Day 14. Washington DC: Arlington National Cemetery. Union Market. [HI Washington DC]
Catching breakfast at the last minute, I snatched some cereal at 10 am as I got up at 9:30 am, slightly later than planned. A little after 11:30 am, I left the hostel for a subway ride to Arlington National Cemetery ($2.00), which is in Virginia.
Grave
I guess ‘grave’ as a noun and adjective mean somewhat the same thing.
Getting into the hallowed grounds require security screening, and I had already lost count of the number of times I had to step through the metal frame or open my bag for inspection. But then again, Arlington National Cemetery is a sacred place, so screening was expected.
The cemetery is 624 acres, and lies more than 400,000 military members and family. It was way more breathtaking than I had thought, and though I believed I would only stay for an hour or so, I ended up spending most of my afternoon there from about 1 pm to 4 pm. Also, there were multiple times that I was on the verge of tears just thinking of the wars and deaths.
View in Arlington National Cemetery. 
I guess these are family graves.
I saw a lot of graves I didn’t plan on actually walking to see: John F. Kennedy’s, the unknown soldier’s, Grace Hopper’s. Since I happened to be at the unknown soldier’s tomb at 2 pm, I witnessed the change of guard that takes place every hour. I also saw the 3 pm one. As for Hopper’s grave, it wasn’t a big attraction, and I only read it on a book I bought at the cemetery store, On Hallowed Ground. I walked between gravestones to see hers, and after that I left, taking the subway train back to Washington DC.
Kennedys’ grave. 
Guard. 
Grace Hopper’s grave. 
Newest gravesite.
Market
Markets are always one of the best things of a city, may it be farmers’ marker, or a food court. The subway ride ($2.75) took me to somewhere 10 minutes from Union Market. At first, I walked into somewhere that might have been an old Union Market, with a real meat market that was closed. Upon realising that couldn’t be the one I was looking for, I went around the block and saw the real Union Market.
There were mainly a bunch of food stalls, and sort of felt like a small Boston Public Market. I had a salmon burger ($12.50 excluding taxes and tips) and an Eggenberg pilsner ($5.00 excluding taxes and tips) at The District Fishwife. The burger was great and the beer wasn’t bad either. Whoops, I had booze for four days straight now. I guess that what you’d get for drinking at the start of the year.
Summary
Taking the subway back to the station near my hostel ($2.25), I went to Starbucks sometime after 6:30 pm to chill and get some work done on the laptop I’ve been carrying all day long. It had been a great day.
