Day 5

Day 5

 

 

This morning we were served an amazing buffet breakfast, with a broad variety of foods, including scrambled eggs, bacon, and delicious, fluffy pancakes. The service was outstanding, as our glasses never seemed to be empty, thanks to the lovely staff constantly topping up our drinks. After breakfast, a brief meeting was held and the day was outlined by Mr Roberts. We then proceeded to get ready for the big day ahead by returning to our rooms. After we were set for the day, we were ready to explore the beautiful, cold, sunny streets of Washington D.C. We then made our way down to the nearest subway station and caught the train to the beautiful but bitter-sweet atmosphere of the Arlington Cemetery. The view was absolutely astonishing, with white marble headstones of the fallen soldiers lining the majority of the grassed areas. These graves went on for miles, and we could not see where they ended. We then walked the long, stone pathway up to John F. Kennedy’s memorial site, were we witnessed the eternal Kennedy flame burning. It was respectful to keep completely and utterly silent as we walked along the pathway of the Kennedy memorial. After visiting the Kennedy memorial, we walked down another pathway to the tomb of the unknown soldier. The tomb of the unknown soldier recognises the many soldiers whose bodies have never been found or identified. We then had to remain silent, as we watched the changing of the guard ceremony. The changing of the guard ceremony occurs hourly and is a traditional military regime.

 

After watching this ceremony, we proceeded to walk back to the subway station and boarded the train to our next stop: The Smithsonian. As we got off of the train, we made our way to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and walked around to find many different and interesting exhibits. These exhibits ranged from the origin of human life to the formation of rocks and minerals, including Ocean Life, The Hope Diamond, The Evolution of Mammals and the Dinosaurs. All of these exhibits were extremely fascinating and informative, with many things being learnt.

 

 

 At 2pm, we left the museum and walked down the gravel track to the big and majestic Capitol Building. We toured around the building with a guide, who seemed to be a little too old to be running a tour. Her voice was extremely high pitched and annoying, but we dealt with it despite how frustrating it was. The tour ended and we started an extremely long, traumatic and depressing walk, led by an overly happy (extremely fast walking) Mr Roberts, to the Lincoln Memorial. It was very insightful, and despite the cold weather and tiredness of the majority of the group, soldiered/presidented/lincolned on. The reflection pool mirrored the beautiful sunset occurring in the almost night sky. After seeing the memorial, we trekked it to the nearest subway station, and caught the train back to the hotel. We then were given free time to partake in either watching movie or shopping at the mall connected to the hotel. All in all, it was a wonderful, but tiring day.

 

By Steph and Lea.

(Plus the input of K ‘n’ D)