Tuesday 31 March 2009

Arlington Cemetery

There is something very eerie about being in a place where hundreds and thousands of people that fought in various wars are buried. Whatever your politics, it is impossible to be in a place like Arlington and not agree that war is tragic. Nonetheless, Arlington Cemetery is still a fascinating place to visit. JFK is buried here, and you can see the eternal flame that sits on his grave. Bobby Kennedy is here as well, as is the tomb to the unknown soldiers.
The highlight for me, however, was the Iwo Jima statue. When I was at Otago I used to have the photograph on my wall, and have since seen the cheesy-yet-interesting-although-in-need-of-an-edit movie about the men in the statue, Flags of Our Fathers. So, while I know that the original photo was staged and the statue itself in an odd location in the cemetery (it almost felt like it was in a parking lot, I'd be interested to find out why it's not with everything else) it was still cool to see it with my own eyes.

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