Wednesday, June 29, 2011
I got up at 7:30 am after sleeping well.
I ate breakfast at about 8:15 am.
I had scrambled eggs, sausage links, a blueberry muffin, skim milk, a banana, and cranberry juice. Yum!
They also had toast, bagels, other juices, and coffee. The breakfast wasn't elaborate but was very nice.
I took the 9 am scheduled free shuttle to the Van Dorn subway station.
 | The hotel was as far west in Alexandria as it can be and still be called in Alexandria. The closest metro station aws the Van Dorn Street station. I was very surprised how clean and cool the station was! | |
| Here I am waiting for the next train into Washington, D.C. I bought the day pass for $9. It is good from 9:30 am to midnight. While it didn't save me any money, it saved me a lot of hassle. I could just jump on any train at any time. The platform at Van Dorn had me remembering the Entrecampos station in Lisbon! |  | |
 | Here comes the blue line train in the direction of Largo Town Center. | |
| Here I am on the subway. Washington's subway isn't unusual in any way except for that it is quite clean. I felt very comfortable navigating it. |  |
I decided to something really fun for my first day in Washington: rent a bike and bike around the National Mall.
In the lobby of my hotel was a brochure for Bike the Sites, and it sounded great, so I made my way to their kiosk near the Federal Triangle Metro station.
 | I rented my bike at this Bike the Sites kiosk. While I imagined that I would just ride around and come back, I got a nice U-lock and ended up using it a lot. I also got a helmet that was quite comfortable. I think the price was $7 an hour + tax, and I ended up renting for 3 hours. I got a Comfort Hybrid Trek bike, even though I asked for a cruiser ("old man bike"). It ended up being fine. | |
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| I used the wonderful Where Map of Washington, D.C., that I got from my hotel lobby to navigate around. My first stop was the White House. It was so neat to see it in person after seeing it on television for so long. It was smaller than I imagined! | ||
| After the White House, my next destination was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. On the way, I rode through the Constitution Gardens which had a beautiful backdrop of the Washington Monument. Notice the weather was again hot and sunny. It was perfect for biking and miserable for all the visitors walking! |  | |
 | Bicycles are not allowed near many of the memorials on the National Mall. I locked up my bike and walked to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Again, it was much smaller than I imagined! | |
| The highlight of the day was my time at the Lincoln Memorial. |  | |
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| Where is the reflecting pool?!? It's under reconstruction and should be finished within 2 years. | A kind lady took my picture with the Abraham Lincoln statue inside. | |
 | Next up was the Korean War Memorial. It was not what I expected at all--very different from the other memorials. | |
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| My next stop was the FDR Memorial. (On the way, I got to see where the upcoming MLK Memorial will be.) Again, the FDR Memorial was quite different from my expectations. It is full of man-made waterfalls (photo at left), FDR quotations, and metal statues (photo at right). I bought a $1 bookmark at the FDR Memorial's bookstore and headed toward the Jefferson Memorial. | ||
| Near the Jefferson Memorial was a snack bar. I got a (very dry) turkey sandwich and (refreshing) lemonade (both are sitting above the bike in the photo) and ate them in the shade at 12:30 pm. I wish I'd brought a lunch! |  | |
 | Next stop was the Jefferson Memorial. It was surrounded by construction, but it was still open. To me, it was more impressive seen from across the Tidal Basin than up close, but the construction may have contributed to that. | |
| The area around the Tidal Basin was beautiful to bike around. This garden reminded me of Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls! |  | |
 | By the time I reached the World War II Memorial, I was wearing out. I'd been biking for two and a half hours in the hot sun. I didn't feel like finding a place to lock up my bike, plus the memorial seemed very bland, so I took a quick picture and pushed on toward the Capitol. | |
| Here I am near the end of my ride, with the Capitol Dome in the background. What a great day I had! Biking is the ONLY was to see the sites!! |  | |
 | On the way back to return my bike, I rode through the National Mall past all the Smithsonian musems. On the mall, a festival (the Smithsonian Folklife Festival) was set up. I had to see if fufu was on the menu! (It wasn't.) | |
After turning in the bike, I took the metro from Federal Triangle to Arlington Cemetery to visit the national cemetery.
 | Here is the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. It was still majorly hot and sunny during my visit. | |
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| At first, Arlington reminded me of the other national cemeteries I had visited . . . | . . . but in other areas, it looked like a normal cemetery. | |
| Although I didn't have a map (a mistake), I followed the few signs and the crowds to my first stop, John F. Kennedy gravesite. I did not know that JFK and his wife had had two children die before visiting this site. The gravesite is simple, powerful, and memorable. Behind the eternal flame, up the hill, is Arlington House. Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy are buired nearby. |  | |
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| In the heat, it seemed like a long way up to Arlington House (Robert E. Lee's home). That's a faux finish--it's not sandstone! | The view from Arlington House is amazing. It's in Virginia, but Washington, D.C. is on full display. | |
 | The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was very stark. | |
| I didn't want to pay the $8.50 to ride the Tourmobile through Arlington,
so I walked. The tourmobiles reminded me of the old vehicles that
travelled from Schoellkopf to the falls in Niagara Falls, New York. Beware that Arlington has little shade. I visited for almost two hours, but near the end, I was wilting rapidly. |  | |
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| Just before leaving Arlington's visitor center, I noticed these two light-up boards flanking the main entrance. (When I saw them, I just lit up. They have these in the Paris subway!! On the left is the board for the entire Washington, D.C., area. On the right is the board for Arlington National Cemetery. I wish I had looked at the Arlington one before starting my hour-and-a-half slog through Arlington in the hot sun! | ||
 | This is the entrance to the Arlington Cemetery subway station. I arrived here at 4:15 pm and was back to the hotel (even with catching the shuttle) by 5 pm. | |
I rested in my room for an hour before going down to the Manager's Reception.
Dinner this night was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad with shredded and choice of dressing, and drink (which was, again, Sierra Mist for me).
After dinner, I walked up to the nearly-dead Landmark Mall and got a strawberry milkshake at Chick-Fil-A in the food court.
| Back to Itinerary | On to Day 12 |