WASHINGTON DC - DAY 2

We began today with breakfast in the club floor lounge. Lots of choices were available including cereal, bread/bagels/rolls/pastries, fruit, yogurt and many hot items including eggs, sausage, bacon, waffles, pancake and oatmeal.  We kept it simple and each us enjoyed cereal with some fresh fruit and coffee.  After freshening up we took a long walk to explore Washington, DC.

We walked from the downtown hotel towards the Tidal Basin passing various Washington, DC landmarks including the Washington Monument.  Our first stop was the World War II Memorial.  The Memorial was larger then we imagined and very well designed.  As we walked the area a volunteer for the memorial spoke with us and explained each area of the memorial and what it commemorated.  He was very informative and we are very happy to have met him.  We owe so much to the men and women both military personnel as well as civilians who are part of what Tom Brokaw refers to as The Greatest Generation.  The volunteers wife is also a volunteer with the organization that flies WWII veterans to Washington DC so that they can visit the memorial.  She greets them at the airport.

Our walk continued with a stop at the Martin Luther King Memorial.  We read each and every quote and thought about its meaning.  There is so much to learn from his writings and his beliefs in equality and also peace.

Our next stop was the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial which depicts each of his four terms in office.  Back in his day very few people knew of his disability as the press was not allowed to photograph him in a wheelchair nor discuss his situation.  

We then walked over to the Jefferson Memorial.  When we started dating in college we would go there from time to time.  We found many of Jefferson's quotes to be inspirational.  In the Fall of 1976 Keith proposed to Anne Marie one evening at the memorial.  Anne Marie wore the engagement ring Keith gave to Anne Marie (many years later she got a larger one) along with her original wedding band.  

From there we walked over to the Holocaust Museum.  The area that tells the story about a child of the Holocaust is very emotional as is the fact that two of every three jews of Europe were killed during the Holocaust.  

As we continued our walk we passed by the recently open African Museum.  The exterior of the building is very unique.

From there we walked and stopped outside the White House and also walked across the way over to the Blair House.  We walked over towards the area where Keith worked while we lived in Washington, DC.  This included the first two buildings that were headquarters to MCI.

Many streets that we walked had been closed off in preparation for some events.  This included a parade, a festival as well as pro-Turmp and anti-Trump demonstrations.  Those took place after our walk.

After taking a short rest at the hotel we walked over to Georgetown a place that we visited from time-to-time while in University.  For special occasions we dined at  some of its restaurants but they are no longer in business today.  We will post about this evening tomorrow.

The photos that we have posted are in the opposite order of the places we visited today.