This report could be titled Washington, DC on $100 a week. Found a federal campground in Greenbelt (see Logistics section) for $14/night and with a Golden Age Card $7/night. Walk to train station so no parking fees (probably safer too). Train to downtown $4-$8 a day depending on rush hour.
10/24/06 Touristing Washington, DC:
Took train to center city about 9:30am and got there about 10am. Got off at Navy Archives or some such thing. Found Pennsylvania Avenue and walked 9 blocks to the White House. Passed the FBI building and a bunch of other federal buildings. Cement barricades in the streets near the White House. Something was going on and I got redirected away from the White House.
Saw the Washington Monument so headed over there. Got right beside it and looked up. White clouds were moving by pretty quickly and I had to lean against a pole to keep from falling over as I looked up at the top. Helicopters started flying all over the place and one landed in the White House front yard. Guess Georgie Boy was going somewhere.
Wandered on over to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping at the World War II Memorial on the way. Viet Nam Memorial is off to the side somewhere and I forgot about it and have to go back another day. Lincoln is still sitting on his throne. He needs to change his suit though, it's pretty dirty.
Walked back to the White House a couple hours later and was able to walk around it, kinda. Much smaller than I had envisioned from the back. I guess that's where the Rose Garden is. Much of the back yard filled with trailers and such for the media. The front looked very nice, with a pool and fountain and flowers in the foreground.
When on the Lincoln Memorial steps I could see the Capitol Building behind the Washington Monument so headed off in that direction. Quite impressive with cool statues and a large pool in the foreground of it too. Went looking for the Supreme Court and the Senate Buildings but didn't find them since I just had a map with only a couple streets named.
Passed by the Capitol Building on the way back again. The steps leading up to the entrance were now blocked off and Capitol Police were out in force carrying automatic weapons. When I got back to the van and loaded the pictures into the laptop I saw Secret Service Police on top of the White House I hadn't noticed before. So much for the 'Land of the free' but I guess they gotta do it.
10/25/06 Touristing Washington, DC:
Decided to visit Arlington Cemetery today. Spotted an 8 point buck on the walk to the train station. He was gracious enough to pause for a couple of photographs.
Arlington is on the other side of the Potomac River. I thought I'd take the train to the Pentagon, take a walk around it and then walk over to the cemetery. I got to the Pentagon OK but tons of security and no pictures allowed. I was too close to the building to see anything anyhow. Couldn't walk around the building to the cemetery either. Had to get back on the train and go on to the next stop.
Visited the Kennedy gravesites and the Eternal Flame. There are plaques for JFK, Jackie and a daughter with Bobby Kennedy 50 feet away. They probably aren't buried there but in a mausoleum farther up the hill.
Watched changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. One marine does the manual of arms thing very slowly and very precisely. There was an unknown soldier from WWI, WWII and Viet Nam. DNA identified the Viet Nam soldier so one of the graves is empty. There's only one large monument though. Joe Louis (the boxer) is buried nearby as is Audie Murphy, the cowboy actor from the 50's, Congressional Medal of Honor winner and one of the most decorated soldiers of WWII.
I dunno how many tombstones are in Arlington, many, many thousands anyway. All are marked the same way and some have spouse or child information on the reverse side. It appears that in death as in life, soldiers and officers are segregated. The pictures we always see are the small tombstones of the soldiers. The officers are on nearby hills with large tombstones looking down on the soldier.
Walked all the way back to other end of the cemetery to visit the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial.
Got back to the DC side of the river and visited the Viet Nam Memorial near the Lincoln Memorial. You can't even see it from Constitution Avenue a few feet away. It appears the park is a few feet lower than the street and all they did was do a little digging to make room for the Viet Nam Wall of names.
Visited the Jefferson Memorial and stopped at the Holocaust Museum on the way back. A thorough history of Hitler's rise and policies, the pogroms, death camps, and just as importantly the world's response before, during and after the atrocities. Nothing much to be proud of there. At the end of the tour there's an empty room with many tiny flames burning under the name of each of the death camps. A larger flame claims to have earth removed from the camps as well as many American graves in Europe. Just a place to pause and reflect for a few minutes which I did.