If you’ve been down to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms, then you’ve probably already revisited the Jefferson Memorial.

When we went down there the other day, we found the Memorial abuzz with a mix of tourists, regular locals, and locals who were hosting tourists. The weather was wet and gray, and the kids in a school group were shifting around to relieve their sore feet. Parents were flush, grandparents rested on the benches, if they could find a spot.

But even with the mass of restless flesh packed within the Memorial’s dome, most of the visitors’ were pleased and impressed.

Considering the atmosphere in which the Memorial was dedicated, we thought this was a fitting milieu. Finished in 1943, so in the middle of WWII that a plaster replacement of Rudolph Evan’s bronze Jefferson statue was installed to honor the war-time restriction on metals, the $3 million Memorial did not get a huge party for a dedication.

Photo by Cowtools.