DC in Two Days

Day One:
Arrive at Union Station. Metro towards the waterfront. Drag my suitcase and all the candy two blocks to the hotel. Sweating buckets. Arrive at hotel. Too early to check in. Offload candy into suitcase and head to the National Mall. Visited the Capitol Building, the National Air and Space Museum, Washington Memorial, the White House (did not see Obama), the Lincoln Memorial (the famous Forrest Gump scene is being renovated), the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, the Roosevelt Memorial, MLK Memorial, Jefferson Memorial... then passed out back at the hotel.

Day Two:
Early start. Off to the Pentagon and its accompanying September 11 Memorial, then to Arlington Cemetry, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the National Museum of Natural History, the American Art Museum for a special exhibition on the Art of Video Games (Shatter was nominated for this but didn't quite make it!), the National Building Museum for a Lego exhibition and finally the Zoo.

Sheesh.

So there are memorials all over the place, famous sites and amazing buildings here. Everything seems to be under construction or is undergoing some maintenance. The weather has been overwhelmingly hot but tolerable and still better than the bone-chilling winds of Wellington.

The city is also overrun with school children. I sound old for saying this, but they are horribly obnoxious, loud, rude, and have absolutely no respect for the places they are visiting. You expect a place like Arlington to be peaceful and there are even signs around the place saying please be silent as respect for the dead, but no these kids are still yelling at the top of their lungs and talking about whatever, like, ohmahgawd, girlfriend puh-please. These memorials have a lot of history behind them and they are more than just tourist attractions. They remind us of the difficult times people have overcome or the tragic loss of life.

Another early start tomorrow to get to the airport, and it's off to Ohio!