European Travels: London

As I have mentioned in my writing and if you've spent time with me you know I mention it often; I lived in London for 9 months in 2010.  It was a very exciting time for me as I got to experience London as a Londoner instead of a vacationer.  Living in "The City" of London which would be considered downtown or the financial districts in most American cities gave me ample opportunity to wander the streets, hop on the tube, and see the sights.  Plus London has 4 international airports along with major rail lines to take travelers to Scotland, Wales, France and Belgium.

However, when I arrived at Heathrow Airport from Switzerland, I knew very little of this.  I knew that my flat was at 19 Leman St and I had no idea how I was supposed to get there.  This is where it came in handy that I was traveling 'on business' because the cab fare from Heathrow Airport to my flat was 90 quid (slang term for Pounds) which was the equivalent of $150.  First London Lesson: if possible take the tube.

It was early afternoon on Sunday and my cab had taken me past Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and unknown to me stopped just a few blocks from the Tower Bridge, which is where my flat was.  I was living with another guy from the training program who coincidentally went to my high school for a year before moving out East to attend a prep school.  We arrived at essentially the same time and thinking we were staying at an extended stay hotel we were expecting a front desk to check-in.  Well, instead we had a furnished apartment but because of this we had no clue how to get into our flat, or even the building.

After searching through emails and trying to find someone to call on Sunday afternoon we found the directions in an excel file explaining the code to the door and the code to get to our keys.  Now that we were finally in, we dropped our bags and got to relax.  For me the relaxing only lasted a few minutes because I was in freaking London and wanted to explore!  It was mid-January but the sun was out and I was in a brand new place.

I wandered around on foot and found my way to the train station that I would need to be at the following morning to take me to work in Tilbury, which is about 20 miles east of London on the River Thames.

Because I was in London for such an extended period, I can't remember every detail but I want to remember some of the great things that I did and some of the mundane daily tasks as well.

I would take the C2C train from Fenchurch Street Station in London to the Tilbury Town stop which took about 40 minutes.  Fenchurch Street Station was about a 5-7 minute walk from my flat and then I had about a 5-10 minute walk from the Tilbury Town station into the port and all the way to the tiny office that housed 7 people, Scott, Gary, Richard, Thomas, Peter, and Tim.  I used to bring my lunch on most days many times I would purchase breakfast and lunch from Pret a Manger in London before getting on the train.  Most days I would work out a gym in Tilbury with Richard or Scott.  There was a shower in the office that allowed me to clean up after working out.  On Fridays, I would usually walk to the Asda (Wal-Mart) or McDonalds and find lunch there.

Parliament

Some of the memories I have were going on runs throughout London. I would often run down The Strand all the way to Buckingham Palace or Parliament.  I did tours of Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Parliament, the Tower of London, visited Tate Modern, British Museum, Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum, Imperial War Museum, Greenwich Observatory and the Prime Meridian and witnessed the Queen's Birthday celebration.

Tower of London

St. Paul's Cathedral

Another of St. Paul

Parade during the Queen's Birthday Celebration

The Queen

Prime Meridian

I went to a Tottenham match at White Hart Lane where they beat Everton 2-1.  I visited Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station.  I saw a cricket match at the Oval and a rugby match at Twickenham.

Tottenham 2 - Everton 1

Platform 9 3/4

Cricket Match

Rugby Match

My tube station was Aldgate East, which is on the District Line (green) and Hammersmith & City Line (pink).  I remember many nights having to walk from the Liverpool Street Station which was about 10 minutes because the Central Line (red) ran later into the night than other lines.

My flat was in the area known as Whitechapel which is best known for it's famous murderer, Jack the Ripper.  It is also known for Brick Lane and the many Indian and Pakistani restaurants.  A semi-joke that I was told was that Britons might be known for fish and chips but their national dish is curry.  My favorite place to frequent was Tayyabs, which was incredible Pakistani food.  It was also only about 5 minutes from my flat, which means that I went probably 8 times during my stay.  I also stopped at Clifton's which is an Indian restaurant that was just around the corner from my place.  I also would love to get kebabs, chips, and a coke from one of the many places along Brick Lane.

