Day 4

We started off the day with breakfast in the Hotel and headed over to Arlington National Cemetery. Here those who had died in war were burried. Families have the right to burry them here or with the family. The families were given the opportunity to decide. Here we also saw the memorials for those who rode on the space ship columbia and the spaceship challenger. We also saw John F kenedy's grave and learned of his assasination. We also learned that his brother was assasinated too after running for office of president. We saw the Eternal Flame at Kenedy's grave and walked to the place where we saw the changing of the gaurd. We were lucky this day because we actually got to witness an actual funeral that was taking place. The daughter of the soldier killed walked with and performed the changing of the gaurd with the soldiers. This was sad but we were glad to be able to be there an honor that soldier. The graves were all white and placed perfectly in rows and diagnols. It was a very peaceful place and I was proud of the lives that were lived. Each one of these soldiers stood for something in their life. They had courage and a desire to protect our country. They gave their life for that cause.

After lunch we went to tour the Capitol. By the side of the Capitol were the House of Representative buildings. There were at least five buildings. Inside the Capitol were amazing Chandleirs and beautiful paintings. We walked down the actual steps that Obama walked when he was Inagurated and took his Presidential Oath. From here we stopped at the Library of Congress and then went to dinner.

After dinner came my favorite part of the day. We went to the Einstein Memorial and the students were all aloud to climb on Einstein and we took pictures of the class. From here we went to the Vietnam Wall memorial and the wemon's war memorial. At the wall the students go the opportunity to feel the names of the people tha twere killed. A cross next to the person's name meant that they were never found in war. A dash means that their bodies were sent home. This was a very solumn time. We saw the letters next to the wall and the flowers left for those who had passed on. We walked over and saw the Korean War memorial and saw the faces of the soldiers on the wall. We also saw the look of fear and determination in the soldiers faces. Many people lost their lives in these two wars.

From here we walked over to the Lincoln Memorial and learned about Abraham Lincoln. When he first started as President he was not to concerned with people owning slaves. In his Presidency his mind was changed and he stood up for what he learned and grew to believe. He was the President at the time of the Civil War when there was hatred against the blacks. He fought and stood up for the North. The North and South were against each other and it was under his Presidency that black's were liberated and slavery was ended. Here on the steps of his memorial Martin Luther King Jr. also gave his famous speech, I Have a Dream. We got to stand on the spot where he gave his speech and several students quoted his words. We sat on the steps and looked at the view of the Washington Monument. The sun went down we got on our bus and went home for the night. When we returned everyone went swimming and soaked their tired feet and minds in the hot tub.