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Mal Beaton
Had a great nights sleep, staying in the Westin Downtown so rooms are really good. We walked down Main St and found a diner for breakfast. I forgot about the bottomless coffee refills, coffee was ordinary but not the worst I have had. Even the breakfasts here are huge. I had to have the breakfast burrito. Fuelled up for the day we headed down to Dealy Plaza which is only 2 blocks from the hotel. First impression is how bloody small and ordinary it is. We wandered around the plaza checking out all the historical markers. There is an x painted in the middle of the road marking the spot JFK was hit. I looked from there back up to the book depository 6th floor and it looks no more than 100m. They have rebuilt the picket fence on the grassy knoll to keep it exactly as it was on the day. 10am the book repository 6th floor museum opened. There was a school excursion waiting to get in so a bit crowded but not too bad. There was no photos allowed on the 6th floor museum. The exhibition was good but I really just wanted to see the view from the window. The actual window (an area about 3 m square ) has been perspexed off and recreated to look exactly like it was on the day. Right next to this were small video screens (probably 24" monitors) that had a video recreation of JFK's motorcade, first shot hit, second etc. from these video screens you could also look out the window and get an idea of distance, difficulty etc. I reckon it must have been a press beat up about a sniper shot, it is about 100m looking down, the motorcade moving slowly away from the shooter. With a bit of practice any competent soldier could have taken that shot. A visit to this site has been on my bucket list for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. On the way back to the hotel we came across Wild Bills Western Store and had to have a gander. Snakeskin cowboy boots for $795 and crocodile skin for $999.99. They had drizabone full length coats for $195. More Stetsons than you could poke a stick at. Got a heap of photos for a friend Iain who loves these boots. We spent the afternoon at Northpark Shopping Centre to give Karen her macys fix. Used the DART (Dallas light rail) to get there, cheap, $10 for an all pass. Dinner back in downtown at Iron Cactus which we had heard about in Aus. It was a great feed.
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