Tower Bridge

On the weekends I would almost every free Saturday or Sunday I would visit a market while out exploring.  My favorite was Borough Market which had two delicious places to eat one sandwich place that was cooking their meats right in front of you and another seafood place that made incredible shrimp taco/burrito things.  I would also visit Brick Lane market and Spitalfields.  On one occasion I made the journey to the West End and Portobello Market.



While in London I tried to enjoy the theatre scene as well.  I saw the play Enron, which was about the fall of the giant energy company.  I also saw The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes, which started my love of the detective.  I also saw Les Mis as it geared up for its massive 25th anniversary show at the O2 arena.  I also stood outside Leicester Square as Bradley Cooper and other stars made their way into the premiere of the A-Team movie.

Near the end of my time in London I got to witness the raising of the Tower Bridge to let a boat through, which is said to be a lucky event.  I went on a Monopoly Bar crawl with a few friends, which lasted until the wee hours of the morning because the Chicago Blackhawks were playing in the Stanley Cup finals back in the USA and we needed to stay up and watch.  The Vancouver Winter Olympics took place while I was there which was fun because the ensuing summer Olympics were going to be in London so the attention was already starting to focus on London.  The World Cup took place in South Africa during the summer I was in London which was even more fun as England and America were in the same group.  I watched the game at a giant bar with about 10 American and 1,000 English.  When America tied it at 1 on a goalie mistake it was almost sad how distraught all the English fans were.  When the game ended in a 1-1 draw, the fans were mostly angry and we hustled out of the bar to try to find a safer venue.

Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Winter Olympics

During the Super Bowl, I was returning from a weekend trip to Rome and flew in late on Sunday night.  I remember watching the score on my phone as I took the train back to my flat.  When I got home I was planning on watching the Colts play the Saints on my computer but was very happily surprised when the big game was on British TV.  The announcers talked about Reggie Bush pretty much all the time and whenever he touched the ball they were expecting him to score a touchdown.  The weekend prior during the AFC and NFC championship games I watched the Colts play at the American Sports Cafe.

While in London I did a few day trips to Eton and Windsor Castle which was a short train ride away and also out to Stonehenge and the town of Bath.  The later trip was with Megan on her visit.

Windsor Castle

Stonehenge

I made a few friends, mostly people that I had been acquaintances with back in the US and we were all living in the London.  Mollie a friend from IU was studying there and we would have some drinking nights out with her friends.  The place I remember visiting was called The Court and it had something like 6 shots for 10 pounds which was the reason the college students wanted to go to that bar.



If I remember more stories or things, I will just add them to end of this post.

April Weekend Update

April 11-13
In mid April of 2014, we had some great weekends. April 11th, 12th, 13th weekend my parents came to town. Abby made a meat sauce for pasta because we were carbo-loading for our big race the next morning. Abby, Dad, and I were signed up for the Carmel Half Marathon while Megan and Mom were signed up for the 8K. Zach was refusing to run and signed up for nothing but let me tell you, he was really into the carbo-loading part of the weekend. His plate of spaghetti was massive and then amazingly he said he felt terrible after he ate the whole thing.

Saturday morning we piled into Obo's Car and made our way to Carmel for the race. The weather was a tad chilly but considering the winter we had, it felt great. It was going to be a great day for running. The half-marathon started first so Abby, Dad, and I found our way to the start line as Mom and Megan took our clothes back to the car. We all ran well and finished better than our "goal" times. I beat my goal time by a whopping 1 second, 1:39:59!

After the race, we received giant medals and some of us decided to donate them back to the race to be used for something else. Who really knows. They also were giving away pizza slices for runners, that was a first and I enjoyed chowing down on a slice of cold pizza. Mom and Megan were giving me a hard time for eating the pizza off of the ground. Ground Pizza is delicious.

