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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm SteveEmber.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Gwen Outen. Today we take a summer visit around thenation's capital.

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VOICE ONE:

August is a month when a lot of people from the Washington, D.C.,area go someplace else for a week or two. But August is also when alot of people from someplace else go to Washington. Such a tripoften starts this way:

A person who lives here -- we'll call her Suzy -- gets a callfrom friends in another part of the country. They want to see thecity. They want to see everything. But they can only stay a day ortwo.

Suzy knows that her friends cannot possibly see everything insuch a short time. Also, the weather may be very hot. There may besecurity delays. But Suzy wants her visitors to leave with happymemories.

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Washington D.C. Metro train

So she organizes a plan for herfriends. She decides they will do most of their travel in the cityby foot or on Metro trains and buses. Metro is the publictransportation system. That way they will not have to worry aboutwhere to leave their car.

At night, they will visit open-air memorials. During the day, thegroup will see museums; many are free of charge to enter. But,without a lot of time, which ones should they see?

The visitors have two children. So Suzy decides that her friendsshould begin at the National Museum of Natural History. This is partof the Smithsonian Institution. The first thing the children want tosee is the area that shows what dinosaurs looked like millions ofyears ago.

The Natural History Museum is along the grassy area in Washingtoncalled the National Mall.

VOICE ONE:

NationalMuseum of American History

Next Suzy leads her friends alongthe Mall to the National Museum of American History. It contains allsorts of objects. There are dresses worn by the wives of presidents.There is a walking stick that Benjamin Franklin gave to GeorgeWashington, America's first president. Franklin was a statesmen,writer and inventor. The collections in the American History Museumalso include objects from popular culture of today.

The guests have walked a lot so far. They see a table, but theycannot sit at it. This is the table where Thomas Jefferson wrote theDeclaration of Independence from Britain in seventeen seventy-six.

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Next, the visitors walk over to the most popular museum in theworld. Each year as many as ten million people visit the NationalAir and Space Museum. Suzy points out some of the most famousthings. One is the command vehicle from the Apollo Elevenspacecraft. In nineteen-sixty-nine, Apollo Eleven carried the firstastronauts to land on the moon. The visitors all touch the moon rockthat is also on display in museum.

By now, everyone is hungry and a little tired. So they buy foodinside the Air and Space Museum. Then, as they walk out into thesunlight, they look across the street. They see a building thatlooks unlike any others around it, including the Capitol, whereCongress meets.

The shape is like waves of golden sand. This is the NationalMuseum of the American Indian. But it is not ready yet for thepublic. Opening ceremonies are planned for September twenty-first.

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Suzy's friends decide they would like to see some art. But theydo not have the time or energy to see the National Gallery of Art.Instead they walk over to a smaller museum, the Freer Gallery. Ithas art collections from Asia and the United States.

Here the group inspects one of the rooms. Large golden birds withshining tail feathers are painted on the walls. James McNeillWhistler painted this. It is called the Peacock Room.

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Next the group walks to a Metro station. The next stop for themis the International Spy Museum. It opened in two thousand two.Visitors learn about the history of intelligence gathering. And theysee all kinds of devices used by spies.

But spying is not the only subject here. Currently there is acollection called "The Enemy Within: Terror in America -- SeventeenSeventy Six to Today." This collection includes pieces of the planesflown into the World Trade Center in New York on September eleventh,two thousand one.

By now, everyone in the group is ready for some quiet time and agood meal. So Suzy takes them back to her home by Metro. Later, theystart out again. This time Suzy will drive her guests in her car tosee the memorials in Washington.

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VOICE ONE:

Now it is getting dark. The visitors will do some of theirsightseeing by moonlight, when the temperature is cooler.

They start at the F.D.R. Memorial. President Franklin DelanoRoosevelt led the nation from nineteen thirty three until his deathin nineteen forty five. He served longer than any other Americanpresident. The memorial opened in nineteen ninety seven. It containsfour areas. Each represents one of his terms in office. Statues helpshow what life was like. One sculpture shows men standing in linewaiting for bread during the Great Depression.

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After that, Suzy takes her guests to the Korean War VeteransMemorial. The war lasted from nineteen fifty to nineteen fiftythree. The statues of soldiers look real. Moonlight shines on theirfaces.

From there, the visitors walk to the Lincoln Memorial. AbrahamLincoln was the sixteenth president. He led the nation through theCivil War in the eighteen sixties. He was shot to death as hewatched a play in Washington. The memorial is a large white buildingopen all the around. At the center is a larger-than-life size statueof the president. Lincoln is seated. He looks toward a body of watercalled the Reflecting Pool.

VOICE ONE:

VietnamVeterans Memorial

Next, the visitors walk to theblack wall that forms the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. On the wall arethe names of more than fifty eight thousand Americans who died inthe Vietnam War. Names are listed by year of death. The wall growstaller and taller as the war reaches its height. Many visitors findthe names of loved ones and rub the letters onto paper. Many leaveflowers and notes at the foot of the wall.

Maya Lin designed this wall. In nineteen eighty, she entered anational competition to design a Vietnam Veterans Memorial. She wastwenty one years old then, an architecture student at YaleUniversity.

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In April of this year, the first National World War Two Memorialopened nearby. This memorial looks more traditional. It is made ofbronze and granite, with stone pillars all around. In the center, atground level, is a round pool of water with fountains in the middle.

The World War Two memorial honors the sixteen million who servedin the American armed forces. It includes a wall with four thousandgold stars to honor the more than four hundred thousand who died.

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After all their walking, Suzy and her guests are glad to returnto the car. Now they will drive a short distance to see the memorialto America's third president. A statue of Thomas Jefferson stands inthe middle of a white circular structure with columns all around. Inthe moonlight, the visitors can see an image of the memorial in theTidal Basin, which collects water from the Potomac River.

Next the group drives past the Washington Monument. This honor toGeorge Washington is made of white stone. Its narrow form reachesmore than one hundred sixty nine meters toward the sky.

It is late now, and everyone decides they have seen enough forone day.

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Next morning, they walk past the White House. Visitors can goinside the president's home, but they must first get tickets througha member of Congress.

Instead, Suzy's group stands in line to visit the United StatesCapitol. They see where the House of Representatives and the Senatemeet. And they see the paintings and statues that are throughout theCapitol.

VOICE ONE:

Later that day, the guests fly home. Suzy gets some time to restbefore she has to go back to work. But her friends are alreadyplanning their next trip. They did not have time to see places likethe Holocaust Museum, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.They want to see the American Indian museum, too.

Maybe next time they will have to stay longer. Suzy cannot waittill next time.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by CatyWeaver. And our thanks to Suzy Karpel, whose real-life experiencewith visitors to Washington helped guide our story. I'm Gwen Outen.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. We invite you back again next week for THISIS AMERICA, in VOA Special English.