The District

How can you be in the United States and yet not in the United States?  Well one way is to visit the capital.  The D.C. in Washington D.C. refers to the District of Columbia, which is the federal territory in which the city lies.  It was originally a square of land ten miles on a side which was ceded by the states of Maryland and Virginia and cut in two by the Potomac River which forms their border.  Eventually the bit on the Virginia side returned to Virginia, so the official capital is all on the Maryland side, but it still isn't part of Maryland or any other state.

One bizarre side effect of this is that those who live in the district have no representation in the federal government.  The district isn't a state, so it isn't allowed senators, and they have only a non-voting delegate in the lower house.  The locals are understandably annoyed by this.  I saw one number plate that played on a well known revolutionary slogan and read "Washington D.C.: Taxation without Representation".

Since relatively few people live in the district (and they aren't represented) there has been little attempt to rectify this anomaly.  I imagine it's a knotty problem and any resolution would require tinkering with the core of the constitution which is not something they do lightly here.  And, to be honest, it seems things could be worse - all you have to do is move over the border to one of the dinkum states and suddenly you are enfranchised again.

Anyway it seems to be a benevolent tyranny to which the city is subject.  It has certainly allowed a pleasant city to spring up in what was once just a swamp.

The relatively small size of the capital also means it is easy to get around.  I was on foot, so pretty much everything I saw was within walking distance of the Washington Monument, which was near the hotel.  That was fine, though, because there is so much right there.  Here's a map I drew which shows nothing to scale but gives you a rough idea of how things are laid out (click for a larger version).

I've heard you can get maps elsewhere on the internet, but who needs precision and good looks when you've got me with a free drawing program?  Each of the little boxes up there represents something of interest that I'll be talking about, and I'll label them as I go along.  We've already had the Washington Monument, which is pretty much in the middle of the long, thin park called the National Mall.  There was a good view of that in yesterday's post.  It's about two miles long.  The Tidal Basin lies on one side of the Mall and beyond that the Potomac River proper with Virginia facing you across the river.  On the other side of the Mall is the majority of the city and, eventually, Maryland.

There is a lot of masonry to get through, but today I thought I would post a nice green shot of Constitution Gardens in the Mall.

Granted it does include the Washington Monument, but that's hard to avoid, and anyway it looks rather good framed by the trees and water.  Just think of it as the world's largest piece of garden art.