We left Carmel and drove back to the Village (Broad Ripple Village) to hopefully meet Zach after his bike ride for breakfast. We went to Cafe Patachou and all devoured our breakfasts or lunches as some people are crazy and love lunch food for breakfast. Now that we had worked out and were full, it was nap time. I took Sophie to the park to tire her out and then found my way to the basement for a beautiful midday nap.

After nap time, it was errand time. The gentlemen went to the hardware store to acquire supplies for the floating dock we were going to make later in the week. The women folk went to multiple stores to find food supplies for that evenings event, tailgating at the inaugural Indy Eleven soccer game.

We drove downtown and met up with Kylee, Aaron, Kevin, and Gaylena for the tailgate. They had commandeered a wonderful spot and we quickly unloaded the grill, coolers, chips, and other goodies. We had two solid hours of tailgating before the game and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was warm and the sun was shining. We had all sorts of visitors to our tailgate, Laurie & Jeff, Kyle & Katie, Dave & Mandy, and we made friends with our neighbor tailgaters as well.

The Indy Eleven Crew

During the Game

The game was a blast as we were situated in the Brickyard Battalion behind one of the goals. It ended in a 1-1 draw but the crowd was into it and alive. Everyone seemed to agree that we should do it again.

The next morning, we woke up and decided to have breakfast at Three Sisters Cafe in the Village. Megan and I rode our bikes to meet the rest of the family there. I've heard good things but had never been. We split the corn pancakes as a table and I enjoyed the breakfast burrito. It was also a great day to sit on their patio and enjoy the morning.

April 17-20
The following week, Zach and I got together on Thursday night to construct a floating dock to be used in the pond at the Farm. Zach was the architect and main contractor as well.

Framing the Dock

Giving the Dock Support

Framed and Supported

The following day we loaded this behemoth of a dock onto a trailer borrowed from Jeff. It took some serious finagling to get it to fit but in the end we were able to load all of our camping gear on the trailer as well. We drove to Columbus and made it to Paul and Bev's house just before 10 p.m.  They had some burgers and beers waiting for us which was amazing and my parents arrived within 5 minutes of our arrival.

The Trailer Filled Up

The next morning we left Paul and Bev's early and made our way towards Lancaster, Ohio and the Farm. We stopped at Starbucks for some coffee and Home Depot to get deck screws and some other last minute things. We made it to the farm by about 9 a.m. and unloaded the cars and started to set up camp. We didn't get far as we were anxious to finish our work on the dock and other small tasks. We drove the dock down to the pond and found that the wood we had been told was there wasn't going to suffice.

Zach and Dad then drove back to town to get deck planks as we started to clear out the spillway of any debris. When they returned with the wood it was quick work laying the planks and screwing them in. Within no time we had a floating dock worthy of any pond.

Finished Floating Dock

And it floats!!

After we got the dock in the water, the real fun started. We had a few little projects to finish up like restacking the brick firepit and removing some brush from the overflow spillway around the dam. We got those knocked out straight away and were focusing on food, drink, and enjoying the beautiful spring day.

Zach did a little fishing.

For lunch we were all about hot dogs, tomato soup, and pizza hobo pies. Hobo pies are probably not the politically correct name for them but they are essentially camping panini sandwich makers. And they are about 75 years old so all that extra flavorings are grilled into the cast iron molds. We have experimented with sandwiches, desserts, and now pizzas. Pizzas are pretty amazing. We use crescent rolls for the dough, some pizza sauce, some shredded cheese, and some pepperonis.

Creating the Hobo Pies

Add Some Pepperonis

Cooking Lunch

Now That's a Good Looking Dog

While we were restacking the firepit we came across some bricks with Grandad's initials.

RPB Co.

After shooting some guns, setting up tents, fishing, utilizing the new floating dock, we were again hungry for some food. For dinner, we had steaks and potatoes plus we reheated some leftover tomato soup.

Massive Steaks

Baked / Fire Roasted Potatoes

Dusk at the Farm

Roaring Fire, Toasting Smores

We all slept pretty well and only Sophie was really frightened by the dog/coyote/werewolf that we heard howling in the middle of the night. The temperature got down to the mid-40s which was essentially perfect sleeping weather when you have nice sleeping bags which we do. We woke up on Sunday morning and made some coffee and hot chocolate and took a little walk down to the pond before cleaning up camp and leaving to find some breakfast at Bob Evan's.

