The BIG American History Road Trip April 2022 - Day 6 - Arlington Cemetery & Clydes of Georgetown

[smithlane]

Day 6 - Tuesday 12th April

We had another slight lie in today as there was no rush to be anywhere. Our only plans were to visit Arlington Cemetery and we were going to brave using the Metro to get there!

We got up and dressed then headed towards Farragut South station which was about a 10 minute walk away.

We stopped off at a Paul bakery to grab a quick breakfast. Hope and I got a croissant each and Mum a yoghurt fruit granola pot.

Once finished we went down into the station to figure out how to get our tickets.

I vaguely remembered from reading on here that you needed to purchase the travel card first then add value to it. We briefly considered buying a 1 day pass but weren’t sure how many trips we’d be doing so for now bought 3x passes at $2 each then added $2 on to each one as that’s how much it is for a one way trip to Arlington.
Once we had our cards in hand we got the escalator down to the platform. The station is so clean, I’ve never seen anything like it!

We only waited a few minutes for the Blue line train to come then it was only 3 stops. The train was empty!

We followed everyone out of the station as we figured they knew which way to go.
The cemetery is literally just by the station exit so you can’t get lost!

You need to go through a strict airport style security with your bags thoroughly checked.
Once through you can either self guide yourself with the map or buy a ticket for the tram that takes you around the grounds with a narrated guide.

We opted for the tram to save our legs!
The tickets are $17.95 for an adult and $13.95 for a senior over 62.
We had just missed a tram so had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one. The queue was huge so we were lucky we got on it!

The guide explained how Arlington was still a working ceremony with up to 30 funerals a day, there were in fact 25 taking place today so the route would be changing slightly.
We sadly saw a horse drawn carriage take a coffin up the hill to its final resting place
It felt slightly strange/surreal to be in a place that is a huge tourist destination witnessing a strangers funeral

The rows and rows of headstones in perfect straight lines were a really sobering sight. Our guide told us that Arlington stopped allowing larger headstones as they were running out of land so only the uniformed white ones are allowed now

Our first stop was JFKs grave who is buried beside Jackie Onassis. His 2 brothers are also buried nearby.

We then walked to our next stop of the grave of the Unknown Soldier. The changing of the guard happens every 30 minutes from April through to October and every hour in the winter months.
We had missed the beginning of the ceremony but watched what we could.

Shortly after it ended there was another short ceremony with 4 teenagers changing the wreath but we couldn’t hear exactly what it was for. Presumably they were relations of someone who had been buried here?
A soldier played the bugle which was very moving.

We had a look into the amphitheatre behind, it’s very grand!

Hope and I needed the restroom so made a slow walk back to the Welcome Centre to use the facilities.

Mum wanted to see the Iwo Jina memorial so we took a wander in that direction.

Turns out the entrance to it was under construction so we couldn’t get to it but instead walked up the very steep hill leading to Arlington House.
Absolutely stunning views of DC from up here!

Arlington House

We needed to get our breath back so had a seat outside the house before going in.
The ranger manning the door was a young lad, no older than 22/23 and was an absolute poppet! He was so enthusiastic about the history of Arlington, he knew loads.
He was also very interested about British history and when Mum mentioned she lived not far from Hastings and volunteered at Bateman’s which is Rudyard Kipling's former residence he was so excited! He was a huge fan of his poetry and vowed to come over to England to do a history tour as well as the war graves in France. Mum and I wanted to take him home with us, what a sweetheart

He explained that it was General Robert Lee’s wife and family who owned and lived here in Arlington House.
President Lincoln asked Gen Lee to join the Union troops numerous times but he refused instead fighting for the Confederate Army.
All troops who fought for them were stripped of their US citizenship so he actually died not an American. It was only President Gerald Ford who posthumously gave him back his citizenship in the 70’s.

We had been ages up here talking so once done we bid the rangers a farewell and headed back down the hill to the exit.

It had really warmed up now. Typical on our last full day!

We walked back to the Metro station and loaded up our cards with $2.20 which was enough to take us to Capitol South as I wanted to see the Capitol Building up close.

I kind of boo booed here as we were a little bit further away than we wanted.
We were gasping for a drink and it turns out the cafes that I could see on Google Maps were in the Federal buildings not open to the public.

The United States Capitol really is a magnificent building!

It was a long hot walk past the Capitol to Hamilton’s Bar & Grill which was the closest place I could see that was open.
It was like an oasis in the dessert when we rounded the corner and saw it 😂

This place was perfect, we took a seat at a table outside and ordered some cold drinks.
We just wanted a light lunch as we had dinner booked this evening.
Hope and I shared some fried cheese curds, fries and chicken tenders, mum got a chicken Caesar wrap.

These were the nicest cheese curds I’ve ever eaten, I could have eaten an entire portion to myself!

