This morning I woke up and checked out of the hotel. I grabbed a quick bite and hopped the Metro to work. I plan to leave here in about an hour and make my way eventually to the Airport. I’d like to go to Arlington Cemetery to see that – that looks really cool.
After leaving work, I walked around to try to find something to eat. Not able to get the Ollieburger out of my head, I strolled back to the Trolley and had another one. Soooo good.
I got on the Metro and headed past Foggy Bottom to the Cemetery. I entered the Visitors Center and got my map – then ponied up the $7.50 for the tour bus. Normally I would just walk the whole time but I had my (very heavy) backpack on my…well…back and I knew I’d get tired out quickly.
First stop was the tomb of President Kennedy. It’s simple and magnificent at the same time. The view from his tomb of DC is phenomenal.
I got back on the bus and headed up to the Tomb of the Unknowns. They were having a changing of the guards at 3pm and it was getting close to that time. It was on this short drive where the magnitude of the Cemetery started to hit me. It’s actually quite moving to see all of the stones, perfectly in line, stretching on and on over the gorgeous grounds.
The Changing of the Guards was cool. I was surprised to see that the guard on duty actually had a little guard shack, like he was going to collect a toll or something. The ceremony of the changing was great to see. Very precise…at times a little overboard. Like dude, he looks good, let him guard.
After the guard finally changed (they really started to milk it) they had a wreath-laying ceremony. Some dude from Greece was there and I guess he wanted to lay a wreath. They didn’t really explain all that much, but there was a Greek flag.
The ceremony for that was long, with frequent pauses. Most of the time my mind was taking in this whole scene – wondering how much they drilled for that, or what it would be like to be in the band. Other times though, my mind was wondering what would happen if I ran up to the wreath that they were laying down, or if I ran to the tombs. Would they do anything? Would I get shot or just stabbed with the bayonet? Did they have snipers watching?
After the almost 40 minutes of ceremony were done I decided not to get back on the tour bus but to stroll around. I made my way past the mast of the USS Maine (To HELL with Spain!!!) and on to the Confederate area of the cemetery. That was quite interesting…seeing CSA on the tombstones.
From there I wandered around – there are a LOT of Unknown Soldiers buried there. I came upon the Tomb of the Unknowns for the Civil War. They took the remains of some 2,000 soldiers found at the site of the Bull Run Battles (and another site too) and buried them there. That was quite moving. From there I walked to the Arlington House, which is where Robert E Lee lived with his wife, the Grand-daughter of Washington (or Great grand daughter…and Washington had step kids…). I was able to tour the house, which was cool, and then went in the back to the old Slave house. Again, powerful stuff. I’ll tell you this – Robert E Lee had a FANASTIC view of Washington DC. Amazing. The designer of DC is buried there too, right in front of the house.
I started to make my way down the mountain towards the grave of President Taft. I have a feeling that JFK is stealing a LOT of his thunder in that cemetery. From there, I walked back out of the Cemetery to the Metro, and hopped the blue line to the airport, where I am enjoying a delicious clam basket as I type this.
The flight back to LGA was quick, but could have been quicker. We came up the west side over the Hudson, then went up and around like the pilot had never flown to NYC before and wanted to see the sites. We circled up around Yonkers then around over the Bronx and back into Queens.
It was a quick 2 days in Washington, but it was, as always, a lot of fun.
Showing posts with label Washington DC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Washington DC. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Washington, DC
I flew out of LGA at 10:30am. I was hoping to get on the 9:30 flight but it would have cost the company an extra $75 dollars. Not feeling that it was really worth it, I hung out in the airport for another hour. Had I could the 9:30 flight I would have shared it with Charlie Gibson. Catching the 10:30 flight meant I shared it with Katie Couric. Everyone was going down for the Obama speech I guess.
This was one of the more turbulent flights I’ve been on in a while. It was very windy during take off. When we passed over the Hudson it really looked like a nice water runway…just sayin. But I read on the plane and the hour passed quickly.
