Triple Treat Tour July 2016 Day 6 : Part 1 Arlington & Tune Inn Diner

[WileyCoyote]

The previous day is HERE

Total Photo overload so I am splitting today into a couple of parts. Arlington is such a humbling place it deserves its own space

Friday 8 July

Ugh, having been disturbed in the wee small hours , we were gutted to then find ourselves in the wide awake club at 5 am

Yes 5 am

Ridiculous

And there was no drifting back to sleep -we were like a pair of meerkats, sat bolt upright.

We watched the news for a bit and it was set to be a hot day.

It seems the NE was experiencing a heatwave – as it turned out, today was the hottest day of the whole holiday – how bizarre is that –

yep, hotter than Florida.

Madness

Its not like we are yomping about today

Just the vast expanse that is Arlington for starters

After the morning call home around -0800 to check in on Andys Mum and the dog sitters , we had a coffee in the room and arranged to see the boys in the lobby at 0900.

We missed the Broadway Plaza breakfast so I nipped downstairs and made sure the teens had a suitable breakfast to get the day
underway – they would need lots of energy

Teenagers Holiday breakfast



Andy and I shared this Cinnamon Bun



Good .. But not the real deal.

This part of the holiday had been a lot less researched and planned – partly due to waiting so long to hear about the White House tour ( which we didn’t get) and also because with all the pre holiday shenanigans , I just ran out of time

I did have the trusty AA CityGuide and the laminate map – both were to be invaluable

We walked down to Dupont Circle Metro station about 10 minutes away





When we arrived at the metro , we weren’t as prepared as NYC

although they do have an excellent on line metro guide which tells you which stops to get off at for which attractions .

I do recommend this

wmata/pdfs/pocket_guides/english.pdf

And this

wmata/getting_around/visitor_info/

To anyone travelling around the City – we got around just fine

We hadn’t picked up that the tickets are timed into three zones ( peak, before 3pm and off peak)

You get plastic style oyster cards ( SmarTrip) that you then top up each journey – we chose to do it by journey as with only two days the $20 preload option wasn’t going to be good value.

It was a faff topping up 5 cards everytime though !

The metro is quite something

It was like being inside a giant spaceship



A bit blurry – but you go by the colour of the line here





Its also cooler and cleaner than the NYC subway , a very different experience altogether

We arrived here in no time at all





We had already both separately spoken to the teens that this was to be a strictly No Pokemon place out of respect.

It was interesting to see by the time we got to Florida that Arlington and several other places put out press releases asking people not to play the game here. I think we were still two or three days ahead of the real peak craze.

In fairness to the boys, and everyone else we saw there, it was all very respectful





It was very warm as we walked in

We could see the JFK memorial ahead of us on the hill



The visitor centre was really interesting





Even the teens were reading …



Its all very poignant



We walked out and then it hits you, the rows and rows of headstones.

I cant really describe how it makes you feel

Humble, sad, overwhelmed



As far as your eye can see, those perfectly straight rows



I had quite a few moments where I just stood and tried to comprehend it all



This is further away than it looks and a walk uphill ..



We headed to the JFK memorial first



It faces across to the city and there is the most amazing curved viewing area



You can just see the monument in the distance













As its daylight you cant see the eternal flame but it is there burning


JFK



Bobby Kennedy