The Pentagon is a grandiose construction of the USA, a strong core that ensures the security of the whole country. This is where the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters is located. From one word “Pentagon” comes an association with something inaccessible and completely secret.

The Pentagon comes from Greek and means a figure with five angles. Pentagon was built in January 1943.

Today, the Pentagon is the largest office building in the world.

If you add up the length of all the corridors of the Pentagon, you get about 28 km. But at the same time, the building was built in such a way that from the farthest corner to the opposite along by the shortest path, you can get in just 7 minutes.

It is possible to get to the Pentagon on an excursion, but you need to book it on the official website in advance. Cadets conduct such tours inside the building.

There is a shopping center with many cafes and shops on the territory of Pentagon.

 

9/11 Pentagon memorial

The 9/11 memorial was opened at the Pentagon, opposite the place where on September 11, 2001 the terrorist attack happened (a plane collision with a building).
The memorial is dedicated to the Pentagon employees and passengers of the plane – 184 men and women who didn’t survive during the attack.

The memorial was created in the form of a park with 184 nominal benches facing the building.

 

As it turned out, it is allowed to take the photos of the Pentagon only from the side of the 9/11 memorial. And we didn’t know about it. We were so inspired by the grandiose Pentagon building and didn’t see anything except it, so we tried to take of photo of the building from the other side. For that we got a remark from the police – they turned on the siren in their police car. Then we noticed the corresponding warning sign, which forbade taking photos. Frankly speaking, the level of our adrenaline ran high at that moment. We apologized, hid the camera away, and continued our walk through the city.

The best view of the Pentagon from above opens from an observation deck on the territory of the US Air Force Memorial.

 

There are mostly low-rise cozy houses with landscaping on the streets of Washington.

It seems like we managed to see all the most significant sights in Washington in 2 days. But even if we had the whole week, we would definitely find something else to see. In particular, it would be interesting to go on excursions in the Capitol, the White House, and the Pentagon, as well as visit the business quarter of the city – with its skyscrapers, and look at the city from a different perspective.

In general, we had a pleasant impression of Washington. In our opinion, it organically combines the US state power in the form of the White House, the Pentagon, and the Capitol with the educational core in the form of museums and historical monuments. The city looks thoughtfully designed and a little bit artificial, but it is very interesting and comfortable there.

What is your impression of this city? Write in the comments.

 

To be continued…

Author (c): Iryna Melnyk
Photos (c): Nick Melnyk