24 AUG 2010

As we are getting ready for breakfast we hear what sounds like gunshots. Of course neither of us are really sure since we have not heard them before. So we peak a look out the window to the army base across the street and sure enough there are some soldiers shooting in the air in a formation of some sort. Welcome to Washington!

We purchased the city tour on the Double Decker tours. The advantage is that you can get on and off the bus as often as you like on the route and the pass is good for 2 days. But to catch the first bus stop we need to take a taxi over to the National Arlington Cementary. To walk there would be quick since all we technically have to do is cross the street, walk through the army base, and climb over the wall into the cementary. But remembering the gun shots in the am, we decided to pay the 10 dollars for a taxi ride instead. We let the brains do the walking.

The National Arlington Cementary has the capacity for 250,000 graves and it is expected to be full by 2025. Guards are posted everywhere and walking and car traffic is very carefully controlled and monitored. Ok, we get on this bus and off we go. Is it ever strange to go under a bridge or overpass when you are sitting on top of the bus. I am reminded of a James Bond movie where the bad guy stands up and is wiped off the bus by the overhang. We are so close.

As we drive by the Pentagon (which is in Virginia and not in Washington DC) we are warned not to try to take any pictures. This is a totally off limits area for photography.

We got off the Washington Monument which is close to the Holocaust Museum. We decided to walk around and here is a list of what we saw:

The Elipse,

Tte White House,

Organization of the America’s building,

Declaration of Independence Memorial,

World War II Memorial,

Reflecting Pond (where there was some setup happening for an upcoming event but we never found out what

Lincoln Memorial
Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial
walked around ¾ of the Tidal Basin (apparently man made and used for paddle boats now)
Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

Finally we went to the Holocaust Museum and spend the next 2 hours wondering through it. All I can say about this is what a powerful presentation of information and artefacts. If you get the chance to go through this, do so. I know many prefer not to review that period of history, but part of me really appreciated seeing first hand evidence of the suffering during that period of our history.

After we finished this we got back on the tour bus and enjoyed just sitting and watching the scenery go by. At the Union Station (once the largest building in the US with 75 miles of tracks) we got off the bus and toured the station. It is massive and very impressive. We had to wait for an bit to catch the night tour bus and I was concerned about Wes’ back but he wanted to do this and as long as he was sitting he felt fine. So back onto the bus we went at 8 pm and had a grand tour of Washington looking at the buildings as they are lite up. Unfortunately it was too dark to really get many good pictures.

When we got back to the Union Station we figured out the rapid transit system to get us back to Arlington. First we took the metro train with one exchange. What we did not know or count on was the ball game ending at the same time we were traveling so the train was packed. When we got as far as we could on the metro we headed back up to catch a bus. We learned that the bus only runs every hour and we had a 30 minute wait. Fortunately there was another couple from the same hotel as us in the same boat, so we shared a cab back to the hotel

We have not really toured many museums so we have decided to extend our stay in Washington for one more day and spend tomorrow in museums. I would like to see the Space and Air Museum and the Spy Museum.