Pennsylvania Avenue Renwick Gallery
The Renwick Gallery is open at the corner of 17th Street, but you're pretty tired so you decide to skip the art museum.
General Highway History
Pennsylvania Avenue Blair House
You continue your walk a little farther. Alongside Lafayette Square, concrete posts block the side street called Jackson Place. The post nearest the park looks like it has been hit by a car or truck-the concrete has been cracked off, revealing the metal post inside.
Pennsylvania Avenue Lafayette Square
A short distance away, you read another protester's signboard: LIVE BY THE BOMB, DIE BY THE BOMB. Still another protester stands by a sign that is hard to argue with: WANTED: WISDOM AND HONESTY.
Pennsylvania Avenue Closed Front View
They are big enough for the President to read the messages if he looked out the window of the White House – and was using binoculars. On this quiet Saturday afternoon, only a few protesters are on hand. One has two signs. The first sign says "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men." The other sign informs people that the protester is "Fasting for a Kinder, Gentler Nation." ("Kinder gentler nation" is a phrase President Bush made famous.)
Pennsylvania Avenue Closed 2
Sometimes, Lafayette Square is called Washington's "village green." Early in the city's history, though, livestock wandered from nearby farms to graze on the grass in the square. The nearest farm today is miles away and any livestock heading toward this park would probably be hit by a car or truck before getting anywhere near it.
You're tired from the walk, so you stretch out on the grass by one of the two fountains and watch the families taking pictures of each other in front of the White House. Other people sit on the benches and throw popcorn to the pigeons and squirrels.
Pennsylvania Avenue Marquis de Lafayette
As you walk up 15th Street, you pass more vendors. You are definitely not hungry! But you decide to have your picture taken by a photo vendor. He takes pictures of people standing next to lifesize photographs of President and Mrs. Bush or ex-President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy. You decide to have your picture taken with President Bush. The picture looks real, as if you had your picture taken with the real President, not just photograph of him.
Pennsylvania Avenue Albert Gallatin
You will have to turn right and walk a block to the north to get around the massive Department of the Treasury building. Behind the Treasury Building on Hamilton Place, at the point where Pennsylvania disappears at 15th, you will see a statue of Alexander Hamilton, a former Secretary of the Treasury. Despite his many accomplishments, he is probably best known today because he was killed in a duel on July 11, 1804, at Weehawken, New Jersey.
Pennsylvania Avenue 15 Street Side
At 15th Street, just past Pershing Park, Pennsylvania Avenue comes to a temporary end, right at the corner where Admiral Cockburn stayed the night he burned the President's House.
Pennsylvania Avenue Waterfall
The park includes a small waterfall and pool surrounded by a picnic area and a refreshment stand. You aren't really hungry, but how can you resist having a "Robo Pop"?
