held the state funerals for Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan and Ford.
This not-quite-so famous house is where the Vice-President of the United States resides.
Embassy Row is home to embassies and diplomatic installations of over 50 different nations...this one being the Embassy of Bolivia.
Also located on Embassy Row, this is the Islamic Center of Washington---a mosque and Islamic cultural center.
The memorial to the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion, whose members were known as Seabees, is located near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial sits on the shore of the Potomac River Tidal Basin.
The administrative offices and information center of the Smithsonian Institute are located in The Castle, originally completed in 1855.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, located adjacent to Union Station, has the primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets.
Here's the rear of Union Station!
For more pictures of today's double-decker tour, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/june/washingtondcday2/ .
The pictures on this entry were taken as we rode the entire double-decker loop. Next we get off and see the sights up close and personal.
To be continued...
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