Phillidelphia to Washington DC
Sunday 11th June
Went and looked at the Liberty Bell, massive security checks to get in museum, like going through an airport, all bags x-rayed and metal detection archways. It is sad that such measures are needed. They’ve all been put in place since 9/11.
The Liberty bell is an international sign of freedom. Around its rim is inscribed “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”. It used to hang in the state house to summon the Pennsylvanian assembly to debate, but it cracked sometime between 1817 and 1846 and rang no more.
Next visit was the Independence hall where the American Constitution was written in 1787. At this time Phlilidelphia was the nation’s capitol, it wasn’t until 1800 that government moved to Washington DC and the capitol changed.
By lunchtime we were back on the bus and on the road towards DC. We stopped off at Annapolis, a fishing town, most famous for the naval academy. To be admitted as an officer in the US Navy, it requires a presidential or senator nomination! (This is the same for Westpoint).
Arrived in Washington DC and decided to go and looked at some of the monuments, first up was The Iwo Jima Memorial which is the Marine Corps Memorial. Iwo Jima was a small Pacific island that saw fierce fighting during WW11 resulting in 7000 American deaths. This was a fantastically imposing statue. We managed to arrive just as the sun was setting, which added to the atmosphere.
Next up, was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial which was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It houses a 19ft bronze statue of the President. Jefferson was seen as one of the greatest influences of American history, he wrote the ‘Declaration of American Independence’, and was a strong believer in the rights of man, a government derived from the people, and religious freedom: ideas that were way ahead of his time! Interestingly, he died on July 4th 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The last memorial we saw was the WW11 one, recently built and opened on Memorial Day, May 29th 2004. This was amazing. Each state was represented by a column which surrounded a fountain in the centre. On each column there was a wreath of oak and wheat, which symbolised the nation’s industrial and agricultural strength, both of which were essential to the success of the war. There was a wall of 4000 gold stars with each star representing 1000 American deaths, to total the 400000 lost in WW11. I loved this memorial and after nearly 20 years of visiting war memorials this will go into one of my favourites!
Went and looked at the Liberty Bell, massive security checks to get in museum, like going through an airport, all bags x-rayed and metal detection archways. It is sad that such measures are needed. They’ve all been put in place since 9/11.
The Liberty bell is an international sign of freedom. Around its rim is inscribed “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”. It used to hang in the state house to summon the Pennsylvanian assembly to debate, but it cracked sometime between 1817 and 1846 and rang no more.
Next visit was the Independence hall where the American Constitution was written in 1787. At this time Phlilidelphia was the nation’s capitol, it wasn’t until 1800 that government moved to Washington DC and the capitol changed.
By lunchtime we were back on the bus and on the road towards DC. We stopped off at Annapolis, a fishing town, most famous for the naval academy. To be admitted as an officer in the US Navy, it requires a presidential or senator nomination! (This is the same for Westpoint).
Arrived in Washington DC and decided to go and looked at some of the monuments, first up was The Iwo Jima Memorial which is the Marine Corps Memorial. Iwo Jima was a small Pacific island that saw fierce fighting during WW11 resulting in 7000 American deaths. This was a fantastically imposing statue. We managed to arrive just as the sun was setting, which added to the atmosphere.
Next up, was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial which was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It houses a 19ft bronze statue of the President. Jefferson was seen as one of the greatest influences of American history, he wrote the ‘Declaration of American Independence’, and was a strong believer in the rights of man, a government derived from the people, and religious freedom: ideas that were way ahead of his time! Interestingly, he died on July 4th 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The last memorial we saw was the WW11 one, recently built and opened on Memorial Day, May 29th 2004. This was amazing. Each state was represented by a column which surrounded a fountain in the centre. On each column there was a wreath of oak and wheat, which symbolised the nation’s industrial and agricultural strength, both of which were essential to the success of the war. There was a wall of 4000 gold stars with each star representing 1000 American deaths, to total the 400000 lost in WW11. I loved this memorial and after nearly 20 years of visiting war memorials this will go into one of my favourites!
posted by Jules Ballard at 2:58 PM
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