Washington - Wednesday 9th May 2012

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This is a free day in Washington. We get up at around 07:30, and are down for breakfast at the Dubliner at around 08:30

We plan our itinerary with the intention of not being too ambitious such that it becomes a chore

We decide that we will visit Arlington Cemetery in the morning, essentially to see the graves of the Kennedy’s, in which I have always had an interest and also the Smithsonian Museum – but there are a total of 14 museums in the Smithsonian!! so we have to be a bit more specific, we decide on the Air & Space Museum.



We use the Metro and decide to buy a day ticket for 9 dollars, and set off for Arlington, which is across the Potomac River in Virginia. When you see the rows of simple white head stones that are all symmetrically laid out in the cemetery, it really brings home the devastating cost of the various wars that the US has been involved in.

We visit the JFK grave where he is laid to rest with his wife and two children, and also the grave of RFK. I am struck by the simplicity of the memorials.



We head off back to the Metro and take the train to the Smithsonian stop, we have a bit of a walk to the Air and Space Museum. But as we arrive we are told that there is a free guided tour leaving in 10 minutes. We wait around for the guided tour and this was a good decision as we get a good insight to all the exhibits rather than aimlessly wonder around. The lady that takes us around has been taking tours for over twenty years at the museum and is very knowledgeable. By the way she talks about spaceship materials etc, I am convinced that she must be an engineer. But when we chat to her at the end of the tour, she turns out to be a retired attorney!



We head off back to the Phoenix Park Hotel. We have a drink at the bar and Di goes for a meeting with the Travel Guide to get information on what is happening tomorrow and our room number for the overnight sleeper on the train

We eat dinner at the Dubliner

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