Ah, back at the hotel at last... this is turning out to be one workout of a vacation!
This morning we rose a bit early, cursed having to take cold showers due to a maintenance problem in the hotel, and took the metro down to Arlington National Cemetery where we planned to spend most of the day. We had heard that President Obama was going to be participating in a wreath-laying ceremony and giving a speech at the ampi-theater afterward, although not precisely at what time. When we got to the cemetery entrance, though, we were told all seating at the ampi-theater was now unavailable and foot traffic was blocked off for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier until 1PM. It still worked out though, because we arrived pretty much just in time to be standing right at the edge of the road for the Presidential motorcade bearing Barack Obama into the cemetery grounds! I definitely made sure to get that on video.
Video of Presidential Motorcade
After the crowd dispersed somewhat, we made our way into the visitor center, which was of some interest in itself but mainly to pick up a map and plan our walking route through the memorials. We then walked as far as we could toward the Tomb, to see if maybe we could spot the President at the ceremony from a distance. No such luck. We did find a color guard bearing flags for all 50 states, from every branch of military service, preparing to march at one of the intersections. We waited around for about half an hour but they never did do anything but look sharp and shiny for the cameras, so we eventually wandered over to John F. Kennedy's tomb. Quite a somber sight, although the respectful silence was broken on occasion... not by the crowd of visitors so much as the guard who kept yelling at the visitors to keep quiet (even though there was barely a whisper heard among them anyways).
After reflecting upon the Kennedy monument, we went back toward where the color guard had been standing, to find they had finally got their marching order... and we'd missed it. Ah-well. The road took us toward Arlington House, where we climbed a flight of stairs and found the massively pillared mansion as well as some very good vantage points of the cemetery grounds and the city off in the distance. The museum out behind the kitchen garden area, kind of hidden away, was interesting too. We declined to tour the interior of the main house though, as the line looked quite long, and we were anxious to see if the path to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier had been opened yet.
Walking that direction, we came across one of the wreaths set by the President himself, at a monument for the Unknown Civil War Dead. This path also led us to the Old Ampi-theater, a grand structure, and a plinth where we surmised many a Presidential statesman had stood and spoken in times past. Eventually, at last, we reached the Main Ampi-theater, just in time to witness the ceremonial changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It occurs every half hour in the summer, and lasted about ten minutes, all the incredible precision and formality of which I captured on video. Truly a unique and inspiring experience.
Video of Honor Guard at the Tomb
Video of the Changing of the Guard
There were a few more spots I wanted to scout out along the way around the west side of the cemetery, such as the Rough Riders and Battle of the Bulge memorials, so we headed out to hike around McPherson Drive... and what a hike it turned out to be. Before we got too far along we encountered the mast and anchor of the USS Maine, and explored that site a bit as well as the Challenger and Columbia memorials, before making our way around to the very western edge of the cemetery and the immense bronze-statued Confederate Monument. By the end of it had I dragged poor foot-sore Brad and Gina all the way out to the Argonne Cross. Hey, we were here and not likely to return any time soon, so we had to make the most of it! It was starting to sprinkle by then, though, so I spared them from continuing all the way around the grounds to the Columbarium in the east. We made our way down Grant Drive back toward the main entrance, and wound up walking all the way down Porter Drive and through the center of the cemetery, when it began raining in earnest. Wet and tired, we slogged our way back to the visitor center and passed out for a bit on the huge stone benches before hitting the metro again.
Our next destination, being so near anyways, was the Pentagon. There actually wasn't much here to see, since we hadn't gotten into a tour, just the massive building looming over us as we exited the metro station. We backed off toward the road in order to grab a few quick photos of whatever seemed interesting, and headed back into the metro to get a late lunch. Our destination was Chinatown, which was immediately impressive as soon as we exited the metro escalators. A huge Oriental gate greeted us to our left, and several selections of Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian restaurants enticed us down the road to the right. All of the signs were also in dual languages throughout this area of the city; certainly what I expected a place called Chinatown to feel like. After discovering that free refills on drinks seemed to be unheard of in most restaurants in DC, we settled our choice on Chinatown Garden. It was a good choice.
After lunch we metro'd over to the Smithsonian again to kill some time before our movie started, winding up in the Freer Gallery of Art right next to the Smithsonian Castle. We lost ourselves amongst the varieties of Islamic, Japanese, Buddhist, and Egyptian art and artifacts until we were shooed out of the museum at the 5:30 closing time. From there we went over to the Museum of Natural History where our IMAX show was going to be in a few hours, and shared a table with a nice couple from Maryland while we indulged in some refreshments. We got into the IMAX theater waiting area 30 minutes before the start, and were just getting comfortable when some fool decided to line up in front of the doorway, prompting everyone else in the room with herd mentality to do the same. We felt obliged to secure our place in the throng as well, but after walking all over half of Arlington Cemetery and through the metro and streets of DC, that was the most excruciatingly long 30 minutes of standing and waiting I have experienced in some time-- hot, tired, sweaty, foot-sore, and pressed up against a dozen more people all probably feeling the same way. We were eventually herded into the theater (not unlike cattle) and grabbed some rather nicely-distanced seats. The movie, Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, was very entertaining... especially seen at the Smithsonian itself, on a massive 66-foot IMAX screen!
Pretty well spent from all the walking we'd done today and the two days before, we made our way back to DuPont Circle, idly considering something light to eat before bed since our late lunch had sated us fairly well. We ended up getting some burgers to go from a pretty neat little 40's style diner near our hotel, called Johnny Rockets, which claimed to be "the original hamburger." I am not sure if this is an accurate claim or just advertising, but in my sunburnt achy state of existence right now, it is the best damn hamburger I ever tasted...
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Pictures Taken: 157 and 3 videos
Fallout 3 Locations Found: Arlington Cemetery, Arlington House, Pentagon (The Citadel)
Fallout 3 Items Found: None
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