April 23 - 27
The following week, I had an interview day at Hendrick's County Fairgrounds in which I interviewed with Carmel, Lawrence Township, Washington Township, Greenwood, and Westfield. I was feeling very excited and hopeful that one of these would turn into a full time position. Then on Thursday morning at 0-dark-hundred I had to be at the airport because I was headed to BWI to run from Gettysburg to Washington DC. My flight was easy and I got lots of application work and reading done on my flight. At BWI, I again had a lengthy wait for the rest of the team to arrive and again, BWI has wonderful free wifi which I utilized to complete some applications for teaching positions. I also was reading the incredibly heart-breaking book, Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

The rest of the team arrived a few hours later and we were on our way to renting 15 passenger vans and finding the route to Gettysburg. Our team was called The Killer Angels which is a group of soldiers from the Civil War. Our team was comprised mostly of my dad's running group and a few others. We made it to Gettysburg in time for a Subway sandwich before our tour of the battlefield. The tour guide, John, got in the van with us and talked and talked and talked. He talked for 3 hours as we drove around the town of Gettysburg and toured the battlefields.

Touring the Battlefields

The High Ground of Little Round Top

After the tour, we quickly checked into the hotel, changed clothes, and headed out for dinner. After dinner, our team captain had to attend a meeting, and we all went to Wal-mart to stock up on supplies. Our van had experienced relay runners and we only got a small amount of supplies because you realize that in 24 hours you don't eat all that much especially when you still have time to eat dinner and some of the exchange areas have food.

Stocking Up on Essentials

The next morning, we started the race at 11:15 with about 130 of the 140 teams starting before us. This is how I like it! There are lots of "kills" available out on the course which I love doing, passing slower people. Because we had one of our runners back out at the last minute, our van had to split up one of the legs. I ran 2 miles of fairly flat terrain but then had to run my normal leg right after. So my first official run started about 3 p.m. and it was 4.5 miles. I felt pretty strong and about half way through it started pouring. I love a good adversity like bad weather and was chasing someone down that was a good distance in front of me. I ran 6.59 pace for 4.5 miles which I thought was pretty stellar. Unfortunately, soaking wet I started to feel like crap. I pounded some Emergen-C, an orange, and some tylenol in hopes that I would feel better. I also took a little nap which did help a little. We found dinner in a little town called Smithsburg, Maryland and we picked up our last runner here. He had taken a $225 cab ride from DC to the middle of nowhere. It was great to see Dillon, who I ran cross country and track with at SFHS.

The Killer Angels at the Start

Covered Bridge at an Exchange Zone

Some Hills in Southern Pennsylvania

My next run was at 11:15 p.m. and I ran my 4 mile route in 7:27 pace. It was an out and back that also included runners from 3 different legs, which meant there were a ton of runners on the course at the same time. I got to kill 12 people which was awesome to continually be running down someone in front of you. Immediately after my run, I had a hot dog from the high school concession and fell asleep. I needed the nap because I still wasn't feeling great. I slept for almost 4 hours which is an eternity during a relay. When I woke back up we were leaving to start our third and final runs. We started out onto the course and quickly realized we had left one of our runners in the bathroom.

Sunrise on the Potomac

The last runs are always the hardest because your legs are sore and tired but you know that when you finish, it's all over. Most of the time, you struggle through the last run and just keep your feet shuffling forward. This time was no different for me. Unfortunately, I had an 8 miler to finish up with. I started a few minutes after sunrise and I was running along the Potomac. I used the first couple miles to warm up my legs and started churning out what felt like some good miles in the middle. When I turned off of the river trail I thought I had 1 mile left. My route got a little hilly with just some rolling stuff. I only saw 3 people for the first 7 miles on the trail but then on the road there were hoards of people. I passed 8 more on the rolling hills but the last mile felt like 3. I struggled to the exchange zone but was very relieved to be done and I was able to do 8 mile in 8.14 pace. The rest of the day was showers at Dillon's place in DC, food at the finish line, a quick walk over to the Mall, and sitting in the sun drinking free beer along the waterfront in DC.

