Tour de DC - Self Guided Cycling in America's Capital

For someone like me who is both a cycling enthusiast and a history buff, Washington DC is such an amazing place. America's Capital, according to Professor Robert Langdon from Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol, is a city that "has some of the world's finest architecture, art, and symbolism". 

The skyline of Washington DC and the Marine Corps War Memorial

Yet the most amazing thing is, the entire city was designed like a web of race tracks, with one street circling another. 

While I did not have the time to tour every single corner of the city, I did travel through Washington's core area - the National Mall.  I took advantage of Washington DC's Capital Bikeshare program. By choosing a membership plan, you are allowed to access any bikes at any bike stations. The first 30 minutes on one bike is always free of charge. Because there were so many bike stations along the National Mall, you never really need to pay any money for using the bikes - as most of the attractions are within 30 minutes of riding time to each other, and there are bike stations in front of / at the back of most of these attractions. All you have to do is keep switching bikes while enjoy the some of the most interesting stuffs Washington DC offers.

A scene of the National Mall

I began my bicycle exploration from the famous Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It is the closest major museum to the Smithsonian Metro station. The museum housed several interesting artifacts, from the very first airplane built by the Wright Brothers, to the space suit worn by Neil Armstrong on the moon.  The reason why the Smithsonian Museums have become some of my favorite museums was because of the Smithsonian Institute's continuous dedication throughout the years of collecting and maintaining the artifacts from coast to coast, and from past to present. Yet the museums are opened to the public free of charge so anyone has the access to them, which gives everybody the opportunity to learn. I think the Smithsonian model and philosophy should be applied to if not all, but to most of the public museums so they serve their purposes better as  public educational institutions.

The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

The Eagle, which took humans to the surface of the moon for the very first time

The very first airplane built by the Wright Brothers

On the easternmost part of the National Mall is the United States Capitol Building. It hosts the United States Congress, which is consisted of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The number of House Representatives (commonly know as congressmen/ congresswomen) is decided by the population of constituencies in each state. The number of constituencies will increase / decrease depends on the increase / decrease of population each state experiences. Each state, however, is equally assigned with 2 seats in the senate as to represent the state in the congress, regardless of the size or the population of each state.

The Capitol Rotunda is a place that was surrounded with lots of great art pieces and mysteries. It had giant oil paintings depicting the important events during the American Revolution. Along the sides, there were statues of American political figures such as George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, and Rosa Parks. In the center of the capitol dome was Constantino Brumidi's most known work: The Apotheosis of Washington. The fresco depicted six different national concepts conceived by the founding fathers of the United States: War, Science, Marine, Commerce, Mechanics, and Agriculture. In the very center, George Washington, who sat on a throne wearing a purple gown, was surrounded by 13 angels. The word "apotheosis" in Greek means "becoming a God" and the fresco was intended to depict the scene of  George Washington ascending into heaven and becoming a God. Right underneath the fresco below the Rotunda ground lied a crypt built for George Washington. Washington was eventually buried at his own estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia according to his own will, and the crypt has been empty ever since. The design of the Rotunda indeed left many unanswered questions to those who are fascinated with it and inspired writers like Dan Brown or some conspiracists one could easily spot all over the internet.

The statue of Rosa Parks

The Apotheosis of Washington fresco

The Capital Bikeshare Station for the U.S Capitol is located a couple of blocks away behind the Capitol in a residential neighborhood called Capitol Hill. To reach the station, one will pass the U.S Supreme Court and get a chance to see some of the oldest and most elegant houses in the United States. Because I wasn't very familiar with each streets' names in Washington DC, I just rode my bike towards the general direction of my next stop: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, also known as that white colored house. When I passed by a street, I saw a large crowd of homeless people gathered together, which most of them were Black Americans. It was very sad to see that only a short distance away from the White House and the Congress where the world's most powerful people live and work, there were the most unprivileged citizens in the entire country whose presence was so visible that it made a visitor like me to hit the break on my bicycle. The powerful politicians in Washington DC has made one promise after another that they will help more and more Americans to live better lives in  ways each of them see fit. If they can't even deal with the most unprivileged citizens of the country who happens to live just a few blocks away from the White House and the Congress, then how can they convince us ordinary people whatever they promised us are going to happen?

