This was my last full day in Washington, and I visited the National Air & Space Museum in the morning and Arlington National Cemetery in the afternoon. I did it that way round because I was told that while both would be very busy – there are lots of school trips at this time of year – you can get away from the crowds at Arlington but not so at the museum. So I was there not long after opening time at 10:30.
It is certainly a feast for the eyes. There are aircraft and spacecraft suspended from the ceilings or laid out on the floor; the very first things I saw were two US space capsules, a Mercury and a Gemini. (They’re tiny, by the way, especially the one-man Mercury.) I especially enjoyed the space exhibits – there was many of these covering the whole of the US space program, from Mercury through to the end of the Shuttle. I wasn’t quite so impressed with the air displays – there was a lot about the pioneering days of aviation (Lindbergh, Earhart and others) and to be honest that doesn’t seem so interesting to a Brit – well not this Brit at least; I’m firmly a ships and railways man. But it was well worth visiting, and there were plenty of other displays that were good – the development of jet technology, for instance.
In the afternoon I went to Arlington National Cemetery. This was certainly very beautiful, and was bigger than I had expected. I visited Arlington House, the pre-Civil War home of Robert E Lee, which is in the heart of the Cemetery (indeed, I get the feeling the part of the origin of the cemetery was the burial of dead Union soldiers within the grounds of Arlington House by Union officers after it had been captured in order to make it unacceptable to Lee as a future dwelling no matter how the war ended). As long as I could get away from the crowds it was very peaceful; and it was also a good walk. As with everywhere I’ve been on this trip, there has been abundant help and information available. I didn’t get to see the tomb of the Unknown Soldier – just too crowded with people waiting to see the changing of the guard – but I did get to the tomb of John F Kennedy.
Tomorrow I’m picking up a hire car at Dulles Airport and driving to Front Royal, with a call at the Manassas National Battlefield site on the way.
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