My New Hat

After our team finished, we checked into the hotel in DuPont Circle. We then showered and napped before drinks in the hotel and then dinner at an Italian place near DuPont Circle. We all quickly fell asleep after dinner and all we did in the morning was head back to the airport.

The Killer Angels at the Finish Line

Washington D.C.

I am now well on my way to becoming a history teacher but one thing has been missing from my travels that seems like it should be a prerequisite for all social studies teachers in America...a trip to our Capital, Washington D.C. With my cousin working for the state department in D.C. and only there for a short time between stints at embassies in Llubjlana and Tijuana the time was right to make that trip.

Megan and I finally purchased our tickets only after receiving our wedding gift from my cousin, which was a gift certificate to Southwest Airlines. Thanks Meags! You know us well! We were slated to go to DC late on Thursday and return to Indy on Tuesday morning overlapping MLK Jr. Day.

On Thursday, Megan and I made our way to the airport in the midst of a howling snow storm. Our flight was delayed an hour so we got to enjoy dinner at the bar in the terminal. While eating our meal and downing our large beers we watched the snow plows work on the tarmac. It was quite a site to see as they would line up before their plowing.

The flight, although, delayed went smoothly and we arrived at BWI around 10:30 and were wonderfully picked up by my cousin, Meaghan, and her girlfriend, Maggie. We made it back to their apartment near DuPont Circle around 11 or 11:30 and went to bed because our gracious hosts had to get up early for work and we were going to have a full day of site-seeing.

Friday morning, we rose early as Meags and Mags were off to work. We showered and were out the door by 8 a.m. We found our way to the Metro Station and luckily had pre-loaded cards which enabled us to breeze right through the turnstiles like we were locals. Well except for the fact that we thought we could both get on the Metro using only 1 card...nope. Each person needs a card so after I breezed through like a local, I realized that Megan couldn't get on so I had to toss her my wallet so she could go purchase a card.

We didn't really have a plan beyond go to the Mall and see stuff. So we got off on the Metro down near the Mall and started walking. This is when we first caught glimpse of the Washington Monument standing proud in the middle of the Mall. But first things first, we were to visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, The BEP. We took the small tour of the facility were they were printing sheets of $20 bills. It was pretty cool to see them printing millions of dollars every hour.

Washington Monument

After our early morning tour, we wandered around the Mall but the early morning air was still rather brisk and wanted to warm up and create a plan so we ducked into the Smithsonian Castle. While in the castle, we devised a plan of attack and enjoyed a bagel and coffee. We started walking down the Mall towards the Capitol but decided to jump into the Air & Space Museum. We were very impressed by the space ships and airplanes. Plus space is incredible.

Apollo Lunar Module

After our visit at the Air & Space Museum, which we ended short because we were overwhelmed by the crowds of kids, we walked to the Capitol. I am immensely impressed by the Capitol and could stare it for hours. Lucky for Megan, I didn't just stare at it but instead decided to walk in and get a tour. We had scheduled a private tour via our congressperson, Susan Brooks but she also scheduled our White House tour at the same time; she lost my vote.

The tour was pretty cool and we got to learn about the history of the building and some cool stories and facts. We didn't get to go to the Senate or House chambers but wandering the halls of the Capitol was pretty awesome.

 



After our tour, we wandered through the Library of Congress but we were too hungry and couldn't really focus on all the books so we walked down the street from the Capitol and stumbled on a placed called Good Stuff Eatery that was doing a lot of business so we sat down there. The burgers were tasty and filling, the fries were hot and fresh, and the Dr. Pepper was cold and delicious. All in all, we were feeling pretty awesome and decided to relax there for a bit before venturing on.

After we read our tour books and relaxed at Good Stuff, we decided that we would walk back towards the Red Line Metro and stop off at a few places along the way. First stop was the Supreme Court. We explored the halls of the Supreme Court, which was surprisingly interesting, at least to me. I hadn't heard or read a lot about this and it included some cool history of the court.




