Sharp's Travels

We were ready for another day of walking. We were at the bus stop by 9:15am and headed for the Metro Train. Our first stop today was Arlington National Cemetery
When we entered the cemetery, we headed for the Tomb of the Unknowns, established in 1921. A sentinel of the Third U.S. Infantry maintains vigil around the clock. The sentinel paces 21 steps alongside the tomb, pauses 21 seconds, then returns. The changing of the guard takes place every hour. We had 10 minutes to make a 20 minute walk to the top of the hill to catch the 11am changing of the guard. I was puffing real hard by the time we got there. We made the climb in 12 minutes and were there to see the ceremony. Following that, they had the placing on the wreath ceremony.
The cemetery covers 624 acres and shelters the remains of over 320,000 servicemen and women, Veterans from every war and major conflicts in United States history.
We walked by the graves of the astronauts, Edward Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy and his eternal flame. It is a very solemn place.
We had to hop back aboard the Metro to go to the Pentagon Memorial.
The memorial captures that moment in time at 9:37am, when 184 lives were lost as flight 77 came crashing into the Pentagon. Each Memorial Unit is a cantilevered bench, l lighted pool of flowing water and a permanent tribute by name. Each memorial bench is made of stainless steel and inlaid with smooth granite. At night a light reflects off the water and onto the bench.
Paperbark Maple Trees are clustered around the Memorial Units. They will grow up to 30 ft. tall and provide a canopy of shake over the Memorial in years to come.
You can see the difference in the color of the side wall of the Pentagon where the repairs were made after the attack. This memorial was beautifully done.
We decided to get continue to explore and took the Metro to Pennsylvania Ave and check out the Old Post Office. It was built back in 1899. The architecture of this building is something else. They sure made buildings pretty back then. Today it houses shops and restaurants and daily entertainment.
It has a 315 ft. clock tower that you could go up in and get a great view of the city. We only waited in line about 10 minutes before getting our turn to go up. We checked the panoramic view and took the stairs down to the 9th floor so we could check out the big bells in the tower.
Once back on the ground floor we went over to the National Archives building. This is where you can see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One needs lots of time there to check it all out.
It was 5:35pm when we got off the Metro and we had another 45 minutes before our bus came to take us back to the park. It was a long day. We needed to sit down and put our aching feet up!
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Arlington Cemetery