We started out with two nights just outside of Baltimore, and during those days we took trips to the Antietam Battlefield, where we practiced some flag-signalling which was used during the Civil War (1861-65), and took a night trip around Baltimore harbour on a speed boat. I absolutely loved Baltimore as a city - it's very clean and fresh and uncluttered.
I can't say I was taking flag-signalling very seriously:
Loving Antietam battlefield - but I still don't understand how battles just 'happened'. Did someone just shout from behind Union or Confederate lines - we're going to attack them now?
Sunset over Baltimore harbour
Baltimore harbour at night (how beautiful!)
Over the next few days we went to Annapolis, a historic naval town, where we had a walking tour and went to visit the U.S. Naval Academy, which had many beautiful buildings and incredible stories.
Me (second on the right) and the rest of the girls in my year hangin' at the harbour in Annapolis:
Once we had moved hotels, to D.C., we went to watch the Washington Capitals play ice hockey at the Verizon Centre. One of the boys on the trip is a massive ice-hockey fan and the Caps are his favourite time, so needless to say he filled me in on all the details of what happens and the rules and the players (we re-named Ovechkin, Overchicken, much to our amusement). All in all it was a great night and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
During the rest of the trip we went on walking tours of Frederick, visited the Pry House Dressing Station (a very important private house-turned-hospital during the Battle of Antietam, Sept. 1862), the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, went to visit the site of the historic Gettysburg battle, and went to a basketball match and a baseball match (back in Baltimore - let's go O's!).
Unfortunately, there had to be a last day. The sun was gloriously shining, and our whole group was going to be together all day. We started with a trip on the metro, and a walk up to Arlington Cemetery. I wasn't prepared for how beautiful the cemetery was. The grave of John F. Kennedy, with the eternal flame appropriately placed, was a real tribute to the President. We then walked up to Arlington House, the house of General Robert E. Lee, who never returned to his home after he chose to go with his state during the succession of Virginia during the civil war. After this, we walked back down to the Potomac river (without realising it we had crossed into Virginia to visit Arlington), and we for lunch.
The very beautiful Arlington Cemetery and the eternal flame of J.F. Kennedy
After this, we went to the Lincoln Memorial. And holy smokes, it is beautiful. The amazing architecture, combined with the memory of one of America's greatest Presidents (millions of black Americans had him to thank for becoming free citizens), was a really amazing experience. We then walked down to the Vietnam Memorial. This memorial is a true representation of the war. The memorial itself is a great, black gash in the landscape, representative of the country being torn apart by the war.
The Lincoln Memorial
The Washington Memorial Pond (unfortunately the memorial at the very end was surrounded by scaffolding due to an earth tremor causing a crack)
Lincoln's statue inside his memorial
The very beautiful and respectful Vietnam Memorial - I particularly liked the representation of the war 'tearing' the country apart
We then ventured on, sweltering in the humidity, to the White House. It really is such a beautiful building, although smaller than I thought it would be. After my friend saying a couple of very silly things, for example, she was looking at an allotment patch and said 'do you think that's where Barack does his gardening?'
Barack's Pad
After dinner, we walked back through D.C. towards the Capitol building, which was just as beautiful as everything else we'd seen that day. It was spectacular.
The incredibly beautiful Capitol building
Magnificent sunset over D.C.
On our last morning went down to Ford's Theatre - the very place Lincoln was assassinated. It's an incredibly well preserved place - the box where he was shot by Charles Wilkes Booth was in perfect condition. It was also interesting to learn about Booth himself. He was quoted saying to another actor 'By the time I leave the stage I'll be the most famous man in America'.
Little did the other actor know what he meant. After shooting Lincoln (I was told that there was only a small thud during the performance which the cast took to be some disturbance backstage, before Mrs Lincoln started screaming. Booth then jumped from the box, dashed across the stage and took off. 'By the time I leave the stage I'll be the most famous man in America.' I guess that was true.
We then took a trip to the Lincoln Cottage, where Lincoln lived every summer during his presidency. He would ride to and from the White House every single day. The Lincoln family used this house as a place of solace and calm after the loss of one of their children, which I think was brought across beautifully. The idea behind the cottage is that the memory of Lincoln is preserved, and not purely his 'things'. We had a very informative guide, who was incredibly passionate about Lincoln and the legacy left behind. He told us stories about helping to find a man's wife who had been killed in a boating accident, over Confederate lines, and when two Englishmen came to visit him late at night and he popped out of bed to see them, in his pajamas.
Due to the lack of things in the house, the things which are still there are allowed to be touched. In the living room our guide told us we could sit wherever we wanted, including on the sofas, which were over 150 years old and definitely belonged to Lincoln. I couldn't restrain my excitement as I sat down and whispered to my friend 'Lincoln will have sat on this sofa!' We also had a visit into his library/study, and saw the very desk on which he probably wrote the Emancipation Proclamation - a decree that freed all Black Americans in the rebel states on January 1 1863. Goodbye slavery.
Also, in his bedroom, there is another desk, however this one was an exact replica. Our guide told us that the Obama's had visited the cottage, and that one of Obama's children asked if she could take the desk in Lincoln's bedroom to White House to do her homework on it. She was asked why, and replied 'great ideas were thought of on this desk'.
After a final lunch at the amazing Hard Rock Cafe, where they wouldn't let me play One Direction so I opted for Blondie's Heart of Glass, and made friends with our waiter, it was back on the bus to the airport, and I had to say goodbye to one of my new favourite places in the world.
And that was the end. The end of one of the best trips of my life. To spend such a lovely, sunny trip with two of my best friends and some others, wandering around one of the most beautiful cities and states in the world was really special.
I hope that I can return to America soon, and enjoy even more of Washington D.C. and visit many other states and cities to appreciate this amazing country.
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