Advertisement
Through a combination of luck and good mangement, this 4th of July we awoke in one of the most famous towns in America. Independance Day is a very big deal in Gettysburg (and the rest of the country for that matter). Civil war enthusiasts from all over the nation had gathered to re-enact the famous battle staged at Gettysburg, so naturally we went along to take a look. With the temperature already near 40 degrees before it was even 10am we joined a couple of thousand other people in the middle of a huge field, ready to experience the battle for ourselves. Gez and I took a walk around beforehand and got chatting with a few of the participants. These people are passionate about their hobby and were very keen to talk to us about their history. It was at times slightly unnerving the way some people spoke as though the civil war was actually still underway, but more astounding was the fact that people stayed in character, and more to point in heavy costumes despite the intense heat.
After watching the first battle and grabbing a couple of snow cones we escaped into the airconditioned car and made the
short drive into Washington D.C. Sean, our trusty GPS navigator (thanks Ryan), guided us into the city, directing us right into a 4th of July parade. After a quick chat with the local law enforcement officer and a short delay we eventually found our way to the Hilton, where we were once again offered a room with a single king sized bed. Fortunately this time we were able to trade it for a room with enough beds for 4 people.
Craig and Stu decided to grab a late lunch and take the afternoon off while Gez and I set off on another 'short' walk to check out the Spy Museum and the National Archives. The Spy Museum is very very cool. Sadly they won't let you take pictures inside (and as you might expect, they have very good surveillance) but it was quite fascinating seeing all the technology and reading about the shenanigans that occurred, particularly during the cold war.
The National Archives houses the originals of the American "Charters of Freedom" (the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution) along with one of only 4 surviving copies of the Magna Carta. There are a
The southerner's camp
They really do sleep here during the event whole lot of other interesting documents that live there too, but conscious of the time we elected just to check out the most famous ones. The American documents are stored in a very grand room, with a line of a few hundred people queuing up to get in and take a look at the famous parchments. The Magna Carta is stored off to the side of where the queue forms. When we were there about 5 people stopped to look at the 800ish year old document that forms the basis of much of western society, most electing to skip and move onto the "interesting bits". This wasn't actually such bad thing for Gez and I, as it meant we got to have a very good and up close look at the Magna Carta for as long as we liked. We did eventually join the longer queue and I must admit it was pretty cool to see the Declaration of Independence on its 240th birthday. I was still a bit more taken with the Magna Carta though. Perhaps the people who skipped it had already seen one of the three other copies of it somewhere else already...
Upon leaving the
National Archives Gez and I paused only to grab a slice of pizza for dinner (after passing through yet another metal detector and bag xray to get into the food court) before making our way to the Mall, where we joined a couple of hundred thousand other people to watch the 4th of July fireworks display. A perfect ending to the day, before another 'short' walk back to the hotel.
Quotes
"Why isn't anyone dying yet?"
Advertisement
Tot: 0.142s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 62; dbt: 0.0595s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
jennie williams
non-member comment
Awesome..
Looks like your having a great time shells! Looks great... Keep it up! And i reckon for every american flag you see on your journey you should donate 1c to me... I will be rich once you return there are millions of them.. They are very patriotic!