Metro stop: Pentagon

The Pentagon is the worst tourist attraction ever! Seriously. My Japanese friend Daisuke with whom I shared the dorm in the hostel was very keen on seeing the Pentagon. So was I. Thus, after visiting the Capitol and The White House we took the metro to the Pentagon. We didn’t quite know what to expect and stumbled out of the metro with our cameras (his small, mine not so small). But there was nothing really, except lots of fences, the facade of a building (could this be the Pentagon?) and a bus station right ahead. We had a look at the bus station but all the buses seemed to go to other parts of the city. Then we discovered a sign “authorized tourist groups” at the entrance to some security checkpoint building. I didn’t feel very authorized in that moment.

Daisuke at Supreme Court

Unlike Daisuke. And just as he was about to enter the gate a policeman materialized behind us. We hadn’t seen anyone approaching us. It was like is was beamed there in an instant – right out of a movie! Wearing sunglasses, leaning on a pole and arms folded he asked in an authoritarian voice “What are you doing?”. After a few questions about where we are from and what we are doing here, we got to hear that this was the Pentagon and we were not allowed to take any pictures here. And of course we could not enter. Visitors need to register months in advance. We were allowed to visit the Pentagon Memorial though which was erected outside to remember the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack here. So, we decided to check that out. But that wasn’t worth the visit either. It is a sad little park-like thing outside the Pentagon parking lot in the middle of nowhere.
So, whatever you decide to see in Washington DC, skip the Pentagon. You are not missing anything…