Sightseeing in DC

"Our Nation Honors
Her Sons and Daughters
Who Answered the Call
To Defend a Country
They Never Knew
And a People
They Never Met

1950 - Korea - 1953"
~The Korean War Veterans Memorial

I have tons of pictures from our whirlwind tour of DC... but perhaps it was my illness, or just the combination of days filled with talk of cancer research then all of the memorials to the dead and scarred in our brief history as a country, but I found DC to be rather depressing overall. We missed the cherry blossoms, and while parts of the city were beautiful, I couldn't escape the horror that was the impetus for all of this stone and metal. Looking at ALL of the tiny markers in Arlington was absolutely overwhelming and overhearing other people talking about what it was like in the Holocaust museum made my stomach feel worse, if that was possible.

As I was with three Koreans on this trip, although only two on our tour, we stopped at the Lincoln Monument and walked over to the Korean War Veterans Memorial... something much more real to them than it will ever be to me. The words written here really struck me. To me, this summed up DC best: "Freedom is Not Free"