It could be worse. The Head could be broken

For the non sailors the sea is the toilet. But that is later.

On Friday we headed to Washington. Well, we drove to Alexandria to take the metro into Washington DC. We set our GPS for Alexandria Station but arrived at Amtrack. I couldn’t understand the station masters explanation as to where the tube/subway/metro was but I knew it was near. I got back into the car and we just put nearest subway into the GPS. It was only when I checked after about four miles that I saw the little knife and fork side our destination. It was a subway sandwich place we were headed for.

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First stop was Lincoln Memorial. Its so impressive in real life. I found an area on the side of the memorial for pictures and there were only four other guys also taking photos. I stood close to them and one of them stopped and held his camera and I thought I was in his way. ‘no’ he replied. ‘I’m just waiting for that guy to move’. ‘PAT get outta the way’ I yelled. We all got our pictures.he tall obelisk is Washington Memorial.

The World War 11 Memorial is stunning. I was particularly impressed with the engraved pictures of various scenes of the war. There are plaques show a scene of hearing about the war and then go on the recruitment scenes and then war images, meeting the allies, women in the war, rescuing the jews to celebrating the end of the war. The faces of the young parachuters and sergeant yelling at them to jump are particularly moving.

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We could see the preparations for July 4 with all the food trucks. We didn’t get to get very near the White House. I was trying to extend the parking time when I realized that there was NO parking allowed between 3.30 and 7.30 pm. Pat said that we will have got the ticket by the time we get back so there is no point in worrying. I love that man! Worry? Him? never. All the museums and Art galleries were booked up but we did pop into the spy museum shop.

There was no ticket when we returned to the car. They obviously treated Friday as a holiday as well.

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My photos of Arlington don’t do justice to the atmosphere of Arlington. Rows and rows of graves and in some places very ornate graves. One was a bronze cannon and another a cast of the man as he lay in the battleground when he died. The two sites pf the Kennedys are very impressive. Robert has the simple grave but around it is a wall with quotes from his speeches. I liked the fresh single rose.

JFK apparently visited Arlington before he died and told someone while he was sitting on his ‘now’ grave that this was a place he could stay in forever. There is an eternal flame there and Jackie and John Junior are buried there as well as their daughter who died as a miscarriage. There is also a wall with quotes from JFK’s speeches.

I didn’t know Robert Lee Lived in Arlington and the you can see Lincoln’s Memorial directly opposite his mansion. The Bridge is the bridge of peace. I also didn’t know that Robert Lee was so gracious in his surrender.

The video is a brief cut from the changing of the guards. There is a lot of time spent inspecting the gun with set movements and looking at each other but it’s great gravitas.

JULY 4th spent trying to fix the head. For some reason water was not coming in and I couldn’t get the hoses off. I cut both ends off and then realized they were not both ends of the same hose. I stupidly didn’t measure the size of the hoses. After about three hours of trying to push and shove the hoses back on we patched them with dingy patches and are now praying that it works. I then realized that the water wasn’t coming in because the mechanic shut off the seacock to fix the engine. And I think also that he had even told me that.

After dinner (cooked by me !) we realized we were on time to get the last bus to the fireworks display. It was brilliant. Great music, a recording of JFK saying ‘Ask not what your country can do for you’.. It gave such a ‘feel good’ pride feeling.

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Today was spent climbing to mast to fix some lines. An exhausting job and I wasn’t in the mood for taking the phone up a well to take photos. We decided later in the day to drive to Annapolis. What a treat, the Naval Academy has just opened to the public this Friday. We got into the academy but didn’t have enough time for a tour. I definitely be back for that. So much to see. I love Annapolis. We will be back there in October for the boat show.