Tourists

Stephen took Natalie to daycare. Leroy and I walked Lexi to school, stopping in the precise place that she wanted us to. It was close to the building, but not in the building. We then came back home, gathered up things we wanted to take on our trek to the city center. Those things included a map, metro passes, money, courage, and expectations. Even though we had been here before it has been a while so the map gave security, metro passes allowed us to speed cheaply to our destination, money was added to the passes so we could get back home, courage is what I always need when striking out from memory and instructions., and expectations added that bit of edge to it all.

We did experience something new when we got on the transfer metro car, it did not go anywhere, but sat with the doors open. Someone did announce that we would sit for a while as there was some problem up the way. It took about five to ten minutes. When we told Stephen about it at night, he informed us that we have now had the complete metro experience as often he hears people complaining because they had to wait somewhere along the line.

As we got off the metro and were getting our street bearings a homeless man (I know he was homeless because his sign said so.) asked if we needed help. He was quick to spot the unsure, or maybe he even recognizes many people from daily exposure. He graciously told us how to go and it dovetailed nicely with what I had been thinking. We thanked him and headed off for a pleasant walk in the cool air.

Our first and most important destination was the MLK memorial which we had not yet seen. It impressed both of us. We were once again struck by the sensitivity and perceptiveness of this man. What gifts he was given to see the whole picture beyond just himself.

From there we saw mostly repeat monuments, but they were nice to revisit. That included the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War, Vietnam War, Vietnam women’s, and World War II. Another new one was the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence. It was not so spectacular, but well done with the signatures in stone along with the printed translation. That translation was need for understanding some of them. They are grouped so those from a state are displayed together.

Leroy and I felt like a couple old people as my foot was bothering me and his hip was bothering him. We had to sit more than once because of that.

I think one of the honor flights must have been visiting as there were a number of even older guys, many in wheel chairs at the WWII memorial. When we came by on the return walk there were military from several countries in full dress uniform. Leroy recognized some of them.  That guy knows so many different types of things. It seemed there was to be some type of ceremony.

After all that walking, Leroy and I came home rather than go to a museum as we had originally planned. Besides it was time to go pick up Lexi from school. Where did the time go?

Paula