Washington DC – 3/10/2017 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

March 10, 2017 (Friday)

Long day! I didn’t sleep all that well, even though the bed was so comfy and warm. I woke up at around 5:45 AM, even before the alarm was supposed to go off at 6:00 AM. The reason for the early rise was because we weren’t able to get tickets to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It said on their websites that if you went online anytime after 6:00 AM, the day of, tickets were available until sold out. We were lucky and got our tickets with the time slots we wanted! Score! The only other option (if we didn’t get the tickets) would be to wait at 1:00 PM to see if they had any available. We were hoping to avoid that option.

We packed up and checked out of our comfortable “home” in Annapolis and headed into DC, about 30 miles away. Traffic was good as we avoided the heavy commute times. It was raining, pretty hard, and then it turned to SNOW! Clarece (our GPS) got us to our prepaid parking spot ($15.00 from spothero.com) and walked the relatively short distance to the Holocaust Museum, which was lined with historic and fun things to see (it helped us in keeping our minds off the cold and wet). We even saw where the police had blocked off parts of Pennsylvania Avenue for protesters to demonstrate on their way to the White House. We asked a security officer what was going on and he just said it’s probably about Trump.

Our walk took us past the Ronald Reagan Building.

Outside Warner Theater, so many stars, way too many to post here.

National Museum of African American History and Culture with the Washington Monument in the background.

Across the street from the Holocaust Museum is the Dept of Agriculture.

The line was quite long to get into the museum and we were afraid we’d lose our time slot, but we waited in line and got in without problems. This place is amazing. I have been wanting to see it for years but the timing was never right. I’m glad we went and we learned an amazing amount, but it’s just so sad and depressing. Overwhelmingly so. I think they should have a place to go and cry afterwards.

I never realized just how fast Hitler came into power, and how rapidly all these things happened. Seeing just this little bit of the time line really put it into perspective (at least for me). I wish everyone had to see this and experience it so it can never happen again. It was mostly about the Jewish atrocities, but it also had historic facts about Catholics and anyone and everyone Hitler didn’t like or had a problem with. Seeing the faces of little kids who were killed, just devastating and wrong. There are four floors of history, timeliness, and pictures. Pretty amazing and touching.

This really sets the tone for the entirety of the Museum.

When you enter you are asked to get a Identification Card. Makes it much more personal.

Each one memorializes an individual lost in the holocaust.

It details the story of the Holocaust. We are not displaying the most graphic and disturbing photos and videos. You really should go there and decide for yourself how much of the horror you want to see.

Hoping as a reader you have a touch screen and can swipe to enlarge and pinch to shrink.

The US response was woefully lacking in this story – we turned them away, surly condemning them to horror.

A. Einstein’s words are almost always interesting.

A. Hitler’s words are almost always horrific.

Lots of graphics on the war. This one depicts Hitler’s expansion in Europe, with time line.

There are so many graphic photos and interspersed are photos of the dead, in better days.

All lost in the holocaust. Photos from normal days and normal lives, until the world turned upside down.

The museum is overwhelming and unrelenting in its sadness.

Rail car. Smaller than I thought it would be.

The plan was hatched and put into motion.

Following Edie on our journeys around the world, I used to tell her she was taking me on a death march. I will never joke about that again.

We left and walked the very short cold distance to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Such a beautiful building near the Washington Memorial. Just recently opened. Has lots of interesting things about the history and lots of fun exhibits – like items from James Brown, Michael Jackson, Dr. Ben Carson, Oprah Winfrey, and other notable leaders, sports figures, entertainers and entrepreneurs.

Past the Washington Monument with a much ignored skyline in the background.

Lobby of the African American History and Culture Museum.

Olympic contributions by black athletes.

Huge contributions by blacks in football.

It is a nice balance between struggle and accomplishment.

The museum seems to be a celebration highlighting the brightest stars and moments.

Black contributions throughout history are examined.

Individual achievements are highlighted.

Displays celebrate black contributions across many disciplines.

We were tired and I was getting a bit hangry (hungry and angry) so we left and went walking towards our car parking place and stopped at a cute little cafe near the garage. We liked it because at the end of the day they give their food to the homeless instead of just throwing it away. We really liked that idea and wish more restaurants and places would do that. (There seems to be a large homeless population in this area, even with the cold.)

We got into our car and drove around and saw the White House and a few other monuments. We also saw the remnants of the demonstration they had in front of the White House. Lots of the Indians were walking around still holding their banners and items from the demonstration. We heard on the news that night that it was about the Dakota pipeline, like we suspected.

A new selfie of us with the US Capitol in the distant background.

Another day we may visit China Town in DC.

We believe the colorfully dressed were part of the Indian protest against the Dakota Pipeline.

We drove home and it took forever. Not sure where Clarece took us but what was fun was it took us by my old Navy grounds (where I was stationed in the 70’s), Dahlgren, Virginia. I would never have recognized it. When I was there we had to go into Fredericksburg, Virginia to do anything or get any fast food. Now they have everything around. It’s an actual town. Was fun trying to explain to Michael how it was back then. It took over four hours to get home as the traffic was bad and lots of stops and slow downs.

We are now back in our squeaky bed at the Wyndham Patriot’s Place. That was our day. Hope yours was great!