Washington — Washington DC, DistrictofColumbia
Washington 11th October We have had a very cultural and historical day in Washington. Another early start to the day, sadly our poor old bodies are starting to feel the effects of the early morning starts. We have walked a thousand miles today or maybe it just seems that way. Headed off in the bus again for a tour around Washington. First stop the White House, very impressive but not sure if Barack is home they fly the flag at half mast when he is at the white house, which is was and the presidential helicopters were flying overhead, apparently their are three helicopters so the public is never sure which one he is in. Next stop was the Washington memorial, you will recognise it from Forrest Gump. Sad when we get our history lessons from movies. The Lincoln memorial is more or less on the same site. I Stood in the exact same stop that Martin Luther King delivered his very famous "I have a dream" speech....it all was really a bit surreal, we have all been bought up on American history and to be seeing and experiencing it all is a real buzz. Our next stop was Capital Hill, a beautiful building that overlooks Washington. We also went out to the Arlington cementry and saw the graves of JFK and Jackie O and JFK's brothers, bobby and teddy. Those Kennedy's are really the royals of America everything is either named after them or is going to be...I think they should rename America "Kennedyville" We also got to see the Pentagon and where the plane crashed into it on 9/11. We were dropped off at the air and space museum as we had the afternoon off to ourselves which gave us plenty of time to explore the smithsonian museums. We did a "fly by" visit (sorry about the pun)...lol to the air and space, saw the original space suits used in Apollo 11, the wright brothers plane, Amelia Earharts plane, which was obviously a replica and Hubble the space telescope. As you know I am no geek but this was all interesting stuff. ...after that we trudged off to the Natural History Museum to see the hope diamond, a very impressive diamond at that, I don't care if it has bought all its owners bad luck I would like to just like to have a shot of owning it..lol....most of the museums are fairly closely located together however the one I really wanted to see was a few blocks away so off we trudged again to the American Holocaust Museum...OMG, it takes a lot to reduce Alan and I to tears but this place sure did. There was 3 floors which you started from the top and worked your way down. It was the saddest and in your face exhibition I have ever been to. They had a lot of actual "artefacts" from the holocaust such as the people's shoes, their suitcases, books, gates from auswitz and original photos of those poor poor people whose lives who so brutally taken away from them. It's hard to explain the emotion we both felt as we left the exhibition....needed a bit of rest and reflection before we headed off again. We trudged again back to the White House for a final farewell to Barack and Michelle and then had to navigate our way back to the hotel...like I said I am sure I walked a thousand miles. We were stuffed. After. Bit of R & R we headed off out to dinner at a Local restaurant that as it turns out is a favourite haunt of the ABC news crew. It was interesting listening/eves dropping in on their conversation about the presidential campaign trail. The waitress who was a bit of fun and took a liking to us Aussies came and explained to us who was who in the zoo with them, no name I recognised but it was interesting none the less. Last day tomorrow of this fabulous leg of Deb and Al's great adventures. Hard to believe we have been here a week already, we have seen so much, learnt so much and had so much fun it's just fantastic. Just as well I have a really good guy reading the maps because with out him I would be stuffed...I think my blog has been hacked..lol A