Any trip to Washington DC is overwhelming with all the things to see. We did our best, but tried to take a somewhat relaxed approach so we didn't get too burned out. We started things out with a bus tour, and of course, we saw the major monuments - Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln (plus we made a point to go back on our own and drive by at night since they're really impressive at night).
We sat on the steps of the US Capitol on the evening of July 3 and watched a dress rehersal of the 4th of July concert, then walked to Chinatown for dinner. Union Station is the most visited tourist attraction, so we had lunch there one day. We also visited the Air & Space Museum, the Nat'l Museum of Natural History, and the Nat'l Zoo (had to see those pandas). There is speculation one of the pandas is pregnant, so there were some news stations standing by in case a new panda was born. Nothing so exciting happened during our visit.
A couple of highlights in DC were our visit to the Nat'l Holocaust Museum, and we attended an exhibition called Bodies. It's almost unthinkable to imagine what the Nazi's did to the Jews during WWII. http://www.ushmm.org We'd encourage anyone visiting Washington DC to include this stop on your trip. Some of you may have heard about Bodies - the Exhibition. It's from China, The nine-gallery exhibit reveals the intricacy and interdependency of the body’s bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and organs. Whole bodies preserved to the cellular level by infusing tissues with liquid silicone rubber http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/ and It's quite amazing.
We concluded our trip by a visit to Arlington Nat'l Cemetary and watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Quite sobering to visit and think about all of the men and women who have sacrified their lives in the name of freedom. An expression we heard more than once on our visit was, ..."freedom isn't free." I'm glad our children had the opportunity to get a personal sense of our nation's history.
Only one regret about our trip. We had hoped to visit Palmyra, NY, while staying in Cooperstown. However, the schedule for Niel's baseball tournament was so full, there just wasn't enough time to make the 6-hr round trip drive, plus spend any meaningful time visiting some historical church sites. Oh well, I guess we'll have to make another trip!!
1 comment:
Keep up the good work.
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