Washington D.C. & Arlington

Monday 07.06. - Washington D.C.

At 10:00 am we are in front of the hotel and walk to the bus. It is noticeably cooler than yesterday and when we sit on the open-air deck of the double-decker and cross the Potomac to Virginia, it is freezing cold. The first stop today is Arlington. This is not just the cemetery but also a city located in Virginia on the other side of the river.

We walk along endless rows of graves. Most of them are small uniform stones, sometimes inscribed on both sides if family members other than soldiers are also buried here.

There are over 300,000 graves here, mostly of soldiers, but also of dignitaries and the astronauts of the crashed Challenger.

We walk up to the grave of J.F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, who are buried together with a stillborn daughter and a child who lived for only two days, below the Arlington House on a hill.

From this hill, we have a good view back to Washington.

We continue walking and soon come across two simple wooden crosses marking the graves of Robert and Edward Kennedy. We see a horse-drawn carriage nearby, ridden by soldiers, trotting in front of a wagon with a coffin. Creepy. Shortly before, we heard three gunshots.

Around 100 burials take place in Arlington every week. After passing the memorial for the PanAm flight that was blown up over Lockerbie, we return to the exit.

We take our tour bus, which unfortunately does not stop where we want to get off and where it was supposed to stop according to the schedule, but continues further, so we have to walk significantly further to the Jefferson Memorial than planned.

The memorial for the creator of the Declaration of Independence is located in a round, white-columned building.

On the way there, we experience some low-flying helicopters, probably on their way to the nearby Pentagon.

We walk through a park to the memorial for Franklin D. Roosevelt, located on the other side of the Tidal Basin.

A very extraordinary complex with small cascades, sculptures, and quotes by him.

It is a peaceful and beautiful complex that offers several smaller sections, shaded by trees and with appealing artworks. Very un-American and not pompous.

The train station is a neoclassical building that is over 100 years old - practically prehistoric compared to local standards. Sometimes we wonder why we are so enthusiastic about admiring such buildings, while at home you can easily see houses and churches four times as old.

But well... By now, the large building has been beautifully renovated in 1988. There are countless shops and decent places to eat.

We sit down briefly for a packaged salad and are happy that we bought a crispy baguette for $1 beforehand, which we can eat as a side dish.

Grabbing a coffee quickly, we are back on the bus at 4:00 pm. So far, we have been on the road for six hours, most of which on foot. We complete the remaining part of the tour, see the amazing architectural wonders that house the museums, and get off at Ford's Theater. This is where Lincoln was shot. At the time, he was taken to a house across the street, where he died after 9 hours in a coma. We can quickly see the house where he died. It is open until 5:30 pm. All other museums close at 5:00 pm. However, all state museums in Washington are open Monday to Sunday and admission is free.

We walk from there to Macy's but don't find anything, so we take the metro for three stops. Something strange: there is a fare plan that states: $1.65. We buy the ticket but then cannot get out of our station through the gate because the ticket actually costs $1.75. This cannot be new because all the gates into which you have to insert the tickets when leaving already have very worn stickers indicating that you should pay an additional 10 cents. Instead of correcting all fare plans or providing a note on the wrong one saying that you should pay 10 cents more, they have put stickers on all the gates at each station and installed machines into which you insert the ticket, pay the extra 10 cents, and then go back to the gate with the card finally leaving. What a hassle!

The train stations are also quite gloomy.

We walk the last 4 blocks to the hotel and arrive there at 7:00 pm. So we have been on the road for 9 hours now, and my feet have been complaining for quite some time. But at almost 8:00 pm, we go out again and walk on Pennsylvania Avenue to an Italian restaurant in the basement of a shopping center. It's a bit uncomfortable, but the food is okay.

We are back at the hotel at 9:45 pm. The two internet terminals downstairs are occupied again, so I still can't check my emails.

So I take a shower, try to clean my nearly black, but definitely very flat feet and enjoy the feeling of putting them up. I have been wearing my hiking sandals daily for almost 2.5 weeks.