It was wet and miserable when we woke this morning and we worried that our plans for the day would need rejigging, but by the time we returned from breakfast the sun was breaking through the clouds. Its Sunday today and the museums didn’t open til 10am but our body clocks stil have us waking at 7, so we spent our waiting time catching up on blogs and the news. We read there had been bombings in New York, not good!
So around 10am we set off for the 10 minute walk to Dealey Plaza, the notorious location of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The Texas Schoolbook Depository, the building that Lee Harvey Oswald is believed to have taken the fatal shots, has been turned into a museum.
Outside the JFK Museum – The old Texas Schoolbook Depository
On the way we walked past JFK Memorial plaza. The tour guide salesmen were out in force, you could even book a ride in an identical Lincoln limousine to the one JFK and Jacquie took the fatal ride in! We passed on that :-/
We were given an excellent audio guide which guided us around the exhibits on the 6th Floor. The main exhibits are on the 6th floor because it was from the 6th floor corner window that Oswald took aim. It was a fascinating brief tour through Kennedy’s career, the major events of his time in office ( Cuba Missile Crisis, Space Race, Civil Rights etc) and then the fatal events of his visit to Dallas in 1963 as well as the events afterwards. This included all the subsequent enquiries and conspiracy theories.
Unfortunately , photography was not permitted so we could not take any shots there but on the 7th floor they were hosting an exhibit about the Kennedy Election campaign ( topical!).
Making calls on the campaign trail..
On this floor you could also stand on the corner of the building one floor above where Oswald stood when he took his shots. The trees have grown taller since 1963 so the view of the road is a little obscured. The car in the photo below is a few meters further down the road than where the Presidential limousine was at he fatal moment.
After leaving the museum we walked down into Dealey plaza and joined the crowd at the “Grassy Knoll”, the site where some theorists believe a second assassin took a shot at JFK. It’s really a rather macabre place, but peope are so fascinated and appalled by the JFK assassination, the city ave even placed a cross on the road to “mark the spot”!!
Neil standing on “the Grassy Knoll”
You can see the white X on the road at the lower left. The second highest window at the top right is open to show how it was on the day.
After this we walked a few blocks south to take the ride to the top of Reunion Tower to the “Geodeck”. The tower is within the Hyatt hotel complex and gives some great views over downtown Dallas and miles around. There is a rotating restaurant on the upper floor but we made do with the rotating cafe for a quick snack and a break. The temperature outside was really heating up and the sun was fierce!
Reunion Tower is the Chuppa Chup at the right!
View of Dallas skyline
Some of the incredible roadworks underway. We tangled with this one a little later on…
After leaving the geodeck we took a long, sweaty walk uptown. I had planned for us to visit “Fountain Plaza” and its dancing water fountains, but unbeknownst to me, the plaza building was up for lease and the fountains were out of commission! Luckily it was only a couple of blocks further to the Arts District where we stopped in to visit the Dallas Museum of Art. We saw some stunning pieces of American art and furniture from the 1700s through to the 1950s.
By this time the sun was really beating down so we walked back to the hotel along the shadiest route we could find, bypassing a stunning modern Baptist church along the way.
It was still only early afternoon at this stage. In our original plans we had hoped to drop in and visit the son and daughter in law of our close friends, the Pearces, who have made their home in Dallas. However, they had been called away to Louisiana this weekend to help family deal with the cleanup of a recent flood disaster, so we had the next few hours free. We tossed up whether to stay in the cool but decided that a day in the USA MUST include some driving so we collected our car and headed out to find a Costco for a little more shopping… our shopping time is running out fast!
The trip down was a little hair-raising thanks to our Tom Tom not being quite up to date with the incredible roadworks being undertaken in Dallas, but fortunately Google maps came to the rescue. A could of bargain buys at Costco and we headed back into town for a quiet break before dinner.
Our last day in the USA tomorrow. Tonight we need to spend some time trying to make all those shopping purchases fit in the suitcases, up till now they’ve been sitting in the back of the car!