Readers of this blog know we love walking tours, especially guided walking tours. And extra especially if they are free.
Tours are great fun because we get to see so many sights up close. Walking is good because we get exercise and greatly increase our daily steppage--more than 10,000 steps is a daily goal. Guides, who are knowledgeable, make the tour enjoyable. Free is good for obvious reasons.
A couple of months ago, we enjoyed a free walking tour of the Mall and Tidal Basin. The tour was operated by Free Tours By Foot, a company we used a few times in during Year 1 in NYC (Titanic Ghost Tour, Street Art Tour, Queens Ghost Tour). The company offers tours in 8 U.S. cities and around the world. We recommend checking them out. Their tours are often better than the paid tours.
Our tour of the Mall and the Tidal Basin was a 3 three tour and we made it back safely. Our guide, a professional historian who attended Georgetown University, was knowledgeable and shared a lot of anecdotes that enriched the experience.
When you visit us here in D.C., we can arrange a tour for you. Below are photos of some of the sights you will see. Enjoy the preview.
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| The White House and the south lawn |
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| The Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol |
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| The Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Maya Lin (1982) |
Our guide told us story about the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. A design competition for the memorial was held. A Yale professor asked his undergraduate students to create a design. Student Maya Lin created her design for which she earned a grade of B. Nevertheless, Lin's design was submitted to the competition along with a design by her professor and proposals from thousands of others. As you can guess, Lin's design was chosen and the professor's was not. The American Institute of Architects in 2007 ranked the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as No. 10 on the list of America's Favorite Architecture. (Who knew? Clearly, not Maya Lin's professor.)
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| The Three Soldiers by Fredrick Hart (1984) (representing African American, Hispanic American and European American soldiers in Vietnam) |
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| Vietnam Women's Memorial by Glenna Goodacre (1993) (representing faith, hope and charity) |
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| The Lincoln Memorial |
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| The Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial |
During the tour, we visited the World War II Memorial. Our guide explained that many WWII veterans who visited the memorial were very pleased with it, but they thought something was missing. Over the objection of the architect, the missing something (pictured below) was added to the memorial.
To learn about Kilroy, click here.
There was no charge for taking the tour. However, the company suggests that, if you enjoyed the tour, you tip your guide. We, like most people, usually give guides a healthy tip. So, if you are good guide with a large crowd, you can do very nicely.
Susan has been thinking about the large tips that can come from giving free tours. So, she has been considering operating her own tour--a tour that focuses on something she knows a lot about:
Susan's Free Tour of the Nordstrom's Shoe Department
Next Up: A Greek Temple in Washington, D.C.?
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