Last day in DC

Another early evening, but to tell the thruth, I'm completely tuckered out. We started our day at 9 taking the shuttle down to the capital so that we could go to the supreme courthouse. It's a fantastic building! Hold on, the Phillies are about to win the World Series... Ole! I can just imagine Philidelphia, people must be going nuts there!

Back to the supreme court... it was really interesting to be back there. It was just as I remembered it, except smaller. I suppose when you're young everything looks big, which was the case with this room. After the supreme court we went to the Washington Memorial. It's just what you think... you go up... you go down. Not much more than that. It's more interesting on the outside than on the inside. Then we strolled down to the WWII memorial, Korean Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Vietnam Memorial. The World War 2 memorial is the newest, it wasn't dedicated until 1997. Why so late? I have no idea, kinda odd. They rushed with all the others but didn't seem too hurried with the WWII memorial.

The Korean Memorial is by far my favorite of them all. When I saw it for the first time in 1998, it impressed me, and it still does today. If you don't know know what it looks like, or to refresh your memory, it's a triangle of brush with soldiers walking through it. Behind it are etched in black marble various faces of people who died during the war. Just looking at it you feel as if you could perhaps experience what it must have been like for them to be moving through the brush in Korea, pushing forward, not knowing what was lurking ahead.

The Lincoln Memorial is everything you think it should be. It's a dedication to a great leader who changed not only the way people lived, but how people were percieved. On the wall inside the gettysberg adress is carved into the wall. Even though it's one of the shortest addresses, it's one of the most powerful, moving and well known. "Four Score and twenty years ago..." It's some of speechwriting at it's best.

The Vietnam Memorial is the most well known though. Here in the States there isn't anyone who doesn't know someone who is on that wall. School kids who visit are given a name and location to look for it, and in flocks it becomes like some sort of find-the-name-game. On the wall there is one NFL (National Football League) player. When he got called the team wanted to give him an injury so that he wouldn't have to go, but he refused and was sent to Vietnam. His wife meanwhile asked to get sent to Hawaii to work as a nurse, because that was where the military was moving from. 7 months later he recieved leave and went to Hawaii to spend time with his very pregnant wife and a month later he returned to duty. Two weeks later he was killed by a morter and a week later his wife gave birth to his son. Hours later she heard of his death. As interesting as the story is, you're probably wondering how I know that. I know a lot of things. I'm pretty brilliant, ;p but in this case, one of the men who served under him told me today. He'd come to DC for a veterans convension and stood there just looking at the names. At one point I was standing next to him reading the names when he looked over at me and asked me if I knew of anyone on the wall. When I said I didn't he said: "Let me tell you about one." And so I heard of Eugine R. Cavory. I've never seen someone so lost and proud at the same time. So if you're ever in DC... He's on section 16, line 25.

After icking up a sandwich, we hopped on the bus to Arlington. I would have loved to get off and look around, but we were a little pressed for time. We stayed on the bus until we got to the National Archives. Here I was able to really observe both the original Declairation of Independence and the Constitution. The declaration isn't readable anymore, but there was a copy next to it. It's really too bad we don't use this kind of language anymore. It's art pure and simple. It's courteous and beautiful, not to mention tasteful. It's like Sam says: "never has a war been so courteously declared. It was on parchment with calligraphy and 'Your highness, we beseech you on this day in Philadelphia to bite me, if you please.'" (West wing). There really isn't anything as famous which is as powerful here.

Walking out of the National Library we walked right to Heather. Heather and I went to school together in Moscow. She was a year younger, but we got really close in my last year. Stephan went to walk around and see DC at night, and Heather and I went to dinner at the cheesecake factory. Yum. Heaven on earth. If Heaven contains chocolate, cheesecake, and the inability to get fat, then I'd be a happy camper. If you like my cheesecake, then you'll love it here. I love it here. We laughed and talked, catching up on everything. Then we stopped at Starbucks so that I could ge my DC mug. Then Heather drove me back to the hotel. It took 45 minutes and we got lost twice, but we made it.

And now to pack my bag. Tommorrow morning we've got to get the shuttle at 7.30 so that we'll be at union station for the train at 8.30. It's a 10 hour trip to Boston.

I'll just have to come back to DC again... I still haven't seen the FBI building!