America 2010
31 year 10 and year 12 students, together with Mr Wallace, Mrs Smith; and Mr Chris Harris, spent 6 days of the Easter holiday in Washington and New York. It was the fifth time a group has gone from Whitchurch High and it was certainly one of the most successful. Despite some worries about a potential BA strike as we left school we made it to Washington only a little late.
Our first stop was the Red Roof Inn, Washington, a very pleasant hostelry right in the centre of Chinatown. This was useful for the local takeaways which sustained us for the first part our trip. Washington provided us with most of our history experiences. Everybody enjoyed our bus tour around Washington, despite the rather cold weather, which led to our first shopping experience in posh and busy Georgetown. The next couple of days took us to Arlington Cemetery where American servicemen from all American wars are buried. We saw the changing of the guard at the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier, and then visited the house of Robert E Lee, the Confederate General. His house and land were confiscated by the Unionists and this became the site for Arlington Cemetery. One of the most poignant of our visits was to the Holocaust Museum where some of the horror of this episode is catalogued in graphic detail. We also visited the American History Museum and the Space and Technology Museum. Our remaining days saw us visit the memorials to the Vietnam War, the Korean War and the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King made his 'I have a dream speech'.
On Wednesday we moved on to New York via Philadelphia. Only a 90 minute stop here but we managed to squeeze in some Revolutionary history. We saw Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed and walked part of the Heritage Trail. After a bite to eat it's on to New York.
New York, New York, it's a wonderful town. We certainly found it a wonderful town. Busy, brash, exciting and full of shopping for our fashionistas. There was also some history. Our stay included trips on the subway to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (year 10 students know all about this). We walked many miles and included Central Park, the Empire State Building, and Ground Zero. However, for many of the group the most exciting part was queueing to get into Abercrombie and Fitch for some serious shopping.
We arrived safely back in Whitchurch after a delay at Heathrow, tired but happy. I have to say thanks to the whole group for their excellent behaviour and their contribution to a great experience.