Our first stop on my schedule for Sunday was Arlington. Now this is where I was so looking forward to going. We were lucky when we checked the weather because it was calling for a nice breeze that morning. Not the heat we had experienced the day before at Mount Vernon! We were all ready to grab the trolley and be on our way. To get on the trolley we needed to walk 2/10 of a mile to Union Station from our hotel. Oh BTW our hotel was fabulous! The Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill! You could look right out our window and see the capitol. It was perfect!
Union Station is a very BUSY place! I had no idea how many people travel on the trains and subway! It’s just unreal. There are taxi cars everywhere dropping off and picking up. The place is huge and beautiful.
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| Union Station |
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| Inside Union Station |
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| Listing of Trains |
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| Food court downstairs... this place is just unbelievable! |
We found our trolley and hopped on all excited to get to Arlington. The Union Station is stop #4 on the Trolley and we were to go to stop #10 where we would catch another trolley that would take us directly to Arlington. The brochure said to allow 3-4 hours for the Arlington tour and that was why I had arranged our schedule for us to do it in the morning before it got hot in the afternoon. The trolley begin and the nice little guy started his speech telling us what we were passing as he drove. He then began to tell us that he would not be stopping at stop #10, #12, #14, etc. until after lunch sometime because there was a half marathon going on and the streets were blocked off. Oh my heart just sank again! Gary looked at me and said isn’t #10 our stop and I frowned and said yes it is and I don’t know what to do now. When the guy stopped talking for a brief minute and asked if anyone had questions, I immediately raised my hand. I told him my schedule was for Arlington first and asked if there was another way to get to Arlington. Well….. guess what he said???? Yep, you guessed it! METRO SUBWAY! Gary and I just sat there a minute pondering what to do. We BOTH wanted to get to Arlington that morning. I finally told him we would just have to go do the subway again. At least this time we knew had to purchase a ticket from the machine on the wall that has no one working in the area to help you! However, Gary told me that he was positive there was no subway to Arlington. I reassured him that was what the driver said and we were going to check it out. We hopped off the trolley at the next stop which had a Metro entrance. Once we were down the stairs, I begin checking out the map for the subway and sure enough it had Arlington listed! YIPPIE.
The trip to Arlington was on the “green” subway. The day before were were on the “orange” subway. It pays to know which color subway you are getting on! We purchased our ticket and went down another set of stairs to catch the subway. Immediately it was like I was in a sea of runners! Yes, RUNNERS! They were standing everywhere waiting on the subway all with their medals hanging around their necks. Oh it was a beautiful medal too! I was so jealous! I could have kicked myself for not checking to see if there were any local races. However, if I had ran we may not have got to see all the things we did in 3 days and Gary would have fussed the whole time about me adding in a race. Hee Hee
The subway appeared and off we went to Arlington. Let me just say that when you enter the gates, it takes your breath away. There is really no words to describe how you feel walking through Arlington and all you see is a sea of white headstones. My mind flashed to so many in my family that has served or is still serving in the military. What a sacrifice they have all paid for us! Our freedom isn’t cheap. People have lost their lives for us to have our freedom. I had to constantly wipe tears that kept leaking from my eyes the whole time we walked around the grounds of Arlington.
This post will have many pictures because Arlington is simply beautiful!!! Plus you could take pictures everywhere! Including the house! At Mount Vernon we were not allowed to take pictures inside the house.
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| Inside one of the rooms in the house. |
It’s humbling to walk up and stand at Kennedy’s grave. He died before my time (1963). However, if you were paying attention in school, you should know who he was. The house (Robert E. Lee's) at the top of the hill overlooks Kennedy's grave site and has the BEST view of WASHINGTON. It’s absolutely stunning!
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| The house on the hill which looks down on Kennedy's grave site. |
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| Sayings like this were all around the grave site. |
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There are so many things at Arlington that is stunning! Walking around to see the tomb of the unknown solider you’ll find a beautiful theater that is surrounded by amazing flowers. This is the old amphitheater.
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| The Old Amphitheater |
Arlington's new and bigger Amphitheater is called the Memorial Amphitheater. It is the nation's official place to host ceremonies to honor all American service members who serve to keep the United States free. About 5,000 visitors attend each of the three major annual memorial services in the Amphitheater. They take place Easter, Memorial Day and Veterans Day and are sponsored by the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. The Easter Sunrise Service begins at 6 a.m. Memorial Day and Veterans Day services always begin at 11 a.m. Many military organizations also conduct annual memorial services in the amphitheater. The place is HUGE. There was no service going on the day we were there so it really looked huge with all the empty seats.
After walking around the theater you will come to the tomb of the unknowns. The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but it has never been officially named. There are men trained to guard the tomb. It is a very detailed training and they are standing out there guarding the tomb no matter what! That means … snow, rain, below 0 degrees, etc. They remain at work. It’s a big thing to go and watch the changing to the guards and that was why we were headed there at a certain time. However, when we arrived a ceremony was already in place. It was the Warriors to Washington group. They were having a ceremony so we got to see the end of it before watching the changing of the guards. The whole experience was indescribable.
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| Warriors to Washington Ceremony |
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| Changing of the Guards |
Arlington was by far my favorite part of Washington, DC! Everyone should visit once. It really makes you think about our military and what they sacrifice for us. I'd love to go back when we have more time to casually walk around and not rush.
......... more later on monuments & trolley night tour which was all on this day. :>) D
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