Buildings in Washington DC were generally influenced by the French, thanks to its designer Pierre L'Enfant

After racing with DC buses (disclaimer: don't try this, cars and buses there pass you really fast. Stick with the bicycle lane. Don't even ride on the edge!), I finally reached the White House. It really looked like rather an ordinary residential building, with the exception of being heavily guarded (the fences weren't that easy to climb like the news described, by the way). I found the nearby Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the United States Treasury Building much more elegant than the White House. Nonetheless, the White House isn't iconic because of its design, but rather it's the person who resides in it that matters: in this case the President of the United States.

The White House from the Pennsylvania Avenue side

The White House, from the National Mall side

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building

The centerpiece of the National Mall, Washington Monument, is the tallest structure in Washington DC. The District of Columbia even has a specific regulation stating that no building shall pass the height of the monument. It is the highest Masonic monument built in commemoration of America's beloved first president. The Washington Monument overlooks the entire region and is visible from all corners of the National Mall. On the western end of the National Mall strip, the Lincoln Memorial looked far and out of reach - actually it is. I had to change bicycle once en route to the Lincoln Memorial. During my nearly one hour long ride from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, I passed through some interesting governmental organizations like the National Academy of Engineering, where you could even find a statue of Albert Einstein.

The Washington Monument

The Washington Monument

The Washington Monument

The Lincoln Memorial was larger than I thought it would be. It has a large square in front of it, which directly faces the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. Inside the memorial, a marble statue of President Abraham Lincoln sat at the very center. On the wall behind the Lincoln statue, the sculptor  Daniel French's words were carved there and quietly echoed inside the hall: 

The Lincoln Memorial

The Reflection Pool and The Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial

IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

Inside the Lincoln Memorial

Over the years, the statue of Abraham Lincoln has witnessed many historical moments. It was at the very steps of the memorial where Reverend Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech "I Have A Dream" and made Black Americans' social inequality in the United States known to the world and paved the way for the passing of Civil Rights Act of 1968. The Act ended the segregation policies in certain parts of the United States and made racial discrimination a federal crime. On the way back to the Washington Monument on the southern end of the loop, the statue of Reverend Martin Luther King stands tall, reminding people of the struggles Black Americans once faced and are facing today in the American society.  Right across the Tidal Basin, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, built to commemorate the drafter of the Declaration of Independence and America's third president,  is a quintessential example of Jeffersonian architecture which can be found in the nearby state of Virginia and even around the globe. 

Martin Luther King Memorial

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Finally I finished my tour of National Mall on the bike at the place where I started it: The Smithsonian Museums. By the time I reached there, the sun was just about to set. I quickly went back to some of my favorite museums for some last glances before they closed down for the day. 

The United States Capitol Building and the Smithsonian Castle

The Smithsonian Castle

When night drew down the curtain, Washington DC was really transformed into something different: The lighting of Washington's gigantic marble structures made the National Mall a popular place for photography enthusiasts. The crowd during the day were no longer there, but the locals swarmed in as many were strolling around some of the the country's greatest monuments and ice skating in front of an art gallery. 

The Washington Monument

By touring Washington DC on a bike, it enabled me to experience the city at a micro level which travelers on vehicles were unable to. I definitely learned a lot about America's capital on the two wheels provided by DC's Capital Bikeshare program: the great history, splendor architectures, top-notch museums, what needed to be improved, and problems needed to be addressed and acknowledged by both the public and the government. The Capital Bikeshare program in many ways is an example of successful government run programs. It makes people moving around a big city like Washington DC a lot more easier and provided a healthier alternative to driving, both to their own bodies and the environment. Most of all,it allows visitors from like me from all over the world to explore the city in a cheap and very efficient way.

The United States Capitol at night