Woke up early and fully adjusted to my time zone with jetlag a distance memory. Breakfast was a full American; egg, sausage and bacon followed by a full continental! So that meant no lunch. Went straight to Union station to start my open top bus ride on the yellow line to the white house. With the hazy sun burning efficiently through the clouds, the wind on top of the bus was a blessing. The first venue was the US treasury, so just had to take a picture of me holding a $10 bill in front of the treasury. Then walked along further to see the Whitehouse. On dear, it was obscured by a construction crane that was probably setting up some sort of event for the President. Didn’t he know I was coming to take a photo of his home?
As I walked around DC, I found everybody so polite, friendly and helpful. It was so enjoyable with few crowds or queues making the day so relaxed and calm. I made my way to the blue loop bus stop and headed to Arlington cemetery, which took about 15 minutes. It was a warm day but with a lot of cloud cover. I was certainly catching the sun on my face though; thank goodness for SPF 40 cream I bought from Walmart yesterday.
As I disembarked the bus I was met by a sea of ordered white stones in rows running into the distant horizon beyond my sight! Each white stone was a memorial to a military person who died either during a battle or died naturally in later life. It was so poignant and stoic. It was impressive to see a nation respect and honour their service personnel. I walked among the graves of so many people in silence along with so many other visitors who came to show their respect. The small groups of visitors ebbed and flowed along the path ways alongside the static and regimented rows of post soldiers, all of us in awe at the magnificence of these brave men and women who thought for their nation and a set of democratic and free values.
After Arlington I continued on the blue line to the Pentagon memorial. At the side where the 911 plane ploughed into the building a beautiful memorial has been erected to those on the plane and on the ground who died that fateful day. There who died on the ground had a memorial facing the pentagon, while those who were in the plane had their memorial with their names facing into the air. It was a very serine place and a reminder of the horrors in the world that still exist.
Back on the blue line to stop 55 near the White House and then started walking East along F street to 7th street and then on to Chinatown. Started walking around the Chinatown and Penn quarter looking for a restaurant to eat at but with so many choices it was difficult to decide. A preamble for tomorrow’s weather of a few drops of rain falling on my head forced me to decide on Jaleo’s I, a modern cosmopolitan variation of a Spanish Tapas bar.
I didn’t have a reservation and the restaurant was busy but they managed to find me a table. After dinner about 2130 I started to walk back to my hotel I it was only about 7 blocks so I was back by 10 pm, in time for a class of Argentinian Malbec in the hotel bar before bed.