Day 42 9/8 Washington DC

We had an early start and headed into the city, using the metro train. A very helpful attendant at the station advised us to depart the train at Arlington and do the cemetery early and then walk over the bridge to the museums and other National buildings and monuments when we may want to escape the heat. We had a very moving visit to this fine cemetery and enjoyed finding more about the cemetery. The beautifully kept cemetery with its magnificent views back to the monuments was very impressive. The eternal flame glowed close to the graves of JF Kennedy and his wife, Jackie. After walking around Arlington, we headed across a large bridge which took us across the Potomac River. The sun was out and it was very warm, in the low 90’s but we made it across and visited the Lincoln Memorial. From here we had a brilliant view of the Washington Monument. We took a bus around the National Mall and went into the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Wow. We could have spent an entire week here and still not explored everything in this incredible museum. It was great to escape the heat and we also managed a bite to eat in the café. We all enjoyed so much of this museum and wished we could find time to return another time but there is so much more to see and explore over the next few days. We were all exhausted by the by the end of this and successfully negotiated the train home.