Yesterday morning we forced ourselves to get up early because of the heatwave coming that day and made our way through the local market where we were staying by the Embassys at Dupont Circle, which sells fruit, bread etc. Already it was boiling hot 30 degrees at 8am. We took the metro to Arlington Cemetary. There were lots of others who had the same plan and the shady spots were crowded. We entered the visitor's centre and bought our tickets for a hop on hop off trolley bus going around the cemetery. We proceeded to walk up to the Kennedy grave site where John F Kennedy is burried as well as his wife Jaquie. It turns out that the whole grassy knoll area of the cemetary was for the Kennedy family as his brothers were also buried there. We moved on through the cemetery looking at all the different graves including: the challenger and colombia space shuttle disasters memorial site(not a grave), the Iwo Jima memorial, President Taft's grave and the tomb of the unknown soldier(s). Whilst at the tomb of the unknown soldier I saw the half hourly changing of the guard, which was very interesting. It has been constantly guarded 24 hours a day since the 1940s. Before heading down the road and back to the visitor's centre, this is what I saw.
The Dupont Circle street market.
Fruit on sale.
Houses in DC.
What we saw upon arrival at Arlington.
Rows of graves spanning Arlington - rigth from the revolution and the civil war.
More open grave sites. Some were segregated blacks and whites or just called 'unknown citizen'
The Kennedy burial sites.
Quote of speech from JFK.
Brother Joseph Kennedy memorial.
Brother Senator and Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.
Brother Ted Kennedy.
Memorials to shuttle disasters and iran hostage rescue mission.
Close up of the graves shown above.
Arlington Amphitheatre.
Changing of the guard at the tomb of the unkonwn soldier.
Tour delay. Dad and some others got off our trolly bus to help the police move it
The tree blocking the road.
President Taft's Memorial.
Iwo Jima.
After visiting the Arlington memorial we went to the Abraham Lincoln Memorial which shows Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, sitting in a chair looking over the Washington Memorial, reflecting pool and the Capitol. Once we looked inside the memorial we went to the left of the memorial where we saw the Korean War Memorial which displayed bronze statues of soldiers in the bush, we next moved over to the Vietnam War memorial which displayed all the names of the fallen soldiers. This is what I saw.
Washington Memorial and reflecting pool.
Lincoln Memorial.
Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a dream speech" spot.
The Lincoln Memorial.
Korean War Memorial.
The Vietnam Memorial.
Marine One between the trees.
After visiting the memorials we went to Georgetown for lunch in an Irish Pub and afterwards went to a Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream store. We soon went home before going out to the Kennedy Centre to see The Second City's Almost Perfect Guide to America. It was a really funny show about Donald Trump, Hamilton the Musical, Shear Madness the play we went to in New York, the monuments we saw, the election - it was all about the things I had seen on our travels. It is almost always on in Chicago(it was on tour when we saw it). It was really late but managed to get an Italian dinner before going home for a dessert and sleep.
Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream store.
Georgetown.
Irish pub.
John F Kennedy Performing Arts Centre alongside the Potomac River.
Views from inside and outside the Kennedy Centre.
Watergate Hotel.
Second City production.
I had a really good, relaxed day and was ready for a sleep to prepare for the next day.
Joseph
We can imagine how moving that morning must have been. What a lot of history there and sadness too. I personally like visiting cemeteries for the history they show and for the peace that generally pervades them despite some of the horrors behind the stories they tell. It was good you had a fun evening to round out and balance the day. Cheers - keep well.
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