Today marked the start of my actual holiday. I know with all the conference parties it might have looked like i was on holiday but you would be mistaken. That was all very serious work!
Today after a sleep in and MUCH less of a hang over I decided to explore. With the death of the Queen and the 1 year anniversary of mums death I felt that a trip to Arlington cemetery would be appropriate.
Danielle and I always like to embrace local public transport where possible so I downloaded a “SmarTrip” card onto my phone and set off in search of the underground.
DC did not disappoint. With regular trains and a pretty simple system based on Line colours. I rode the “Blue Line”
I arrive at Arlington cemetery and walked in. Being America there was of course metal detectors and a security wanding before I could enter.
I really had underestimated the size of the place. I regretted my choice to go it alone and not take the tram tour!
I also didn’t realise that its still very much an ‘active’ cemetery. I figured this out when I found a funeral to be happing. This really did add to the already strong somber feeling.
The firing of the cannon for the aforementioned funeral came without any sort of warning and I may have let out out a little bit of wee. it was unbelievably LOUD.
After gathering myself together I made my way to the tomb of the unknown soldier in time for the changing of the guard.
After Arlington I rode the “Blue Line” back into town and around to the Capitol Building. It was more impressive than expected.
I even got to see one of those press conferences from the lawn.
After what was already a long day it was then time to Uber to Dulles International Airport for a flight to Toronto! The whole TSA process at Dulles felt like a complete dogs breakfast, but I had lots of time before my flight so not the end of the world.
Arrival into Canada was very easy. Danielle had been nagging at me to make sure my ArriveCAN stuff was all done so I had no problems at all.
From the terminal I collected my rental car and began was was probably the most terrifying part of the trip so far. I dunno if its because im older or it was dark or what, but I found the drive to be quite scary!
I arrived without any complications, got checked in and had a cheeky spa before bed.