The Supreme Court is actually right next to the Capitol and after our visit to the court we took the one picture that I needed to take ever since I was in 3rd grade and saw the School House Rock video, "I'm Just a Bill"

I'm Just a Bill Sittin' on Capitol Hill

As we were approaching the Metro, we decided to stop in the National Archives and see the documents of Freedom. We did a quick tour of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Although, we were feeling inspired by the Nic Cage, we did not need to steal the Declaration of Independence. Tired from our long day of museuming, we slumped into our seats on the Metro and enjoyed the short ride back to DuPont Circle and our weekend home. We had a little down time before Meaghan and Maggie were ready to go meet one of their friends at a bar for happy hour.

We walked up to U Street because the weather was a little warmer and it was only about a 10 minute walk to our happy hour spot, The Fainting Goat.  After a few adult beverages, we decided on seafood for dinner and walked to Pearl Dive Oyster Bar. Megan ordered the Crawfish Etouffe and I had the Fried Oyster Po Boy. Both were incredible and after dinner our entire group was stuffed and beat tired.

The next morning we had brunch plans with my cousin Melissa and her husband Tim. We weren't in any hurry so we enjoyed some coffee and lounged around until they arrived in from Baltimore. We walked back up to U Street and found our brunch spot, Eatonville, which I guess is the name of some fictional southern town from some author's book. I don't know much about the name but the bloody Mary was exceptionally spiced and the grits and shrimp were perfectly done. Everyone else enjoyed their meals as well because we had all licked our plates clean by the end of the meal.

From U Street we couldn't figure out a direct route via the Metro so we hopped on a bus that took us straight down to the Mall. Because it was MLK weekend we felt it was necessary to visit his memorial and because it was over by the Holocaust Museum, we would walk through that first. Plus, it was really windy and cold so we wanted to warm up and hope that the wind died down.

The Holocaust museum was stunning and solemn. It takes you on a journey from 1933 when Hitler took power and started persecuting Jews up until the Concentration Camps and "Final Solution." To the girl wearing the "I'm Not Sorry" sweatshirt, we know you didn't plan on wearing that shirt to the Holocaust Museum but maybe wear a jacket or something because you look rude and insensitive. We were all a little shocked by the atrocities within the Museum but it was very well done and would recommend a visit whenever you are in DC.

Jefferson Memorial While Walking Around the Tidal Basin

We then braved the wind and cold as we walked around the Tidal Basin towards Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. I really enjoyed this memorial because it included a bunch of his famous quotes.





We then walked across the street to check out the Lincoln Memorial, which is at the very end of the Mall. As we approached the memorial, you get amazing views of the entire length of the Mall.





After, we stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, directly where Martin Luther King gave his "I have a Dream" speech, we jumped in a taxi and made our way back to DuPont Circle. We stopped at Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe to enjoy a hot beverage and a dessert before Tim and Melissa had to leave. Meaghan, Maggie, Megan, and I then went back to their place to relax and nap before going to dinner. We met up with Abby and Zach's friends that were in town as well at a Mexican place called Alero Restaurant. We had a few drinks and some tacos and enjoyed our Eastern European prostitute looking waitress. After dinner, we walked to a few more bars before calling it a night.

Sunday morning was a rough one for me, partly because I seemed to have taken a middle of the night nap in the bathroom. I'm not exactly sure why but everyone was super confused why all the towels were on the ground. I wanted to make my new bed comfortable. After having a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee, Megan and I left the apartment to allow Meaghan and Maggie time to study for their Spanish language tests coming up that week. We stopped at Starbucks and then found that the Red Line Metro wasn't running on Sunday, uggh!

We tried to figure out the free bus because of the outage but didn't trust where it would take us so we decided to walk. It was a nice day and we enjoyed the walk, especially because from DuPont Circle towards the Mall it is generally down hill. We also got to walk by the casa de Obama, where we were scheduled to have a tour first thing on Tuesday morning.