After landing I took the metro to the hotel (Capital Hilton) and checked in. I freshened up, grabbed my Frommers and hit the town. I stopped by JR Cigars on L Street and grabbed myself a nice Ashton and strolled around DC. I walked down passed the White House and made my way to Fords Theater. Turns out it was not as close as I thought, but it was okay. I had my XM MyFi with me.
I passed by Ollie’s Trolley and knew I just HAD to have an OllieBurger. It was a couple of blocks away from the theater. I went to get my ticket for the 3pm tour and then went back to the Trolley. The OllieBurger was delicious. Seasoned fries and a diet coke made for a nice meal. After lunch I grabbed myself a cupcake at a little sweets shop and headed over to the theater.
The theater is beautiful. Small and cozy it looks like a great place to see a play. They restored it to the way it was the night Lincoln was shot. It had been changed to office space for a time, later used as storage. They have it decorated like it was with flags. A Park Ranger did a (surprisingly boring) schpiel about the events of that night. I just think that the Ranger can’t tell a story. Have Kevin Smith up there telling it and it would have popped.
After the story I made my way across the street to where Lincoln was brought after he was shot. There was a doctor in the house and, after seeing the President, he knew that there was nothing that could be done. They tried to make him as comfortable as possible. The house doesn’t have the exact furniture that was in it but it has pieces from that period.
All in all it was a cool tour. The ticket was free, and you got what you paid for.
After that I took the metro back to my hotel, and then went to work to do what I needed to do for a few hours.
After I was done with my tasks, I met my brother and his friends for some drinks down the block. DC prices are way cheaper than NYC prices, which is nice. I was able to catch the end of the Ducks game, and the bar we went to was right across the street of the Verizon Center, so we saw a lot of people that just left the Caps/Flyers game. The rest of the evening was uneventful – I went back to the hotel, wound down a little and went to sleep.
This was one of the more turbulent flights I’ve been on in a while. It was very windy during take off. When we passed over the Hudson it really looked like a nice water runway…just sayin. But I read on the plane and the hour passed quickly.
After landing I took the metro to the hotel (Capital Hilton) and checked in. I freshened up, grabbed my Frommers and hit the town. I stopped by JR Cigars on L Street and grabbed myself a nice Ashton and strolled around DC. I walked down passed the White House and made my way to Fords Theater. Turns out it was not as close as I thought, but it was okay. I had my XM MyFi with me.
I passed by Ollie’s Trolley and knew I just HAD to have an OllieBurger. It was a couple of blocks away from the theater. I went to get my ticket for the 3pm tour and then went back to the Trolley. The OllieBurger was delicious. Seasoned fries and a diet coke made for a nice meal. After lunch I grabbed myself a cupcake at a little sweets shop and headed over to the theater.
The theater is beautiful. Small and cozy it looks like a great place to see a play. They restored it to the way it was the night Lincoln was shot. It had been changed to office space for a time, later used as storage. They have it decorated like it was with flags. A Park Ranger did a (surprisingly boring) schpiel about the events of that night. I just think that the Ranger can’t tell a story. Have Kevin Smith up there telling it and it would have popped.
After the story I made my way across the street to where Lincoln was brought after he was shot. There was a doctor in the house and, after seeing the President, he knew that there was nothing that could be done. They tried to make him as comfortable as possible. The house doesn’t have the exact furniture that was in it but it has pieces from that period.
All in all it was a cool tour. The ticket was free, and you got what you paid for.
After that I took the metro back to my hotel, and then went to work to do what I needed to do for a few hours.
After I was done with my tasks, I met my brother and his friends for some drinks down the block. DC prices are way cheaper than NYC prices, which is nice. I was able to catch the end of the Ducks game, and the bar we went to was right across the street of the Verizon Center, so we saw a lot of people that just left the Caps/Flyers game. The rest of the evening was uneventful – I went back to the hotel, wound down a little and went to sleep.
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