Day 5: Arlington Cemetery - The View - Library of Congress…

13.04.2022

The nights are slowly getting better - even though sleeping in the small, hard squeaky bed is anything but restful 🙈

After breakfast, we have subway rides on the agenda today. We walk to the nearest metro station "L'Enfant Plaza" and have to look for it first, because the entrance to the metro here leads through the entrance of a shopping center. Learned something new again - nicely hidden!

We are thrilled with the metro station: so new, clean, spacious, big, escalators! Wow! It's different from London and I'm sure New York will be a huge contrast.

Today is supposed to be up to 30 degrees warm, but it's still quite cool. Hopefully my prediction is correct, because my son and I have chosen shorts to wear, but my husband thought it was too cold, and my daughter didn't even pack shorts because this is not a "summer vacation" here. Well, let's see who turns out to be right!

We buy day tickets for $13 per person and off we go!

We take the "Blue" metro towards Franconia-Springfield to the Pentagon, which takes about 30 minutes. In the metro, there is not only air conditioning (now we are finally enjoying a jacket) but also Wi-Fi!

As soon as we arrive at the Pentagon, we find ourselves surrounded by guards, security personnel, and armed police/security officers. Uh oh…

When we leave the escalator and come out to the Pentagon, we see surveillance cameras everywhere and signs saying that photography or filming is strictly prohibited. Oh great…

We had planned to visit the Memorial, but we see that it can only be reached by a longer walk next to the main road, so we decide to skip it. We briefly consider visiting the Visitor Center, but it seems that even that requires advance reservation, and when we see how they "pat down" people there (worse than at the airport) and the crowds of people in front of it, we lose interest.

So, we head back to our original first destination for today: Arlington National Cemetery.

Just one metro stop back and we reach the cemetery. My husband actually didn't want to go there - what's there to see in a cemetery!? - but I convinced him by arguing that we would also have a nice view of Washington DC.

Here at the entrance to the Visitor Center, the familiar procedure of "patting down" takes place again.

Backpacks and bags are checked, we have to go through the scanner (yay, I can leave my shoes on 😆), and then we continue on to the cemetery.

You can take a tram up the hill - but it's pointless because you can't really stop to look and take photos that way. Plus, it's just a rip-off, and we were 3 times faster on foot than the fully loaded tram.

The walk to the first "highlight," the relatively simple grave of J.F. Kennedy & family, takes about 20 minutes, and to the observation hill it takes about 30 minutes, depending on your pace. With fewer photo stops, you will definitely be faster.

We are deeply affected by the incredible number of rows of gravestones, but at the same time, we are impressed by how "beautiful" it all is. Top-notch maintenance, everything is "bright," and there are gardeners and workers everywhere, taking care of the huge cemetery.

We walk up to the hill to the viewpoint in front of Arlington House, and then continue on to the neighboring hill to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the amphitheater, where a Changing of the Guard ceremony is taking place.

By now, we are sweating - a lot! The heat in the sun has long exceeded 30 degrees, it's hot! Summertime! In April - crazy! My daughter complains about her long jeans, my son and I long for shade.

As "SILENCE" is called for during the ceremony, we stand in the shade under a tree, slightly away from the crowd, and want to have a drink, when my (apparently well-shaken) carbonated water bottle explodes with a loud "bang" as I open it, and the cap flies into the crowd of people filming in front of me 😱🙈🤣

I'm petrified, expecting a contingent of soldiers to mistake me for a terrorist, sweating even more, and wishing that the "Beam me up, Scotty" actually existed in this reality.

I feel the stares of hundreds of tourists on me - maybe it's just my imagination!? I hardly dare to breathe. No soldiers come, the ceremony continues - Phew!!!! I'm relieved...

We leave the hill and head towards the exit, passing many more rows of grave markers through the McClellan Gate, and walking along the road back to the Visitor Center, quickly stopping at the restroom there, and then continuing to the metro.

On the way down, we hear the salute shots of a funeral and see the funeral processions in the parking lot. On average, there are 3-4 funerals per hour here.

I long for air conditioning - by now, even my husband is feeling warm. My weather app says it's +31 degrees!

Happy midsummer - in April - or: April Fools' 🌞🌞🌞

We take the metro one stop back towards Washington to Rosslyn, where we stop at the fast-food chain with the big "M" across from the metro station. We can sit outside, very nice. Unfortunately, as a vegetarian, I only have the option of fries, but afterwards I enjoy a delicious caramel latte macchiato. Our next destination is right in front of us, in the rather inconspicuous-looking skyscraper/office building: "The View" of Washington DC.

I happened to come across this in another travel report. It's actually a (free !!!) observation deck with a view of Washington DC, the Pentagon, Arlington, and more. The employee on the ground floor is visibly pleased to have "customers", welcomes us, and we are the first guests today!

Oh boy. We have to show our passports, our information is taken down, then he takes us to the elevator and lets us up to the observation deck. It's really amazing!!!

Two floors, the upper one even has an outdoor lounge area.

And the best part: we have the place all to ourselves!!!

We take photos, enjoy the view, and chill for a good 30-45 minutes, use the brand new restrooms (we'll appreciate those later!), and then in the early afternoon, we make our way back to Washington DC because we have booked a time slot at the Library of Congress for 3:45 PM.

At 3 PM, after a metro ride and a walk, we reach the Botanic Garden at the foot of the Capitol.

We walk through it quickly, then continue along, past the Capitol, up the Capitol Hill (it's sooooo hot!) and on to the Library of Congress.

We arrive at the queue right on time and shortly after, we are allowed to enter the air-conditioned (yay 😅) building to once again go through the "pat-down" procedure.

Fortunately, it's pretty quick - again, without having to take off our shoes - and we explore the building with its various exhibits. However, after all the running around in the heat, we are quite exhausted, so we walk from bench to bench, taking breaks until the line to the next floor for the actual "view" into the library hall is no longer as long.

The building is very impressive, as is the library itself. It's definitely worth booking a ticket here (for free!).

Tired from all the impressions and running around, we walk back to the apartment to shower and relax.

At around 7 PM, we look for a restaurant along the Wharf and make a reservation at the Mexican restaurant "Mi Vida" for 8 PM, then we sit by the Potomac River in the meantime.

The meal at the Mexican restaurant proves to be a sweaty experience, as we have never eaten anything this spicy before 😂😂

At the end of the day, my pedometer shows that we have walked over 20,000 steps today 💪🏻