With the air conditioner running I slept quite soundly until the alarm went off. And no nightmares! Thank God! So we hit the breakfast buffet about eight, but left later than I planned because the traffic was still rather dicey. When we got to the station, a further complication: the South Lot was full. Tomorrow we will try the North Lot, but for this time we fed the parking meter close to the station. This actually didn't matter because the Metro comes more often on weekdays and really seems to go faster, too! We arrived at the Castle about 10:10.

We had decided yesterday to take the Tourmobile Bus and were walking down to Air and Space to meet one when it came up behind us. They picked us up and soon we were off on the day's adventure.

The Tourmobile takes you to most of the main sites in the city on a circular (actually a weird figure eight with the top hole flattened) course. You can get off the bus at any time and get back on by showing your ticket. Between stops the tourguide tells you facts and trivia about the buildings and areas you are passing.

Our first tourguide was Melvin, who was funny and constantly ribbing the driver, Samuel. We passed the Air and Space Building and the American Indian Museum and drove around the Capitol Building. Of course there are no flags up over the Senate and House chambers because everyone's home getting re-elected. We also drove by the place known as "Media Plaza" because all the news reporters go there when big news comes out of Congress because you get a shot of the Capitol dome fronted by a fountain.

We next passed Union Station, which is a wonderful railroad station of the old fashion. It originally had features like a five-bed hospital, a bathhouse, a doctor-in-residence and more; even a butcher and a baker (but no candlestick maker). Now it is full of shops besides being the central train station for the city of Washington. Oh, and back in the days when the President took the train, he had his own special entrance.

Melvin told us that the lower level had a smashing food court, so we decided to go there for lunch after we had ridden the route once.

From Union Station we went past the other side of the Smithsonian buildings on the Mall, including the Natural History Museum. He says there is a 400+ carat sapphire there; lots bigger than the Hope Diamond. We passed the Washington Monument, then the Holocaust Museum, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, the Jefferson Memorial (you should see the autumn-dressed trees around the Tidal Basin—absolutely gorgeous!; the whole city is tressed in lovely fall color), the FDR Memorial (you can't see it from the road), behind the Lincoln Memorial, and over the Potomac into Virginia and to Arlington National Cemetery, where the tours originate. The Arlington tour is included in your tour fee.

At Arlington they have to change drivers and guides, so Melvin, the chatterbox, was replaced with Vera, who had a cold and all the facts and figures. She took us around the Lincoln Memorial, past the Korean War and Vietnam Memorials, past the Washington Monument again, then back to the Castle. I learned something that I never knew (or didn't remember if I had read it): Constitution Avenue (formerly B Street) used to be a canal! Just past the Washington Monument is a little stone cottage was originally one of the lockhouses on the canal. We stayed on the bus repeating part of the route and debarked at Union Station to have lunch.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow! Vaulted ceilings overhead, marble floors, statuary in the galleries. Imagine coming through here every day!

The Food Court has many selections, just like at Quincy Market. I had meat ravioli with a side of garlic bread and bottled water, and James had a combo bourbon chicken/Cajun chicken with friend rice on the side (apparently it was a Cajun/Japanese food stand!), also with bottled water (but a different brand). When we finished we "hit the head," checked out the newstand and a Gift Shop (it's a State Law), and then went outside to wait for the bus to come by.

Here we were able to get some shots of the Union Station facade, the flagpoles of the Christopher Columbus memorial in front of the station (the flagpoles stand for the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria) and the Freedom Bell before we joined the new guide, Evelyn, who reminded me a little of our friend Emma.

Evelyn was very informal and added more facts to our store: for instance, because the new wing of the National Gallery of Art is built on an odd trapezoid of land, I.M. Pei, the architect, also made the building a trapezoid, and it has the most sharp angles of any of the museum buildings. She said she thought it ironic that the building with the most angles is directly across the Mall from the American Indian Museum, which has no angles at all; the building is all shaped in soft curves miming a rock worn by the weather.

We had decided at lunch that since it was Veteran's Day week, we should go on the Arlington National Cemetery tour, so we repeated our previous route to that location, then queued up for the bus to take us around that area.

The Cemetery is beautiful at this time of year; the rows upon rows of solemn white headstones flow against browning grass and colorful trees dotting the slopes. We had only a short time to visit the graves of John and Robert Kennedy and snap a few photos before riding to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to see the Changing of the Guard. The bus left us there early, so we had a chance to see the dignified stones they have put up to commemorate the Challenger and Columbia astronauts.

Nearby also is the mast from the battleship Maine and the grave of actor and war hero Audie Murphy (marked with flags and flowers). Explorers Robert Byrd and Robert Peary, President William Howard Taft and his wife "Nellie," and General Omar Bradley are just some of the other "famous" people buried at Arlington, but the most affecting site are those Civil War graves that endlessly say "unknown soldier," since "dog tags" were unknown in those days.

Ten minutes before the hour James and I mounted the steps with several hundred other people to watch the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, the guard changed once an hour. We watched a special on PBS about Arlington a year or two ago which not only told about the funeral procedures but about the training of the honor guard at the Tomb. Their pace is very precise, like a clockwork, and is stately and beautiful.

We were lucky because the side of the steps we had chosen to watch from was also where the Sergeant of the Guard and the new guard emerge. We were able to see them march to the front, then, before approaching the area where the old guard is still walking his post, the Sergeant inspects the new guard and his rifle with a gimlet eye. With a set routine, the sergeant makes sure both the guard and the gun are in perfect condition before the new guard takes the old one's place and he and the Sergeant both return to quarters.

It was not sunset, so we did not hear "Taps," but it was sunset by the time we returned to the Visitor's Center and the tours were over. So after perousing the Gift Shop (it's a State Law), we walked to the Arlington Metro station and came back to the hotel for soup and apples and cookies. Right now we're watching 1776 on TCM—I guess because it's Election Day tomorrow. Pidgie spent a wild half hour tossing toys off the worktable near the kitchenette and is now back in his cage while Willow is trying to convince James she's starving (ignoring, of course, the full bowl of dog food).

Labels: travel, vacation

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:50:00 PM

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