Sunday morning I went down to Dealy Plaza in Dallas. The 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK is this week. So, I thought it was an appropriate time of year to go down there and get a few photos for one of my Pinterest boards. I certainly don't want to be down there next Saturday. It will be nuts! But I thought the Sunday before the anniversary would be a good time for a visit.
I've visited Dealy Plaza a number of times, mostly on weekends when someone is in town and is interested in going. Every time I have ever been, there have been a number of people milling about on the grassy knoll and even standing in the middle of the street on the X that indicates the vehicle's location when the fatal shot rang out. I really feel that those people, many of whom were not even born when the event took place, are what the site is all about. Why would someone want a photo of the grassy knoll with no one standing on it? Good luck trying to explain to your friends back home what that is.
I can just hear that conversation now....
"Hey Homer, why'd you take a picture of this grass?"
"It's the grassy knoll."
"The what?"
"You know, the grassy knoll near where JFK was shot!"
"Oh, where's the car?"
"Well that was 50 years ago, I took this picture last week."
"Hmph! Just looks like grass, are you sure you didn't take this picture in your backyard?"
It's sort of hard to justify plane tickets to get to Dallas, a night or two in a hotel and a rental car to take a few pictures of some grass and an X painted on a street. People have to be in the photo or it's meaningless.
So Sunday while I was down there it was interesting to see the number of people who stood impatiently waiting for all human life to leave the area so they could get a picture of empty grass or street. Bizarre! On the other hand, my subject matter may have been totally skewed in the other direction. The focus of almost every picture I took was the tourists themselves. It's shocking how many foreign tourists visit the site regularly. While I was there on Sunday, I was within earshot of a group of Germans, French people and some people who I think were from China. I saw license plates from Alaska, Virginia and Louisiana on cars parked along the street.
What's really weird is that no matter where they are from, they will risk their life to run out in traffic and get their picture taken standing on that X or to take a picture of the window of the School Book Depository from the X. What's so compelling about the X? The funniest thing about the area Sunday was that someone has put a big sign up that reads "GRASSY KNOLL". Ummmm... Really? Thanks for pointing it out. I never would have known otherwise....
Here are a couple of pictures of various tourists standing on the X. They literally go out in the street and wait while another person is getting their photo taken and then move onto the X themselves all while cars are blowing their horns at them. Folks, that's dedication!
I didn't go into the museum Sunday. I went once before. But Sunday I was strictly out taking photos of the city and enjoying the beautiful weather. I think going forward, I'm going to try to pay closer attention to the other people in tourist attractions that I visit. I am sitting here as I type this kicking myself in the butt for not taking pictures of the kids in St. Peter's Basilica who would walk up to a tomb of a dead pope in a glass case and make a crazy face. Wouldn't those have been great pictures? Live and learn.
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