City of the Good, Great and the Dead !

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A city tailor made for governing country and bury the dead nobles !

I reached Washington by train from New york - a two hour journey. What struck me with amazement was the size of the train station - a mammoth station with enormous space and great decorations. It has a large atrium for a lobby in which they have a small restaurant where you can sit on the open first floor. The roof is built with succession of arches and has large hexagonal slots painted in gold yellow providing an aura of opulence. The lentils on the side where the roof arch begins were lined with statues of roman guards standing in silence and peering over the crowd below. The whole atmosphere inside the station is a mixture of grandiose opulence and relaxed surroundings.

When you come out to the open you are greeted with a large iron liberty bell and a statue of a man partially clothed in Roman tunic standing in the middle guarded by two lions on the side. The liberty bell is a replica of the original liberty bell in Philadelphia which is one of the 55 bells casted in France and presented to all the states of US by France in 1950. Just off note - the original Liberty bell was installed in Philadelphia in 1753.

300 meters in front of the station is the imposing Capitol hill senate building - the famous landmark of modern times. On the way from the station to the Capitol hill is a wonderful wast expanse of green lawn and Oaks. As I was passing throu the road I happen to cross roads with the Democrat president contender Mr.John Kerry.

I took a half day bus tour to see the city. It took me to the 2nd most recognised landmark of US - Lincoln memorial after Liberty statue. Lincoln sits in a stately hall poignant and poised, starring at the tall erection at the far end of the water front in front of him.

Then I walked down to the Korean war memorial - its full of life size soldier statues engaged in search and combat. It was really rather spooky to see them all lurking around in their combat gear. The wall next to the memorial lists all the soldiers killed in action. And short walk from there took me to WW2 memorial - the famous statue of soldiers erecting US flag in Japan after victory - a wonderful piece of craftsmanship.

After that the bus took me to Arlington cemetery where all the great and good are buried. The most touching of all the cemeteries - in fact, thousands of them, are the Kennedy's - JFK and RFK. JFK's is laid to rest and permanent fire torch burns day and night for ever. His wife is also buried next to him. In contrast RFK is buried on his own just a few yards from JFK - the only wooden cross in the whole cemetery. It was really touching and moving to see them both together once again as they were in life. The world is far better a place now because of both of them and its wonderful too see they both are honored appropriately.

After Arlington cemetery visit - the bus took us to White house but we couldn't get any closer. We just passed by where we got a brief glimpse of the famous house in the world. Then we also passed by a small house where JFK lived while he was a young senator.

Well, Washington is a neat little city purpose built for governance and to honour the greats. It does both of that very well indeed.

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