Arlington National Cemetery

Fred has been reading "The Lady of Arlington" about Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, Robert E. Lee's wife, so we decided to head over to Arlington National Cemetery to sightsee.

Mary was the daughter of George Washington Park Custis, who was adopted and raised by George Washington (his step-grandfather). GWP Custis designed and built Arlington House in honor of his adopted father. It became the home of Robert E. Lee upon his marriage to Mary Custis. At the beginning of the Civil War, the Federal government seized the Custis-Lee mansion (Arlington House) which overlooked the city and quartered troops there. The Federal government decided the mansion was the perfect place for a badly needed cemetery both practically (the Lees/Custises had a lot of land) and as an act of retribution against the Lees. After the war, the courts ruled that the land had to be returned to the Lee family, but it was no longer livable. By war's end, 16,000 graves surrounded the mansion. Robert E. Lee's son and heir, George Washington Custis Lee, sold the home back to the government for $150,000.

Above, the view of Washington, DC from the front yard of Arlington House. The people in the foreground below are visiting the grave of President John F. Kennedy. That's Memorial Bridge crossing the Potomac River into Washington, DC with the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and also the Capitol dome visible.

It's been years since I'd been to the Kennedy grave site at Arlington. When I was a kid, we visited soon after the burial. The last time I remember being there, it had a gravel walkway past it. Now it's very formal. That's the front portico of Arlington House atop the hill. Below, the visitors file by the grave site. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the two children who died as infants are also buried there.

President Kennedy's brothers Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy are also buried near the President's grave site. Below, Edward (Teddy) Kennedy's grave.

Arlington National Cemetery, part II

The grave of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, in front of Arlington House, with a view of the city he designed under direction of President George Washington. L'Enfant was originally buried in Maryland and was re-interred here in 1909.

President William Howard Taft dedicated the L'Enfant monument on May 22, 1911. President Taft, one of two Presidents buried at Arlington Cemetery, is the only person to have been both President of the US (1908-1912) and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930). He died five weeks after his retirement from the Court. His wife Helen Taft, also buried here, was instrumental in bringing the cherry trees to Washington.

Abner Doubleday, who aimed the first Union gun fired in defense of Ft Sumter but who did NOT invent baseball, is buried in Section 1, near the Arlington House. He DID later start the first cable car company in San Francisco.


More information about Abner Doubleday and other famous people buried at Arlington Cemetary can be found here:
www.arlingtoncemetery.org (the official site)
and
www.arlingtoncemetery.net (private site)

Tired, hungry and a bit cold, we headed home!

London--Soho and Jersey Boys

Fred and I always like to see a play while in Lond0n--there is a huge variety and, compared to US prices, you can get some deals. We decided to go see Jersey Boys. The Prince Edward Theatre is down in Soho, and it was packed. Here are some of the crowds outside one of the bars as we left the theatre (it was a great show!)

A view of the theatre as we left, with all the little bicycle carts picking up people.

One quite often finds musicians in London's Underground. Here a quite talented violinist entertains us on a long escalator ride.

Quiet Day in London

Fred and I waved goodbye to Peg and Sue, then got up and took the laundry to be washed at the laundramat almost next to the hotel. Saw this MINI and Fiat 500 parked next to the hotel.


Then, we went for a walk in Hyde Park. Saw some cool birds (see www.birdlist.blogspot.com)

A doggy water fountain in Hyde Park.

A glimpse of the Memorial to Prince Albert that Queen Victoria had built. It's quite huge. It had to be painted black during WW II so the Germans couldn't bomb it.

London Sights

On our way back from the War Museum, we checked out the London Eye, which we rode on our last trip. This immense Ferris wheel never stops moving, one has to step on to the car as it slowly moves by. It was quite controversial, I suppose it still may be, but the crowds to get on were immense.

The Eye is right across the Thames from Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey (the low white double towers to the right of Big Ben).

There will always be an England...

Imperial War Museum, London--Part II

There was a maze in the basement that took one through both WWI and WWII. We spent a good bit of time in the WWI exhibit as we didn't know much about it, compared to WWII.

There were display cases about many different aspects of the war. This was part of one about protective gear, both German and British. That's some kind of gas mask.

A scene from trench life. There would be three trenches: a front line trench, a supply trench and a recovery trench. I believe this scene would have been in the recovery trench, the furthest from the front line. Communication passages linked the trenches. There were signs "Do Not Leave the Trenches in Daylight."


We did go through a bit of the WWII exhibit. Here is an Enigma machine, the German encoder/decoder broken by the Allies.

Fred posing by the guns outside the Museum (see pic below) to show scale. We had lunch ("jacket potatos") at a park stand near the museum.

London--Imperial War Museum

On Tuesday, we visited the Imperial War Museum. The building was built as a hospital in 1815 and continued there until 1930. The dome was added in 1846. The museum was established there in 1936.

There were several children's exhibits, including one about the trenches. We did not go to this one, but we did go to the regular exhibit about the trenches.

When you first walk in, this is the view, at least part of it. There are German V2 bombs, a P-51 and a Spitfire Mark 1A among others....

A Sherman tank on display.

Serpentine, Hyde Park, London

Another picture from last night that for some reason didn't publish...that's the full moon reflecting in the pool.

We Arrive in London!

9 AM Monday morning, we drove from Turku to Helsinki to catch our 2 PM flight to London. Everything went smoothly and I think everyone was grateful not to have to be crammed into Opel station wagon we'd been using. We left Outi at the airport--she was going to take the bus back to Heinola. It was sad to part after 12 days together!The flight went smoothly (except for some turbulence and a cross wind as we were landing), we took the Heathrow Express to London (did you know Return = Round Trip in British) and a short cab to our hotel. After a rest we headed out to a nearby pub, The Victoria, to meet some friends now living in London.

Peg with Mary Ann and Jim in front of the pub.

Our hotel is just across from Hyde Park, so we walked through a bit of it before turning in. Below, flowers in front of little cottage near the Serpentine.

The Serpentine as night fell.

Turku, Finland Part II

The Castle was great study in light and shadow, and wonderful textures. It was started, I think, in the 14th century and continually expanded through the 19th century.

The Catholic chapel.

After the castle, we had a wonderful lunch cruise, then went to the "underground" museum; it has a great tour of the underground ruins of medieval Turku.

Skeletal remains of a dog.

An early chapel, recreated.

Turku, Finland

The last part of our Finland trip, Turku. Turku was once the capital of Finland until 1809, when the Russians took control. The day we arrived, the annual midsummer's festival (I think) was taking place. Tons of people, loud music, and lots of alcohol. The river was lined with people, there was bungee jumping, and people everywhere. That's the Turku Cathedral in the background.

Paavo Nurmi, the great long distance runner and Olympic gold medalist of the late 50s early 60s was the first Finn I ever heard of. This statue of him was in a small park near the river.

Turku Castle, a medieval castle.

A passageway in the castle.