The White House

The White House

We then headed back to the Mall and found our way into the American History museum which was crazy busy. There we got to see the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner. We then went next door to the Natural History Museum which was even more busy so we just quickly toured the precious diamonds and gems, sea animals, and jungle animals before succumbing to the crowds and leaving. We enjoyed a hot dog and coke on the Mall, well I enjoyed the hot dog and figured out that what we really wanted to do was lounge around so we took a seat on the Mall and enjoyed the views.

The Mall

Ground View

We still weren't feeling energized but wanted to revisit the Air & Space Museum so we walked over there. Again astounded by the vastness of space, we signed up for an IMAX movie about space and the Hubble telescope. We were not disappointed. It took us on an amazing journey through space including one area where the wind is blowing at 6 million miles per hour.

After the show, we talked with Meaghan who agreed to pick us up from the Mall and we would go to dinner at Union Market which has an array of food choices. Plus this way we got to see the Mall at night which was splendid.

The Capitol

Washington Monument

World War II Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Megan and I both had gyros from Union Market and we were more than excited to go home and lounge on the couch the rest of the night. We ended up watching Bend it Like Beckham with Meaghan and Maggie, which was a fun thoughtless way to end the evening.

Monday morning we woke up and had a plan. Jefferson Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, then a little roadtrip to Annapolis. We drove to Jefferson Memorial because it is a little far on the edge of the Mall and I came back to the realization that Thomas Jefferson was the man.

TJ Standing Tall

MLK Jr on MLK Jr Day

Washington Monument and The White House looking over the Tidal Basin

The Steps of Jefferson's Monument

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of  happiness - that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, we solemnly publish and declare that these colonies are and or right ought to be free and independent states --- and for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honour.

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made new truths discovered and manners and opinion change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

After our visit with TJ, we got back in the car and drove across the Potomac to see Arlington Cemetery. On our way there we saw the Iwo Jima Memorial and decided it was worth a stop.

Iwo Jima Memorial

Epic Iwo Jima Shot

After our brief detour, we made our way in to Arlington Cemetery and were greeted with free parking! Some crazy stories about Arlington. It was originally General Robert E. Lee's house. It was also built by relatives of Robert E. Lee and George Washington. The Union Army needed a place to bury their dead and decided to take the land from the Lee family so if Lee returned from the war he would have to look at all the buried soldiers he caused. We explored the cemetery which is a seemingly endless set of rows of tombstones. We found our way to John F. Kennedy's grave and then the Tomb of the Unknown.

General Lee's House on Top of the Hill

"Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Solider Known But To God"

We found our way back to the car and eventually we were heading towards Chesapeake Bay and Annapolis. Upon arrival, we were all very hungry and didn't hesitate to head straight to the Boatyard Bar and Grill, which came highly recommended. It didn't disappoint as we devoured fish & chips, crabcakes, and oysters. Now feeling energized we explored the capitol of Maryland. We wandered onto the Naval Academy, explored some old churches, the capitol building, and finally the wharf where Benjamin Franklin used to drink beers. When we arrived back in DC we frantically were checking the weather because a large snow storm was approaching and from what we now knew, DC doesn't do well with snow.

Annapolis

Maryland State Capitol

Our flight was supposed to be in the afternoon but the weather was supposed to be the worst in the afternoon. We also had a tour of the White House scheduled for the morning which we were both looking forward to. We went to bed without making any decisions. Meaghan woke up at 4 a.m. and announced that the federal government was officially on a snow day. Megan and I decided that since it wasn't snowing yet that we would change our flight to the 9 a.m. flight out. Southwest was ahead of the game and allowed all changes free of charge! Meaghan and Maggie agreed that because the lack of snow yet they could drive us so we left for the airport early. We arrived around 6:30 and sat around until our flight. It had just barely started snowing when we left but we made it home without any problems.

We were super glad to have done that because DC received around 10 inches of snow that day and they have now famously had snow days when they received only 1 or 2 inches of snow. BWI was essentially shut down for 36 hours starting on the afternoon of when we were supposed to fly out. Lucky for us!