Sunrise and Reflections in Washington DC

We are showing photos this week from our nation's capitol, Washington D.C. We hope you enjoy this colorful interpretation of this monumental city. The cold air and warmer water of the pond in Constitution Gardens reflects the colors of the sunrise surrounding the Washington Monument. When my husband arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1969 to go to college, this scene was occupied by ugly office buildings erected in World War II for the Navy Department. Constitution Gardens is obviously a huge improvement.
Next to Constitution Gardens is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The names of the dead and missing are etched in the wall of the Memorial, with a silent, empty walkway (early in the morning before tourists arrive) pointing towards the Washington Monument.
The skyline of the Capitol, Washington Monument, and castle of the Smithsonian Institution pierce the sunrise that bathes the Reflecting Pool in color.
Fall colors in Arlington National Cemetery provide a backdrop for the statuary and lamp posts of Arlington Memorial Bridge, as the bridge and the Custis-Lee Mansion catch the first rays of the sun. This photo was taken from the back of the Lincoln Memorial
The sunrise peeks through the windows in the dome of the Capitol building.
A wreath marks the junction of the two walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The somber blackness of the wall is punctuated by the colors of the fall foliage.
The white marble of the Lincoln Memorial absorbs and reflects the colors of the sunrise.
The path of a duck glides through the reflected colonnade of the Lincoln Memorial. We hope you have enjoyed these views of some of the many monuments of Washington, D.C.

My husband went to college and graduate school there and worked for several Members of Congress from 1969 - 1982. We love to visit, although it is easy to be overwhelmed by its monuments, museums and government edifices and overlook that it is a living city with charming neighborhoods and beautiful pockets of nature and surrounding countryside.