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Published: November 7th 2006
Hey Folks
We went to Washington D.C. on the Amtrak train yesterday. They have 2 classes of carriage, first & business. We were in business class. For some reason the lady that booked our tickets gave me the seniors discount instead of Tim, but it amounts to the same thing doesn't it? The train trip was fantastic. It took just over 2 hours as opposed to the bus which takes 5 hours. We went via Newark -New Jersey; Philadelphia - PA; Baltimore - Maryland; and Wilmington- Delaware. Wilmington looks to be a very pretty city in places, especially at night. There are some houses on the river which are completely outlined in little fairy lights which reflect on the river.
D.C. is a really quiet change after NYC. Pretty much like Canberra except the monuments are very different and there are stars and stripes everywhere of course and not nearlt as many people. It was quite warm in DC so we were lucky. The train came into Union Staion - this place is absolutely enormous and extremely decorative. I thought Grand Central Station in Mnahattan was big but it is half the size of Union Station. According to the book we bought the main concourse is the largest room in the world!. It's funny you know, some of the things we have seen on the tele are not as big in reality. I have grown up thinking Grand Central was the most fabulously enormous place and it was a little bit of a let down. Anyway back to DC. We saw the Washington Monument and learned something new about George Washington. He did not have wooden false teeth, he had ivory ones and he lost his teeth through years of doing his party piece - cracking walnuts with his teeth. The Jefferson Memorial was next - he was an amazing man. The Lincoln Memorial was also smaller than I had expected but spectacular nonetheless. We got some good pictures of the reflecting pool too. Due to the fact hat we were only there for the day we had limited time in which to see things so we were not able to go to the Library of Congress to see the Declaration of Independence and the Mint was closed (damn). There is a massive park near the Lincoln Memorial and there are hundreds of cute, and quite tame squirrels. Of course we saw the White House but you can't get too close to that these days and all of the grounds are covered with heavily armed security guards which I guess are Secret Service. They all had ear pieces and talked into their sleeves a lot. All the security is absolutely understandable, but I'm not sure if Dubya was at home. There was one lone protester with a banner but he seemed bored with walking up and down.
Most of the monuments in DC close at 4ish so the only place left that we could go was the Air & Space Museum. This is the place to take kids I reckon. Ok for adults too if you are interested in flight and space in general. The actual re-entry pod that Buzz Aldrin et al returned to earth in from the moon was there so it was very interesting for Tim.
After a whirlwind trip we had a few hours to spare before our train back at 8pm so we had the most delightful meal at Union Station. It is called the Center Cafe if you ever go there the food is excellent. I had half a lobster for $13.99! and Tim had the most amazing sirloin steak which was literally like butter. I am not a huge fan of naked meat but this was fabulously tender. A couple of glasses of Fat Bastard Chardonnay and a serve of exquisite cheesecake between us (even I couldn't eat a whole portion by myself, and I am a cheesecake freak!) the bill didn't even hit $60 including tips. We got back to our hotel at about 11.50 PM after a very long but enjoyable day.
And so to today, the first serious bout of shopping. First stop Macy's. This place is amazing. If you are ever going there, register for the Macy's Discount card available to tourists as it only lasts a month. This entitles you to 11% discount on everything, including sale items. So if something is on sale at $10 you can get 11% off with this card.
Manhattan is a seriously good place to shop if you have endless time to walk around and you are with a girlfriend. The men are not too keen on window shopping, although Tim has been quite good about it. I know when he has had enough- he volunteers to stay outside the shop minding the bags but he hands over his wallet and waits patiently.
If you are in the market for a leather jacket or coat you can get one for $20- seriously. Designer clothes can be had for a fraction of the price and NYC is shoe heaven. I would love to be here in January for the sales.
Tomorrow is a bit more shopping and hopefully a walk around central park in the daylight.
S'all for now as I am plum tuckered out!
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Sandra
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Well U 2 it all sounds great, and I hope you have a 6 diget win in Vegas. wait to hear.