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Published: August 7th 2008
Train kept rollin' .....
Just as we started to find our feet in Miami, the time came to move on to our next destination - Washington DC.
We left South Beach on Thursday morning and headed for the Amtrak station with sufficient time to get our tickets printed (or so we thought!) As it turned out, the guy we got at the ticket desk was a sandwich short of a full picnic and it took 45 minutes to print our tickets, meanwhile, our 9am train rolled out the station before our eyes. We then had to wait a further 3 hours to catch the next train, however, this service detoured via Tampa, Fl, and added a further 3 and a half hours to what was already a 23 hour journey. So, nearly 28 hours later, we finally arrived in DC!
The Capital City
The contrast between Miami and DC was evident from the moment we stepped off the train at Union Station. More people, (more American people!) more hustle and bustle - a more city-like atmosphere. The sheer number of police and security officials throughout the city makes DC feel very safe.
We were nicely surprised when we arrived at our accommodation to find the hostel in much better shape than the one in Miami, which was a big relief and set us at ease. Due to the unanticipated late arrival and having spoken to a few people on the train about our plans to visit Baltimore and Philadelphia, we made an 'executive decision' to extend our stay in DC from 2 days to 4 and also heasd to New York 2 days earlier, skipping Baltimore and Philadelphia completely.
Our first impressions of D.C were good, but only when we went out for our first full day did we realise just how much there was to see. The National Mall covers a vast area so walking from one place to another takes time. However, the sights and architecture in between the typical tourist hotspots are also well worth seeing.
Having lost our map (before we even left the hostel) we headed out to explore the city and first came across the Capitol Building (which Chris was adamant was the White House until Jayne eventually convinced him that the White House does NOT have a dome on the roof - as
did the sign outside saying
'Welcome to the Capitol Building!' The heavens opened (for the second time in a week) so when we left the Capitol Building (not the White House!!!) we headed for shelter in the Botanical Gardens. This was surprisingly good, despite our lack of botanical knowledge. We saw lots of endangered plants and we'd like to say we came out a little wiser on the subject of photosynthesis and ageing a tree by counting it's growth rings. . . all simple stuff really!
The following day we decided that walking seemed like too much effort, so we bought a hop-on-hop-off ticket for one of the city's tour buses. We jumped off the bus at the Lincoln Memorial and took in the sights of the presidential and war memorials.
On our way over for lunch with Georgie at the White House, we stopped to bathe out aching feet in the WWII Memorial. This is a large pool with fountains, surrounded by ornate pillars engraved with the names of the states and countries involved in the war from both the Altantic and Pacific battles. The memorial shows a great respect for all those who fought in
the war, yet the atmosphere around the pool is upbeat and vibrant.
The White House (it really was the White House this time!!!) was smaller than expected but still well worth seeing. Security in this area was particularly tight.
We later stopped off at the National Air and Space Museum - one of the 4 'Smithsonian' Museums which are free entry so we took advantage! Chris was in his element in here and we saw the dramatic progression of air and space travel and exploration from the Wright Brothers first vision through to todays advanced commercial airliners.
Another Smithsonian Museum which we visited was the Natural History Museum. This was so vast we could have stayed for days but we only had a few hours, so we chose a few areas we were interested in and had a scout around. There was a large area devoted to Dinosaurs and the excavation of bones and fossils. It was all very informative but great fun at the same time.
On our last afternoon in DC we decided to hire some bikes and head out of town to a small suburb called Georgetown which we had heard was rather
nice. We cycled down to Washington harbour and through Georgetown and it was very picturesque with lots of bars and restaurants lining the cobbled streets. The breeze whilst out on the bikes was a nice relief from the heat and humidity of the city.
We had a really enjoyable and memorable time in DC and could have easily spent a week there.
Miss you all loads
Jayne and Chris
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Michele
non-member comment
Sounds like you're having a great time. I'm really enjoying reading all about your adventures! Can't wait for the next instalment. Keep safe!! X