A tour of the Capital

Monday, October 22
The Cherry Hill Campground sold us Metro Cards pre-loaded with enough money to get us two days of train and bus fare. They also are agents for the Trolley Tour bus company and can sell you tickets for those tours. A very good service we took advantage of. So Monday morning we headed off toward the Metro parking garage about 15 minutes from the campground. Using the campground advice we took the Metro train into the heart of Washington, DC. A short walk from the subway and then on to the Trolley Tour Hop-on Hop-off bus.

So many great Smithsonian Museums in Washington. This one is the Portrait Gallery.

Lots of interesting artwork around.

No, this wasn't a traffic accident. It's artwork!

The National Mall with the Washington Monument. The Mall is over two miles long and it's lined with monuments and Museums.....and of course thousands of people. 

Many of the following pictures were taken from the Trolley Tour Bus and shot through the windows so they are not as clear as I wish they were.

The Smithsonian Castle. This was the original Smithsonian Museum and it still has a wide selection of artifacts. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to visit it. There are 19 museums that make up the Smithsonian. Admission to all of them is free. There are over 137 million artifacts. 

A blurry picture of the Washington Monument from the bus window. The monument is closed due to a problem they are having with the elevator that takes tourists to the top.

The Jefferson Memorial.

We transferred tour buses and went over the Potomac River to the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. This was an amazing place. There are over 400,000 graves on 600 acres. The first burial took place in May, 1864. The grounds were once owned by the Confederate General Robert E Lee.

Everyday of the year there are a maximum of 30 burials in the cemetery. There were 27 burials the day we were there.

An unbelievable number of soldiers are buried here.

The grave of Robert Kennedy. The Arlington House is on top of the hill. Once owned by Robert E Lee.

John F Kennedy's grave. Beside him is his wife Jacqueline.

A very popular tourist stop.

Another Kennedy grave site. This is Edward Kennedy.

The view from the Arlington Cemetery.

Part of the Air Force band and colour guard that were attending a funeral on the grounds.

The Amphitheater next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

The Tomb area. The tomb on the right contains the remains of  a soldier from WW1, WW2 and the Korean War. The remains of the Vietnam soldier were actually identified in 1998 and were subsequently removed and reburied elsewhere.

The Tomb is guarded  365 days a year and 24 hours per day by the 3rd US Infantry.

This soldier ran the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

Inspection of guard coming on duty.

The ceremony included laying wreaths at the Tomb.

Vietnam veterans laid this wreath. Taps was bugled.

The Guards march 21 steps down and back on the rubber mat. The guard is changed hourly or in very hot weather every 30 minutes.

Civil War graves. So many are marked as 'Unknown'.

Flight 111 memorial that went down off Locherbie Scotland.

An amazing and somber view.

We took the bus back across the Potomac to the Lincoln Memorial where we walked to some of the other memorials.

The Korean War Memorial.

These statues represent a patrol of soldiers walking through the Korean countryside.

The ghostly images carved into the black stone.

The Washington Monument with the Capitol Building on the right.

The impressive Lincoln Memorial

 

The reflecting Pool

Martin Luther King delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech from this spot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln statue inside the memorial.

The Vietnam Memorial.

Very sobering to stroll down the sidewalk and see the thousands and thousands of names engraved.

Folks trace the names of loved ones.

The Nurses Memorial

This was Marine One heading to the White House to pick up the President.

Another view of the Jefferson Monument.

 

World War 2 Memorial

 

Lots of security around the White House.

A quick shot of the White House from the Tour Bus.

 Once the Tour Bus completed it's loop we headed back to ward the subway. On the way we stopped off at the Portrait Museum. It's a huge building and we only saw a small portion. It contained lots of paintings, photographs and artwork.

The Portrait Museum

Tecumseh

Fabulous atrium

A long day of touring. Time to head home for  rest cause we'll do it again tomorrow!

......and that was Our View From Here!