Tears in My Eyes...

Washington DC, USA

January 10, 2008

N 38°53.375
W 077°02.100

On Ko Phi Phi several months ago we met an Aussie while standing in line for barbecued chicken from a street vendor; we ate dinner and talked with him over a few beers. We explained our plans of visiting Washington DC near the end of our trip and he told us no matter what we did we must visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum. He visited DC two years prior and said it was the most moving of all the museums he visited while in the States.

After traveling through Europe for the past several months, we’ve seen several holocaust museums and memorials; however, none of them compare to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. The main exhibit is laid out on three floors, well organized and isn’t repetitive in terms of the information it presents. There are heart wrenching exhibits, survivor accounts, and reproductive artifacts from concentration camps—I had tears in my eyes throughout the exhibit, especially during the survivor accounts.

For example, behind a glass case were three shelves approximately 4’x3’, one shelf had a pile of rusty scissors, another shelf had a large pile hairbrushes, and the final shelf contained a giant stack of toothbrushes. Further down the hall was a large room, the floor was covered with thousands of old worn leather shoes, 2-3 feet deep. All of the items belonged to the victims of concentration camps; it was strange, but the items personalized the tragedy. Actually seeing hair brushes and small shoes that once belonged to people brought tears to my eyes.

It took us over three hours, maybe closer to four, to weave our way through the history of the holocaust from the rise of Hitler, to the onset of WWII, to the appalling acts Hitler and his lackeys authorized, to the transport of Jews from all over Europe to concentration camps, to the death marches, to the liberation of the camps by the Russians, British and Americans. We walked slowly, reflected, paid respect and wished, as Americans, we had done more.

Near the end of the memorial was a large movie screen, with stadium seating. We closely listened to the survivors of the holocaust tell their stories. One lady described being liberated by the Americans. She described walking up to the soldier, who wore dark glasses, and told him she was there because she is a Jew. She continued saying the soldier took several moments to respond, and when he did, he responded with sorrow in his voice, “So am I.” She finally realized behind the dark glasses were tears. My tears really started flowing when she said that the same man, who came to her rescue, is now her husband!

By the time we reached the end of the exhibit we were emotionally drained. We decided we couldn’t possibly run through another museum today; instead we headed back to our room to relax and decompress.

Note: Instead of relaxing, I finally passed two good sized kidney stones that have caused me a good amount of pain since Berlin. Now I know how Marc feels when he has one, an experience I could have lived without.

A Day at The Mall...

Washington DC, USA

January 9, 2008
N 38°53.375
W 077°02.100

At the beginning of our trip, as we were traveling through South America visiting the capital cities, we reminded each other we had never been to our own country’s capital, so we decided to work a visit into the itinerary. Since New York City was already on the agenda; it would only be a quick hop to DC.

I’m proud to report that we’re not disappointed. In fact, the capital city of the United States of America is the most impressive capital city we’ve visited on our trip.

The weather was unseasonably perfect, in the 70’s and clear, so we decided to take advantage of the sun and spend our day outdoors. We walked and walked and walked some more as we tried to hit as many sites as possible along the The Mall. Our first stop was the White House, and then we visited the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial and Korean War Memorial.

The impressive World War II Memorial, which was dedicated in 2004, was a perfect way to complete our World War II history tour after our visit of Europe and the Beaches of Normandy. At the same time, after visiting Vietnam in June and gaining a Vietnamese perspective of what they term the “American War”, we were filled with sorrow as we walked by the 58,256 names engraved in the polished black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

We continued down the mall towards the capitol, passing numerous museums, crossing huge lawns, until we finally came to another large reflecting pool in front of the Capitol Building. We sat in front of the capitol for awhile admiring the massive dome (designed after the Roman Pantheon), watched children feed the ducks and seagulls, before circling around the building, passing the House and Senate offices, until we found ourselves standing on the stairs of the Supreme Court.

We finally made it back to our room, rested for a little while and headed out for a tour of the beautiful neighborhood of Georgetown to buy my much needed jeans. I think we logged at least eight miles for the day, if not more. It was all worth it to see the amazing capital!

It's Good to Be Home...

Washington DC, USA

January 7, 2008
N 38°53.375
W 077°02.100

The plane took off on-time from Frankfurt at 8:20 AM local time. Luckily, the plane was fairly empty and we were able to stretch out across four seats to make the flight a little more comfortable. Eight hours later we touched down at JFK at 10:30 AM local time, grabbed our bags, got through customs and hit the JetBlue counter to get an earlier flight to DC. If we couldn’t get an earlier flight, we would have to get intimate with JFK for the next six hours, extending our travel day even more.

Again we got lucky and were able to hop a flight that left in thirty minutes and we were on our way to DC. The short flight to DC got us in around 1:00 PM and, after a short ride to our hotel, we finally finished our travel day a mere 15 hours after we started it—not too bad.

Even though we were pretty beat, we knew we had to stay awake until at least 10:00 PM to avoid a serious case of jetlag. Good thing there was a college football game on TV. Well, not just a football game, but the BCS title game. What a perfect way to spend our first day back in the United States!

We found a local sports bar, watched the game, and ate a few Buffalo wings, a plate of nachos, and a few beers… an all American meal. It’s good to be home.

Skating On Ice...

Frankfurt, Germany

January 6, 2008
N50°06.613
E008°35.755

We knew the weather in Berlin would be cold, but when we caught a glimpse of the sun yesterday we thought we may get a reprieve from the biting wind and finger numbing weather. We should have known it was too good to be true, we’re able to walk several miles across the city before the rain started. Not snow, but a cold rain, at times sleet, which quickly turned the sidewalks and cobblestones to paths of ice.

The streets were so slick we literally had to slide our way from one place to another to avoid falling on our butts, or faces. We skated our way to dinner last night, and again on our way to the airport shuttle this morning. The skating was novel, at first, but simply walking and stepping on and off curbs became flat-out dangerous. I kept thinking... “Shit, we made it all the way around the world without any major accidents and now I’m going to crack my head open on an icy sidewalk!”

When we got off the bus at the Berlin Airport, the rain started coming down again. I looked out on the tarmac after we checked in and saw beautiful white flakes falling. Of course snow is the last thing you want to see before boarding a plane, but after a quick de-icing we made it to Frankfurt with only a one hour delay.

Tonight, in Frankfurt, is our last night in Europe. We arrived in the Czech Republic on August 27th and after nearly four months of traveling across the continent (mostly overland) we feel like we’ve seen Europe. Of course we haven’t seen everything, but we’ve accomplished a great deal and we’re ready to move on. However, we’re still a little melancholy knowing we only have a few weeks of our incredible journey left.

Tomorrow we head to our nation’s capital (Washington D.C.) with plans to watch the BCS Championship Bowl game; the first step of our re-entry process. We’ll let you know how it goes...