Yes, it's true. I did get to go to Washington DC. I'd never really considered going as it had never been on my list of priorities, strangely enough. It was, however, an interesting experience. It all started when my phone rang late one evening as I was midway through a rather nice bottle of Chardonnay. It was Andrew. Apparently he'd booked some tickets to fly to DC for a few days and had managed to snag some hotel rooms for a song. He and his ladyfriend were due to go but apparently his ladyfriend had just been nabbed by the police for driving under the influence and was now incarcerated awaiting trial. Obviously she wasn't going to go with him and he'd already asked about refunds but that wasn't apparently possible due to the bargain nature of the tickets. Thus, I got called and was reassured that yes, the hotels would switch the rooms from a single king bed to a pair of twin beds. It was on! The trip was on to DC.
What with my work schedule I found I had 3 days free at the right time and thus we headed to the airport a few days later for my unscheduled break in DC. It was pretty much what I expected - a large sprawl with people everywhere. It was busy but quiet and I never saw any problems anywhere despite the fact it has apparently a very high crime rate. Having said that I doubt we went much beyond the normal tourist stamping grounds.
There was an underground railway which surprised me though it should not have. This we used a few times to get to and from our hotel. We did the usual things - went to see the national cemetery at Arlington. Now that was a massive place full of row upon row of graves as far as the eye could see. I found it rather a sad testament to man's inability to resolve his issues without resorting to force. I looked at the graves and wondered what the occupants could have achieved had their lives not been cut short by war. I looked for but could not locate Audie Murphy's grave. I did find JFKs grave with its perpetual flame. I didn't take any photographs there out of respect for the deceased. I did, however, take a photograph of the Vietnam wall which was not too far away. In actual fact, all the places I visited were within an easy walking distance of each other. I walked around the perimeter of the White House, walked around Arlington, did the Reflecting ponds, the Lincoln memorial and the World War 2 memorial. We did visit the Smithsonian Air and Space museum but what with all the walking etc, we didn't get to visit much else. Two days was just too short for DC as with travel, it was just two days rather than the whole three.
I was very pleased with the photo above. It was quite tricky to take with the flag waving in the wind. I had wanted to get the MIA flag too (which is directly under the US flag) but for some unknown reason, neither wanted to fly in the same place at the same time.
This is the back of the White House. In the photograph above, there is what appears to be a .50 BMG sniper rifle standing on a tripod just to the left of the group of black jumpsuit clad servicemen. I have no idea which branch of the services to which the fellows belong. It must have been stifling for them up there as it was a very hot day. It was so hot in fact that the Lincoln tower was closed because it was judged too hot to climb.
It was a very pleasant but very short break. I'm glad I got to see Washington DC. One of my abiding memories will be of a group of secret service agents standing outside the front of the Whitehouse with "Secret Service" emblazoned on their black shirts in big, bold yellow letters. Not exactly what I'd call a "secret" service!
Wandering around the Smithsonian, I did get to see the Gemini space capsule that John Glenn (now a Senator) etc orbited the earth inside. It was very small indeed and I can honestly say I don't think I would have liked to be squeezed into it. There was the usual catalogue of old aircraft from German WW2 planes and so on. None of that was all that interesting to me. Of more interest was the space capsule. Every time I go down to Florida etc I always seem to miss out on visiting Cape Carnaveral which is where the really interesting exhibits will be such as the gantry from which Apollo 11 was launched.
Thus after our short break - our all too short break - we climbed back aboard our Delta flight to Columbia. It was, we agreed, a very interesting trip. As Andrew said, it was much more interesting going without his ex-ladyfriend because we got to go and do things and to see things that were worth seeing and worth doing. Heck, even the food was different in DC.
What with my work schedule I found I had 3 days free at the right time and thus we headed to the airport a few days later for my unscheduled break in DC. It was pretty much what I expected - a large sprawl with people everywhere. It was busy but quiet and I never saw any problems anywhere despite the fact it has apparently a very high crime rate. Having said that I doubt we went much beyond the normal tourist stamping grounds.
There was an underground railway which surprised me though it should not have. This we used a few times to get to and from our hotel. We did the usual things - went to see the national cemetery at Arlington. Now that was a massive place full of row upon row of graves as far as the eye could see. I found it rather a sad testament to man's inability to resolve his issues without resorting to force. I looked at the graves and wondered what the occupants could have achieved had their lives not been cut short by war. I looked for but could not locate Audie Murphy's grave. I did find JFKs grave with its perpetual flame. I didn't take any photographs there out of respect for the deceased. I did, however, take a photograph of the Vietnam wall which was not too far away. In actual fact, all the places I visited were within an easy walking distance of each other. I walked around the perimeter of the White House, walked around Arlington, did the Reflecting ponds, the Lincoln memorial and the World War 2 memorial. We did visit the Smithsonian Air and Space museum but what with all the walking etc, we didn't get to visit much else. Two days was just too short for DC as with travel, it was just two days rather than the whole three.
I was very pleased with the photo above. It was quite tricky to take with the flag waving in the wind. I had wanted to get the MIA flag too (which is directly under the US flag) but for some unknown reason, neither wanted to fly in the same place at the same time.
This is the back of the White House. In the photograph above, there is what appears to be a .50 BMG sniper rifle standing on a tripod just to the left of the group of black jumpsuit clad servicemen. I have no idea which branch of the services to which the fellows belong. It must have been stifling for them up there as it was a very hot day. It was so hot in fact that the Lincoln tower was closed because it was judged too hot to climb.
It was a very pleasant but very short break. I'm glad I got to see Washington DC. One of my abiding memories will be of a group of secret service agents standing outside the front of the Whitehouse with "Secret Service" emblazoned on their black shirts in big, bold yellow letters. Not exactly what I'd call a "secret" service!
Wandering around the Smithsonian, I did get to see the Gemini space capsule that John Glenn (now a Senator) etc orbited the earth inside. It was very small indeed and I can honestly say I don't think I would have liked to be squeezed into it. There was the usual catalogue of old aircraft from German WW2 planes and so on. None of that was all that interesting to me. Of more interest was the space capsule. Every time I go down to Florida etc I always seem to miss out on visiting Cape Carnaveral which is where the really interesting exhibits will be such as the gantry from which Apollo 11 was launched.
Thus after our short break - our all too short break - we climbed back aboard our Delta flight to Columbia. It was, we agreed, a very interesting trip. As Andrew said, it was much more interesting going without his ex-ladyfriend because we got to go and do things and to see things that were worth seeing and worth doing. Heck, even the food was different in DC.