W A S H I N G T O N   D . C .   -   D A Y   # 2

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

I better be on my best behavior, lest I get thrown into the paddy wagon.

Ahhh yes, here we are, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. As history tells it, loads of drama occurred in regard to the selection of the design for the memorial. In the end, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was pulled into the foray to help straighten out the mess. When the smoke finally settled, the structure before me now is what was settled upon. I think it looks rather smashing. Don't you?

Click here for more detail and pictures of my tour of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

The last major sight I wish to see today is Arlington National Cemetery. To get there, I'll have to walk to the closest subway station where I'll take a train under the Potomac River and into Virginia. I notice there's a station that'll drop me off near the cemetery's entranceway.

On the way to the subway station I become really excited! I start shouting "Show me the money!" Well, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will show me the money; nice, crisp new ones, if only I take their tour. Established in 1862 with 6 employees working in a cramped basement room, today the bureau has grown to 2,500 employees that are spread across two large buildings in Washington, D.C. and a new facility in Fort Worth Texas.

Here are some interesting facts:

• 37 million notes are produced a day, totaling approximately $696 million.
• 95% of the notes are produced to replace old, worn out currency.
• 45% of the notes produced are $1 bills.
• The first paper currency was issued in 1861.
• Paper currency size was reduced to 2/3's of its former size in 1929.
• A stack of $1 bills would contain over $14.5 million.
• Average life spans of various bills:
  
  
  • $1 ------ 22 months
  • $5 ------ 24 months
  • $10 ----- 18 months
  • $20 ----- 25 months
  • $50 ----- 55 months
  • $100 ---- 60 months

Here's the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The museums primary mission is to disseminate information about the Holocaust. The permanent exhibits include; The Holocaust, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, Remember the Children: Daniel's Story, Wexner Learning Center, and Anti-Semitism: Protocols of the Elders of Zion.