Day 160 (Part 1) - Arlington National Cemetery & the Pentagon, DC

We packed a huge amount of sight-seeing in yesterday, probably too much for just one day but we had cracked through most of the key sites in Washington DC. The only big omission was Arlington National Cemetery which we decided to do this morning before heading to our next destination, Baltimore.

The cemetery was an easy 10 minute drive from our hotel, just over the other-side of the Potomac river.

We pulled into the cemetery and were directed by stewards into a multistory car park where we sat waiting for what seemed like ages (and was probably less than a minute) whilst the car in front of us carefully straightened themselves up again, and again and again after pulling into a space. Compared to the UK, the parking spaces in the US are huge, I guess they have to be for all the monster trucks that we see driving around yet it still amazes us how some people still manage to make a pigs ear out of parking. They should try parking in the UK!

After leaving the car park, we headed to the security line where we were greeted by a very large queue and two security guards with over inflated egos who must have thought they were herding sheep rather than humans today. We gritted our teeth and eventually passed into the building. We were in the visitors center. The cemetery is run by the National Parks service and we were pleased to see the familiar sight of a National Parks Ranger passing out maps and offering advice. We popped into the gift shop to pick up a stamp for our National Parks Passport, one of the final ones I think we're going to have on this trip and headed out into the cemetery. 

There is no driving around the cemetery. You can either walk or pay for one of the tours on electric trains. We decided to walk as we wanted some exercise and we wanted to explore on our own rather with a huge crowd of tourists. 

After a short walk, we reached our first stop, the John F. Kennedy grave site where we saw the eternal flame (a flame that is constantly lit although you can't see it very well in our photos below). It was strange to think how much of our trip had involved learning about the last few days of Kennedy's life from his trips to San Antonio and Fort Worth, to his final day in Dallas to now standing at his gravestone. We had driven down the road he was shot, walked along the pavement next to his motorcade and stood on the hill it was filmed but now we were standing next to the site of his final resting place and a monument to his memory. 

Unfortunately, we were not the only the only people to be visiting this grave, it is one of the most popular in the 624-acre cemetery and also one of the closest to get to from the visitors center. As a result, the poignant moment was lost among the hustle of tourists, many of whom were taking selfies.  

We continued walking through the cemetery which once we had moved away from the Kennedy memorial, turned out to be very quiet and empty of people. The majority of the gravestones were for military personal and it was interesting reading about the different ranks, roles, where they served and in a number of cases, just how young they were when they died. There were graves with a man on one side and his wife on another, sometimes even with a child added in too.   

We eventually reached the Memorial Amphitheater, the site of Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies which has been visited by every American President except Woodrow Wilson (who had a stroke) since it was built in 1921 

Just the other side of the Amphitheater is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a monument dedicated to U.S. service members who have died without their remains being identified. We sat and watched the guard walking the mat and were surprised by the complete silence from the large crowd that was watching.

Our next stop was at a site that Lee really wanted to visit, the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial and Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial both located next to one another. 

We headed back towards the visitors center stopping off at one slightly unusual memorial along the way, the Pan Am Flight 103 Memorial. This chimney looking structure is made of 270 blocks of red Scottish sandstone, each brick memorializes one of the 270 lives lost in the terrorist attack on the United States when Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed Dec. 21, 1988, over Lockerbie.

We left the cemetery feeling thoughtful. This is definitely a place to visit if are in Washington DC and whilst our choice to walk may have resulted in aching feet for a second day in a row, it gave us an opportunity to really take in the atmosphere and appreciate the calmness, stillness and thinking space this place provides.

Back on the road, there was one last stop off we wanted to make before hitting the road to Baltimore, we both wanted to see the Pentagon. We knew there was going to be no way we were going to be allowed a tour of any kind in the United States Department of Defense but we thought we might be able to get a look at the outside. 

We actually did better than we thought, we were able to go into the car park and take a brief look at the outside. We were both a little on edge, worried about what we could and could not do. I was pretty sure they wouldn't like us taking photos even on a Sunday when no one was working. Feeling shifty, looking guilty and concerned that just saying "we wanted to see the Pentagon" was not going to be a good enough excuse for being here, we left quickly. 

Our journey out of Washington was similar to the journey in just without the pouring rain and black sky but we didn't mind as we had had an awesome time and were now looking forward to our next destination, Baltimore.