The HOTTEST day I've had to live through in a long time.
We started out at Arlington Cemetery, which is a humbling, sobering place. There are 300, 000 gravesites there, about, and it's an active cemetery, so people are buried there still everyday. We got the full tour, including visiting JFK an his family's graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb of the Unknown was really neat to see. It's guarded 24/7/365, including when Katrina hit. The guard walks 21 steps, pauses for 21 seconds, then turns around and repeats. We saw the changing of the guard, too. Very ceremonial and respectful. Another cool thing about this was the fact that Fowler Middle School did the presenting of the wreath that was placed in front of the tomb!! The exact time that we were there on the same day. What are the odds? Fowler MS is in my hometown's school district, for those who don't know.
We also saw the Arlington House, where General Lee lived with his family before the Civil War. Karah and Liz, I thought about y'all the whole time. Remember that one time you sent me a General Lee postcard, Karah? Still have it. "The South with rise again!!" haha miss you.
So, Oregon hadn't reached 80 yet since I had been home, so you could imagine our little white Oregonian selves were suffering in 100 degree humid heat. In fact, as we were loading the tour bus, my dad made a comment about how hot it was and the tour guide said, "you're from the NW, aren't you?" Yep. We are.
America rocks.
We headed over to the Holocaust Museum, but the main part of the museum was out of tickets for the day, so we decided to come back a different time.
I had left some stuff at our last hotel, so my mom and I fetched it and ate ice cream.
That night we went to a really good restaurant called Old Ebbitt's Grill, right across the street from the White House. Yum.
MONDAY
The older boys and I took a second trip to the Holocaust Museum so that we can actually see the main part of the museum. We waited in line for a long while, but it was worth it! You get a passport at the beginning that has the information for a real person who lived during this time. Each day/stage of the person's life is a level of the museum. So we can learn about the real person at each part of the Holocaust. First level was from 1933-1939, when Hitler was gaining power. Second, was from 1939-1945 during the war. Last level was post-war and the aftermath. Gosh, it was so depressing, but good and informational. The saddest part for me was the pile of shoes that they collected from the people they were about to gas in the concentration camps. There were lots.
We had our last big tour at the Supreme Court. We went into the actual court and the girl told us all about the room and how things work there. There is a frieze running along the top of the room with all of the people whom the artist thought were important in the history of laws (Moses, etc) and the fact that it's built like a Greek/Roman temple makes me love it! Reminds me so much of London.
The next stop was one of my favorite favorite things about DC (now don't laugh at my nerdiness)--The Library of Congress!! Imagine thousands and thousands of books in a big beautifully constructed room in a big beautifully constructed building. (ok, stop laughing, now) But, seriously, after seeing Thomas Jefferson's collection, it instantly became my life goal to work with old books. I want to research out of them, I want to preserve them, I want to read them. Add to Michelle's Bucket List: get into the Library of Congress. Already added to Bucket List: get a reading pass for the British Library, too.
TUESDAY
I forgot to mention that one of the days (I forget which one) previous to this one we went to the American Museum of National History. That was one of my favorite museums. It had Kermit the Frog, the Red Ruby Slippers, and C3PO from the Star Wars movies. Plus, Julia Child's kitchen. They also had THE Star Spangled Banner that inspired our National Anthem. REALLY cool.
Anyways, I was reminded me because this day was the day of museums.
MUSEUM #1: NEWSEUM...We started out at the Newseum (the news museum), which is the newest one in the city, I think, and so it's funky fresh. They had the Pulitzer Prize-winning pictures from almost each year. Some just broke my heart, but the whole exhibit was really really awesome. I almost cried on the 9/11 floor. They had the front pages of newspapers from all over the world from 9/11/01 plus the antenna from the top of one of the towers, all mangled and twisted. They showed footage from different journalists and reporters who were there at Ground Zero as the second plane hit the second tower. Wow.
{antenna from the top of one of the World Trade Centers}
{front pages of worldwide newspapers from 9/11/01}
{part of the Berlin Wall and the only surviving tower from Berlin that's in America}
PLUS: Annie, Brittany and Kira would be happy to know that they had a 4D Experience. This one had moving chairs, guys. I know.
MUSEUM #2: NATIONAL ART GALLERY...Again, memories from London just were all over the place. The East side of the museum was the...interesting...modern art section. Best part: HUGE elevator.
There's a really cool underground, flashy, sparkly tunnel connecting the East and West museums. The West museum I liked a lot more. They even had a Pissaro painting, along with a room of Degas sculptures and some Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Cezanne...the gang's all hereee! Love it.
MUSEUM #3: AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM...have to be honest, not my favorite museum. And that's ok, I think with how many museums I've been to this year (=plenty). I liked the space ships and the actual Wright Bros plane, but the rest was pretty ho-hum. My mom and I got bored and got chocolate milkshakes at McDonald's.
WEDNESDAY
Mom and I slept in and then checked out the MLK Jr Library. They had a book sale of their old books, so I got a few. The others went to the Spy Museum. Mom and I then went to Nandos for lunch...for my third time this trip. I'm opening up a Nandos in Provo, I think it would be a big hit.
That's it an' that's awl!
Go America!
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