fivecats journal

Lincoln Urn
March 2006 Washington, DC
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My favorite memorial in DC is the Jefferson Memorial.  Across the Potomac from the more popular Lincoln, the Jefferson stands alone.  Small, silent and up a series of short steps up from the ground level, making it very accessible, the Jefferson is an open-sided round, high-domed structure with quotations engraved in the marble walls and a statue of the man, himself, in the center.  Elegant, relatively understated, yet still bold and commanding. 

Plus, there are great places to sit around, late at night, and not be bothered by anyone. 

So, why are these images from the Lincoln? 

Well, the Lincoln was closer to where the Smithsonian Kite Festival was.  Also, I've developed a fascination with these huge urns that reside on either side of the huge, exhausting stairway up to the platform level of the Lincoln Memorial.  I don't understand them at all.  They look like they should be pyres, burning day and night like the Eternal Flame by Kennedy's  gravesite.  Instead, they sit silent and cold, forgotten even from the tails side of the newest pennys. 

For a  nighttime shot and just slightly more text,(  click on through to the other side )

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