The usual jet lag meant I was wide awake by 5.30am and catching up on news from home on my phone. Karen snored her way right through to 8am.
We took a short while getting ourselves organised and showered before heading down to breakfast which was the usual Holiday Inn Express fare although the ‘pork’ sausages were very acceptable the rubbery baked eggs were less so. Unusually for our trips this will be our only HIE that we stay in so we will have new breakfasts to compare to this.
We lingered a while almost as if we were on holiday before heading back to our room to collect our rucksack for the day.
It was a very short drive to the Gettysburg National Park Visitor Centre which was free to enter. It was a very grand building that we walked up to in perfect weather conditions, and we took the time to take a picture with my 10th cousin 5 times removed – Abraham Lincoln. I think our family connection is through his mother who came from Hingham. I thought I could see the family resemblance, apart from the fact he was much taller, thinner and obviously far more intelligent. I did wonder if another of my distant cousins – Nicole Kidman knows that she is also related to old Abe, possibly through me?
Anyhow my knowledge of Gettysburg prior to today of what happened here was low. I knew of the ‘address’ given here but not of the context or when or even why. I hoped to go home enlightened and to have seen more than just a spot in the field where Abe spoke. Spoiler alert – I certainly was entertained, enthralled and educated by the visit.
The Visitor’s Centre was enormous. We headed to the ticket area where there was an almost overwhelming choice of options. We decided that as we had all day, we would purchase the Package deal once it had been explained to us.
I gulped at the cost of $56 dollar each but paid on my watch. Immediately the transaction went through, and I receive confirmation. But I was told it the transaction had failed. I begged to differ showing them on my watch I had been charged for the tickets. It was all very affable though, and a manager was called who took away details to check later. Our tickets were issued to us for the various things the package covered.
Later I received a further notification on my watch saying my transaction had been cancelled. I assume the manager was trying to resolve the error later but as yet have not received another charge so that is a bonus
Our package included the 10.30am showing of a Morgan Freeman narrated film about the Gettysburg battle which was a great way to learn about where we were and why it was important.
The next ticket we used was for the Cyclorama which involved going up a really steep long narrow escalator. All we knew was that it involved a sound and light show. We emerged in a rotund theatre with what we thought was a 360-degree screen all around us showing the battlefields. The floor sloped down to the screen and cleverly blended in. The sound and light show then started. It was poor and uninspiring, and we both mentioned Disney would have done it so much better.
As it ended, the sound system said we could walk around to admire the oil painting. We looked at each other and went to speak to one of the staff who confirmed it was not a screen or cheap backdrop, but an original oil panorama painted in 1880 and recently restored and relocated here to this purpose-built building. The painting is 377 ft round and 42 feet high. We realised that this was the star of the show and not the sounds and lights. We looked it all with a new light and were quite rightly amazed. It placed us exactly in a position where we would stand later that day where the fiercest battle took place. It was impressive but wished that had been made clear to us ignorant tourists as we were going in and not afterwards.
Then we wandered around the interesting museum where I lost Karen for 15 minutes. I liked the section about the reaction to Abe’s speech with The London Times describing it as ‘Anything more dull or commonplace it would not be easy to produce’. How wrong they were.
We grabbed a drink from the café before heading out for the main event which was a 2-hour bus tour of the battlefields. Frank was to be our guide, one of 125 employed by the Park Service.
The bus tour with his commentary was fascinating. We covered each of the 3 days of battle separately and from both sides, stopping to see what they could see from their vantage points.
It brought home again the sheer folly of war. Of men who were told to retreat who did so running backwards so that if they were shot it would be in their front so their families would not think they were cowards.
The whole battlefield has been painstakingly restored to how it was. All power lines have been buried and the original fence lines and types put back. Cannons have been put back into position. Frank gave us a detailed but ‘frank’ account. Over 3 days there were over 51000 casualties.
The battlefield is though covered with some 1300 monuments of all shapes, sizes and descriptions, placed by various battalions, regiments and states. It is a horrible mish mash, and I think should be tidied up with something classier and fitting.
I arrived knowing nothing but went away with some depth of knowledge of why, what and where it happened. Frank ended with his funniest comment – a question he had been posed by a child on a school trip he had taken round – ‘How come none of the monuments were damaged during the battle?’
After this we drove to the National Soldiers Cemetery which is where Abe gave his address. Sadly, the exact spot is not known and is subject to some dispute but they know roughly within a few yards. We sat and surveyed close by and realised that without the aid of amplification only a relatively few people would have heard the words being spoken. There were 15000 present, but I cannot believe they would have all heard it especially as he was the 2nd speaker at the event and the 1st one had rattled on for more than 2 hours.
We headed into Gettysburg itself which was a delightful little town and wandered around Lincoln Square. It was very pleasant. Karen’s opinion increased exponentially when we came upon a Starbucks which of course she had to try out. After this we wandered and looked around a couple of quaint shops.
Then we drove a couple of miles to the Appalachian Brewing Company for a meal. The place had a good vibe and was heaving. We both had a burger which was very tasty, mine was topped with pulled pork.
On the way back to the Hotel we had 20 minutes at the next-door outlets. I don’t think it will survive much longer as many shops were closed or had been taken over by pop up places. We just went in the Old Navy and Columbia stores where a couple of purchases were made.
Back in our room we chilled for a while before watching the end of an episode of Shark Tank. We were both in bed again by 10pm.
