Day 5:
HOME! We were up and on the bus by 7am for our trip home. Besides a little bit of traffic, all went well and we are all home safe and happy but REALLY tired.
Day 4:
We apologize for the delay in the Day 4 post, but we did so many things, got home so late, and were leaving so early, that this writer was just too worn out to write. I actually had to choose between dinner and writing sorry, but dinner won.
Our day started out with a visit to the Capitol, where Congressman Driehaus met us on the steps for a picture. He then took us into the Capitol for a tour. We were his first tour as a Congressman! We got to cut in line and go directly into the Capitol, where the Congressman took us onto the floor of the House of Representatives. It was very cool. He also arranged a tour of the Library of Congress for us. The Library of Congress was one of the most amazing buildings I‚ve ever seen in my life. It is also considered the greatest collection of knowledge in the world.
After that, we tried to find out what time the „meet and greet‰ started at the White House, but were told that it was invitation only and that if we didn‚t move our bus, the guards were going to come to out „with their weapons drawn. Needless to say we moved on and decided to grab some lunch before heading to Arlington National Cemetery.
We only had an hour and a half to spend at Arlington, but we were able to visit the Eternal Flame and see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The ceremony was really special.
After leaving Arlington, we visited the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial. Seeing these memorials at night was amazing. We had really wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial all week and seeing it at night was even more amazing.
Finally, we went souvenir shopping at some shops next to Ford‚s Theater and the house where Lincoln died. So, we had a very busy day, we saw so many things. It was hard to believe that our trip was over and we had to leave the next day.
Day 3
Wow! Where do we even start? We started our day with a 5:15 wake-up call and were on the road by 6:30. It was such a bizarre ride into the district because only busses and some authorized vehicles were allowed in. At one point we were waiting on a bridge with dozens and dozens of other charter busses lined up in both directions. We were in the city by 7:30 and headed off to find a prime spot.
As we walked toward the Capitol Building, Jean Schmidt ran into us ˆ literally. She was out for her morning jog and ran right into our group. She stopped and talked to us about the Inauguration and about government and citizenship responsibility. She was so nice and took a picture with us. What are the chances that we run into the Congresswoman who gave us our tickets to the Inauguration? It was so cool.
Since some of us had tickets, we had to split into two groups. The group who had tickets had to wait in a security line to get onto the back lawn of the Capitol. Those without tickets, made their way to the National Mall, where they found a prime spot near the Washington Monument and two big jumbotrons. The number of people there was just unbelievable!
The students who watched from the ticketed area were able to see Barack Obama be sworn in as our 44th President. It was an amazing moment to watch the first African-American inaugurated. After that, we wandered around the Capitol lawn, where we met Robin Roberts from Good Morning America. We also made our way to the area where all the dignitaries sat for the ceremony. We were able to stand below the balcony where Obama and Biden took their oaths of office. We then left that area and tried to find some food. The lines were so long and we were so cold that we decided our best option was to meet up, get on the bus, and head back toward the hotel for food. We made it back in time to eat an early dinner and watch the parade on television from the warmth of our hotel.
Day 2