[Taxman]

Taxman Bravo Zulu for your effort to pay your respects to President Reagan and for your most moving post.

[DoctorMichael]

Since I had drove up there I knew I had only one shot at paying my respects and so was determined to wait in line no matter what. A number of the other Freepers in the DC Chapter said that they would wait until the wee hours of the morning to go, hoping that the wait would not be as bad. As it turned out the wait was only 4 hours for me (and some of THAT was caused by delays in the Memorial Services). However, the lines at 10 PM, as I left the Capitol, seemed as long as when I first got into line right after the 21-plane F15-Flyover. In viewing C-Span last night it appeared that there was no let-up in the numbers of people that wanted to pass through the Rotunda.

Last memorable point that sticks in my head, that I should have included in the original Post..............It was WAY after dark 2 nights ago when I got in. The final part of the line (right after going through an airport-like metal detector in a small make-shift building on the side of the Capitol) takes you onto the front balcony of the Capitol facing West with all of Washington laid beneath you. The night was hot and muggy and you finally walk up the steps into the Rotunda in the very middle of the Capitol's structure. What struck me was the change from 'hot and muggy' to 'cold and damp': The air conditioning straining to keep up with the atmosphere and not quite succeeding.

The cold and dampness was like a tomb! There was a crypt-like feel to the surreal vision of these servicemen standing stock-still in their immaculate uniforms, guarding the body. No movement, no apparent breathing, eyes straight forward with no blinking (.....and the placement of the lighting gave an even more other-worldly feel to the huge room). They seemed like unreal statues from a wax museum, except more than real in their starkness, with the imposing vault of the dome hundreds of feet above your head and no sound except the quiet echo of 'treading of feet' on the marble floor. On the ceiling, hundreds of feet above your head, is the fresco of Washington being deified: THE APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON. Very fitting!

All I can say is 'Stunning'.