Nothing makes the scale of Washington more palpable than walking the length of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. It is some 2,000 feet long, more than a third of a mile, and when you follow the paved paths on either side, it feels more like a small lake than a man-made urban amenity. Even with the granite coping along the edges, which helps keep the water still and reflective, it doesn’t take much wind for the surface to begin to ripple and wink in the light.
