Washington, DC Trip - Day 3 - 4.10.10 (57)

Washington, DC Trip – Day 3 – 4.10.10

April 21, 2010 | Photography, Travel Photography

For Days 1 and 2 of the trip, click here, and here. The last day of the my Washington, DC trip was an extremely busy one. We managed to do even more than we did the previous days. Plus, it was a perfect day to be outside and shooting.

The day started off with waking up early and catching the Metro to Arlington Cemetery. The cemetery is extremely big, and has a lot of interesting grave sites and memorials in there. Plus, it’s just beautiful to walk around with lots of Cherry Blossoms. There were probably more Cherry Blossoms there than in the city of DC. We got to Arlington when it opened and the first thing I wanted to do was visit the grave site of Medal of Honor recipient and WWII bad-ass John Basilone. If you aren’t watching The Pacific right now on HBO, you’re missing out on a riveting and intense mini-series! I wanted to pay my respects and visit his grave from what he did in Guadalcanal, which you can see in Episode 2 of The Pacific.

I felt like Tuco in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly trying to find his grave site. I could just hear “The Ecstasy of Gold” playing in my head. I knew it was in Section 12 but didn’t know the number of the grave. So I texted my brother and he looked it up for me. Thankfully found it and took a few photos. I noticed a few stones on top of the grave. Is that a sign of respect? Anyone know?

After that, we went where all the other crowds were going to. The John F. Kennedy memorial site, where it has the graves of JFK, Jackie, their children, and eternal flame. Nearby were the grave sites of RFK and Ted Kennedy. After that, we walk around the cemetery some more and went to the Tomb of the Unknowns. There was a ceremony going on, and not sure it was the normal ceremony where they change the guard. There seemed to be some children on hand and in the salute to the tomb, along with a family there dressed up so obviously was someone who recently passed?

Walking around there can be tiresome, so we eventually took the Metro back to DC and went to some museums. Like usual, they were jammed packed with people. We went to the Air and Space museum, saw a little bit of the National Gallery, and also went to the Natural History museum. While all the museums are great, they were extremely crowded. I think it was so crowded that weekend because of the Japanese Cherry Blossom festival, tail end of spring break and on a weekend as well. Just made things chaotic and too crowded.

The last point of the day was a bit of a struggle to say the least. I still wanted to walk around the tidal basin to see a few more memorials. By that point our feet felt like they were run over by a car and smashed with hammers. By we continued on… First we saw the Jefferson Memorial, which is going some construction out by the tidal basin part of it. Then we walked to the FDR Memorial which I ended up liking a lot. It was a nice place to relax, except you couldn’t since there were a lot of people around. Kids were seriously climbing over the monuments and statues like it was a jungle gym, while the parents did nothing. Quality parenting at it’s best!

After that, we went back by the reflecting pool area to see the Korean War Memorial. I liked seeing those statues and seeing the interesting wall on the side. You can see all these ghost faces in the black wall.

The last part of our journey that day, we ended back in Georgetown for some food. We called it night after that, and sat and relaxed in the hotel room. I liked visiting DC, and I’ve been meaning to go there for years. Each monument and memorial was great to finally see! I just wish it wasn’t so damn crowded.

The Entire Gallery

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