The easy bit

There are parts of a puzzle that are full of detail, the central image that is incredibly easy to discern. Maybe its a notable building, the boat in the middle of the sea and the sky or a human figure that draws in the eye. It is the bit of the puzzle that is easiest to do because you quickly recognise the image that you are making, either because it is the reason you got the puzzle in the first place or it is the part of the image on the front of the box that you most want to complete. However jagged and irregular the cut of the pieces, they seem to lock together with ease because you have already put the image together in your mind.

The same can be said for constructing your own holiday puzzle. There are images that are central; places that you know about because of their ubiquity (like the Eiffel Tower) or places that you desperately want to see that you research about in advance. For this trip to the USA the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC was clearly something I was aware of in advance, from movies like the remake of Planet of the Apes, and with my limited time in the city I had to go.

It was mid afternoon on a glorious, sunny day when I walked up to the Lincoln Memorial, after walking to the Jefferson and Roosevelt memorials. It was busy. The cool of the marble floor in front of the long extract from his second inaugural address was a good place to contemplate.

But this being the part of everyone’s holiday puzzle means that it is easy to visit with restrooms, refreshments, multiple tour coaches that will drop you there – a whole tourist infrastructure that surrounds any national site of interest. Most people have created an image of the memorial before they see it, built up from films, reading books and receiving postcards. This makes it seemingly easy to visit, just turn up and take a photo. But remember you still have to put the pieces together. Why have you come to see the memorial, what does Abraham Lincoln mean to you and what do you make of his speech extracts?