On Monday we went to Arlington National Cemetery and did the DC by Foot tour. It was a LONG day with a lot of walking, but totally worth it for all the views!
We started with Arlington. Cathy bought an audio tour for her iPod and it was totally worth it. We think we got better information than the trolley tour (which cost more) and we got to go see a few lesser known things. At least, we never saw the tour trolley there!
There were a lot of pretty white graves here.
Robert Todd Lincoln– Abraham Lincoln’s only son who reached adulthood.
We stopped by the Women’s Memorial. It is apparently the ONLY major memorial to honor the women who served and defended the United States throughout history, which we thought was rather shameful. Women have been serving (and dying) in US wars since our first war. Many were nurses, but not all!
Here’s a display on the WAVES and the WASPS. The WASPS were the women who were WWII pilots. They did everything the men did- and often more. WASPS would often fly planes that the men refused to fly. Unlike the men, if they died in the service to their country, their family would have to pay to have their body brought back.
The Magnolias made the area smell wonderful- it was reminiscent of Hawaii for us!
The Eternal Flame and JFK’s and Jacki’s grave- easily the busiest part of the tour!
We knew about the Unknown soldier, but we did not know about the unknown Civil War soldier. The graveyard was started when the Lees had to leave Arlington house. To prevent them from returning, bodies were buried on the property. Because there were so many bodies, many were quickly buried without any real markers or identification. The chaplains often read services over several bodies at once. This monument is to honor all the unknowns who were hastily buried on the grounds.
Here is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is guarded 24 hours a day.
The Challenger accident has its own memorial in Arlington, as does the Columbia disaster.
Ted Kennedy’s grave. You can see Arlington House in the background. Fun Fact: Pierre L’Enfant is buried in front of Arlington House. He was hired by George Washington to design the streets of DC. He was also a micro-manager and difficult to work with. Washington eventually had to fire him, and he did not end well, dying homeless with about $40 in his pocket. He was not originally buried at Arlington National Cemetery- he was moved there later. The true genius of how he set up the city grid was only recognized long after his death.
We’d recommend Arlington. We came on a day that was not *too* hot, which was ideal. If it were much hotter, we’d have taken the tour trolley. We walked the whole tour, which involved a lot of uphill walking. However, the views, the history, and the smell of the magnolia made it worth it.
Next up was a walking tour of the Mall with DC by Foot. It’s a free tour (although the guide does accept tips!) and it was fabulous. We went on a tour put on by the same company when we were in Berlin. They are in several major cities, and we cannot recommend them enough!
We started with the Washington Monument. You’ll notice that the marble is two different colors. That’s because they had to stop building due to lack of funds. It sat there with 2/3 of it yet to be built for TWENTY YEARS. Finally, they city became embarrassed enough about it to fund raise the rest of the money. However, so much time had passed that they had to get the marble from a different place, which is why the color is different.
We had hoped to go up inside, but did not think to reserve the tickets enough in advance! If you’re coming to town, do yourself a favor and reserve early! 🙂
The WWII Memorial was crowded, but neat. The fountain seemed to be the focus, but really, it was the stars that were intended to be the focus.
During WWII, families at home put a star in the window of their home if somebody from the house was serving. If the person died, they would change the star to a gold star. The star wall is made up of stars. Each star represents 100 service men who died in the war. 406,000 Americans died in World War II. The sad part is that the loss of American life represents only 1% of the total loss of life. ONE. PERCENT.
Here is a wreath of laurels (in statue form) at the memorial.
Kilroy was here! The story of Kilroy is pretty interesting! Read about it here. They put him on the side of the memorial. They felt they could not ignore Kilroy because he was such a cultural icon of the time, but they did not want to put in him the main part of the monument.
The WWII Memorial is in view of the Washington Monument.
Here’s Kirk cleverly holding up the monument.
They also have a place for people to look up family and friends who were involved in World War II. Both Cathy’s grandfather and Kirk’s grandfather were listed!
Many veteran groups are trying to raise funds so that WWII veterans can come to Washington DC for free to see the memorial that was built to honor them. You can donate to one of those groups here if you wish. They have already been able to bring many of the surviving veterans to see it.
Our next stop was the Vietnam War Memorial. It was insanely crowded, so we did not get a ton of pictures. It was a really nice memorial. It was designed by a female architecture student at Yale. Originally it was for a class project that she got a B on! She decided to submit it to the national contest and it was selected! Her professor also submitted a design, so she had the last laugh. Neither of us realized that we were involved in the war in the 50’s!
People who visit the memorial often leave things at the wall. Our tour guide said that an amazing variety of things have been left- food, letters, clothes, pictures, ultra sound pictures, alcohol, even a brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle! With the exception of flowers and perishable food, these items are collected and cataloged. They are currently being kept in a warehouse. There are no current plans to display the items, but it is often talked about as a possibility.
This statue faces the memorial, with a white, black, and Hispanic soldier represented.
On the way to our next stop, we passed this fenced “Tree Protection Area.” The only tree that was in the fenced off area was a stump. Awesome.
The final stop on the tour was the Lincoln Memorial. The sun was setting by then, so we were not able to get that many good pictures, but it was still pretty cool!
We were able to get a great picture of the Mall from the steps of the memorial. You’ll note that the reflecting pool is not looking very reflective. It was under repair at the time, so no water. That was our last stop, so we walked to the nearest subway stop.
On the way to the subway, we passed this…shout out to Dr. D. Leitz!
We also saw the presidetial motorcade! The president has the posse to end all posses when he travels. There were tons of motorcycle cops, followed by cop cars, followed by a van with lots of guns on top, followed by a cell phone signal scrambling van thing, followed by two limos, followed by more police, followed by an ambulance. *WHEW*
We then headed to Chinatown for dinner.
Contrary to what the word “Chinatown” would imply, there is a lot more than Chinese food there. Here’s Kirk enjoying a California Tortilla burrito. The look on his face represents how tired we were by this point very well!
Stay Tuned for our next adventure!
Mr. and Mrs. Z Go to Washington 
