They have amazing reviews online for good reason, our 4 hour walking tour with DC by Foot was the highlight of our time in Washington DC.  And that’s a big call, because DC is an incredible place with so many iconic buildings and memorials, even walking around on our own we were pretty awe-struck.  It’s also a beautiful city with wide tree-lined streets and beautiful old homes and buildings.

Our tour started at the Washington Monument and straight away the benefit of our tour guide was evident.   Whilst we were all gazing at the monument (which is pretty impressive) he told us to turn around and there was the White House.  And, if you looked closely, a few snipers on the roof.

Next stop was the WWII memorial at the top of the Reflecting Pool.  The memorial is huge – the picture below shows less than half of it.

In contrast, the Vietnam War Memorial is simple and modern but I found it more moving.  Every American who died in the war is listed on the long wall and it is designed to reflect your image back at you as you read through the names.  According to our guide there was a competition to design the memorial with the winner being a college student.  Her college had also run a competition for students to design the memorial and she had only been awarded a B for her efforts – she went on to enter the main competition and won, beating the lecturer who had given her the B grade and had also entered!

The other war memorial we visited was the Korean War memorial which has a very haunting feel to it.  No matter where you stand as you walk around it, it always looks like a soldier is staring at you.

The tour also covered many of the famous president memorials including the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial and Jefferson Memorial as we made our way around the Tidal Basin.

It was 4 hours in over 30 degree heat and high humidity.  We were hot, tired and dusty but had a much richer understanding of America’s capital and history.  This was one of the best tours I’ve been on – and luckily they run them in Boston and New York – so we’ll be signing up for a few more!