Once full and rehydrated we paid up and I ordered us a Lyft to take us back to the hotel.
This came in about 10 minutes and we made it back to the hotel at about 3.30.

As some of you will know I have ants in my pants so instead of going up to the room I went for a wander as I had seen they had a West Elm not far from the hotel. After Hope and I had gone into the store in Philadelphia I couldn’t stop thinking about a gold tray they had so thought I’d go and treat myself 😬

It was only a 15 minute walk away in a nice part of town with some lovely looking independent cafes and restaurants.
On the way I saw a long line of helicopters and I think Marine One flying by which was pretty cool!

Once in West Elm I had a good look around, they have some really lovely home decor pieces in here and just like at Pottery Barn, wished I could have bought more!
A lady working there asked if I needed any help as I couldn’t see it on display.
Cue a 20 minute hunt for the tray , I promise it’s lovely
The system was showing there were 3 in stock but for the life of them couldn’t find one!
She brought out a round version of it so I bought that instead then in a moment of weakness I ordered the one I originally wanted to be delivered to Debbie at When You Wish Gifts for when I’m out in Florida this August

I thanked both store assistants profusely and actually filled out the customer service survey online as they really had gone above and beyond for me. I quickly popped across the street into Sephora as Mum was after a particular eye shadow palette that was out of stock in Philadelphia but unfortunately they didn’t have it here either.
I now took a slow walk back to the hotel soaking up the sunshine.

We had a chilled hour or so in the room before getting ready to go out for dinner, I had booked a table at Clydes of Georgetown.
At 6pm I ordered another Lyft to take us to Georgetown. It’s only a 10 minute drive to the West of DC and has a really lovely vibe to it.

As we were still early for our table we popped into Urban Outfitters but the jumper Hope wanted was actually more expensive here than in the U.K.
We’ve noticed this a lot with a lot of products being a lot more expensive than back home. Especially trainers which surprised me! The crappy exchange rate wasn’t helping either.

We looked in Nike which again had silly prices but Hope did buy a t-shirt which had the Washington baseball team logo on it which was $35 pus tax

We now walked up to Clydes and got seated in a nice booth.

I knew I was going to have steak so went with the filet with whipped potatoes and broccolini and a borderlaise sauce
Hope wasn’t breaking tradition and had a cheeseburger and Mum went with the muscles and a side of fries.

We didn’t need to wait long and it was so good! Highly recommend

Mum fancied a dessert so ordered an Apple Crumble but as they had run out of Key Lime Pie I thought I’d get a Hagaan Daaz ice cream from the shop down the road instead.

We paid the bill of $140 including tip then walked a few doors down to Hagaan Daaz.
I ordered another Lyft and it said the driver would be 10 minutes so enough time to get an ice cream. I went with one scoop of Butter Pecan and one scoop Pralines & Cream. This came to a whopping $8.60
Was so good though!

By the time I came out, the Lyft driver had cancelled
I tried to book another but it seemed there were none in the area! Eventually managed to book one and 10 minutes later we were on our way back to the hotel.

We packed up our suitcases as best we could with just a few bits needing to go in first thing.

Bedtime came at 11

[anji]

Arlington looked really moving. I'd have got the tram too! 😀

[Fuellady]

Another great day! The Arlington cemetery tour looks good, especially the changing of the guard. So many great sights to see here, and the Capitol building looks really impressive. Good food again today too, your steak at Clyde's looks lovely.

[Goldia]

You seem to have experienced all the weather on this trip! The cemetery is very moving isn't it? Everyone watching the changing of the guard were silent when we were there and that added to the atmosphere. A pain about not being able to find somewhere for a pit stop near the Capitol building. At least you eventually got some lunch.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by anji

Arlington looked really moving. I'd have got the tram too! 😀

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Arlington is really hilly so it’s a no brainer to get the tram 😂

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

Another great day! The Arlington cemetery tour looks good, especially the changing of the guard. So many great sights to see here, and the Capitol building looks really impressive. Good food again today too, your steak at Clyde's looks lovely.

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It seems odd to say that going on a cemetery tour was great but we learned loads whilst there.
The Capitol building is huge, so impressive! Next time I want to do the tour inside but because of Covid they hadn’t started them up again
The steak was one of the best I’ve had!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

You seem to have experienced all the weather on this trip! The cemetery is very moving isn't it? Everyone watching the changing of the guard were silent when we were there and that added to the atmosphere. A pain about not being able to find somewhere for a pit stop near the Capitol building. At least you eventually got some lunch.

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I know, I feel like we had all 4 Seasons in one week 🥴
The silence definitely added to the atmosphere, everyone was very respectful which was good!
I definitely over estimated the distances on the map. It always looks like it’ll only be a few minutes walk but ends up much longer, plus the traffic lights would take ages to turn red so we could cross and as you know there are LOADS of junctions in DC 😂