travel with jackie: July 2016

Washington D.C. – 3 nights, 4 days- July 23-26, 2016

My niece Rose just graduated from high school. As a graduation present, I took her to Washington DC to celebrate. We had such a blast. Here was our itinerary.

We boarded the 8:30 a.m. Amtrak train in Metropark, NJ. The cost was $90 pp round trip. The trip was 3 hours long and only made a few stops. We sat near the dining car, which was great because there were tables to spread out on, as we did the final planning for our adventure.

We arrived at Union Station at noon and immediately bought a city metro card from a vending kiosk. (I put $15 on each card but had to add on another $8 before the trip was over) The subway was quite easy to manage. You needed your ticket on entrance and exit- and each journey cost a different amount, distance dependent. At every station there was an attendant at the entrance and the exit. The metro employees we met were all friendly and helpful- actually ALL the residents of DC were super nice- such an unexpected surprise!

We took the red line metro from Union Station to the Farragut North stop- thank goodness, no transfer of trains. I hate dragging luggage and having to navigate a new metro system!

We stayed on “L” street,- 3 blocks north of the Whitehouse- 3 blocks south of Dupont Circle. It is a business neighborhood- plenty of breakfast options- lively during the day- not much to do at night ( http://www.redlion.com/washington-dc/guest-rooms ) I felt safe walking the 2 blocks from our metro stop to the hotel at night.

Be prepared for DC hotel prices (politician expense account prices). You can stay outside the city for a bit cheaper- but then you have to commute for a half an hour a day- and can’t just pop back to your hotel for a nap- or a change of clothes…so splurge on the hotel- and remember most of the things you will see and do will be free…. AND don’t drive into the city because parking runs $40 a day!

We got to the hotel and did early check-in. We hopped back on the Metro and immediately headed out to Arlington National Cemetery (free). The metro stop for the cemetery aptly named “Arlington Cemetery” on the blue line, was closed for repairs, so we had to get off at Rosslyn stop which is on the blue/silver/orange line. We were a bit confused how to get from this stop to the cemetery- but a nice policeman informed us it was only a 3 block walk. It actually worked out for the best because we entered the cemetery up by the Iwo Jima Memorial

and then continued walking down to the cemetery, through the acres of humbling headstones

to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier- this is the amphitheater on the opposite side..the tomb side is being renovated.

and the graves of JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy.

We went to the Visitor Center, but this was a waste of steps- because it was super crowded and we were not doing a tram tour. I thought that the cemetery was a moving experience and well worth the effort it took to get there. I would probably do the tram tour next time, because the cemetery is huge and I know we missed a lot of the history- but we wanted to get to the National Cathedral by 5:15 for an organ recital (free)…so you must pick and choose!

We grabbed a late lunch at Panera and hopped on the silver line to Metro Center stop, then changed trains to the red line and hopped off at Dupont Circle. I thought it would be great fun to walk up Massachusetts Ave past all the embassies on Embassy Row on our 2 mile stroll to The National Cathedral. DON’T DO THIS..it was 2 miles uphill. Yes the embassies were interesting…but it was 91 degrees. I knew the N1 buses ran up this street, but none appeared during our entire walk- probably due to the horrific flipped-over-smashing-into-tree-car wreck we witnessed during our schlog up the hill. But we finally made it to the cathedral for the organ recital- just a few minutes late. The recital was just okay-lol- I wanted booming, fill the cathedral music- but this was restrained, quiet and thoughtful music. Oh well, it was nice to just sit down for a while and cool off.

The Cathedral is magnificent, a must see-when in DC.

We took the bus back to Dupont Circle and grabbed a burger and a shake at The Shake Shack- we earned this meal. Between the Cemetery and our “hike” to the Cathedral, we walked almost 15 miles that day- our feet were tired- so we headed back to the hotel, yes, we walked the 4 blocks from Dupont Circle to our hotel,- we read for a few minutes, set the alarm for 6 a.m. and fell asleep quickly! Day 1 complete. I was happy that we accomplished the treks to the 2 furthest out, major sights, on our “to do” list.

The alarm goes off at 6 a.m…..okay- I know it is vacation- but I also know if we want to see the Lincoln Memorial without the crowds, you must get there early! We stopped for a quick breakfast sandwich at Dunkin Donuts around the corner from our hotel- and then began the walk to the Memorial. We walked straight down 19^th street, turned to see the back of the Whitehouse

and then continued to the Mall area, stopped at the Washington Monument Obelisk (free) for a few pictures

and turned right to walk along the tree lined reflecting pool path towards the Lincoln Memorial.

We got to the Lincoln Memorial (free) at 7:45 a.m. I was quite proud that we managed to get pictures of Abe with NO TOURISTS in the photos- score one for early risers!

A selfie with Abe-priceless!

We continued on to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (free)

and made a stop at the WWII memorial (free)- the detail reliefs at the entrance were amazing!

We hiked back to the Washington Monument to see if could snag some passes to go up into the obelisk- but they were out of passes (you can reserve them online –but I didn’t know this until it was too late) https://www.nps.gov/wamo/planyourvisit/index.htm

You can also book a tour of the White House and the Capitol in advance…again, I waited until too late- https://whitehouse.gov1.info/visit/tour.html https://tours.visitthecapitol.gov/cvc

Oh well, gotta save something for next time!

We continued our walk up the Mall and went to the Smithsonian Castle (free) and the gardens behind it (beautiful and free)

the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art (free)- they have a nice collection in a circular building. Some of their displays weirded us out.

Then we spent some cool down/sit down, time seeing a planetarium show($8.00) and visiting the top floor of the Air and Space Museum (free).

We went across the Mall to the National Gallery of Art and ate lunch at The Cascade Cafeteria in the basement of the museum- the food was AWFUL and prices were high. (don’t go!!) We were pretty exhausted, so we went back to our hotel.

We rested and changed clothes for a nice alfresco dinner. We went to Agora, a Turkish restaurant near Dupont Circle. We had beautiful appetizers of feta cheese, herbs and tomatoes(<great) and half an eggplant hollowed out and refilled with the eggplant, herbs and garlic(<outstanding).

We followed that with lamb-ke-bobs (<decent) and a slice spinach phyllo quiche-(<disappointing). The pita bread was very good. I would recommend this place for dining. Great service and reasonable prices well located in a nice neighborhood.

After dining we went back to the hotel- we changed back into our touring clothes and headed out for our Capitol Hill ghost tour. www.dcghosttours.com/ ($17.00 pp) I liked this tour (except for the bratty kid who kept interrupting the tour guide). It was cool to see DC in the evening in the safety of guided tour.

I loved hearing all the ghost stories about The Library of Congress, The Supreme Court, and the Capitol. The tour was an hour and a half- and the walk was an easy 1.5 miles. Capitol Hill at night was impressive! Here is my GHOST picture..look carefully- see the shadow in front of the right door.

We had a bit of difficulty getting home as my UBER was not working- but we finally made it home! 16 miles clocked today!

We slept in the next morning- took it easy and had a nice breakfast at Potbelly in China town area (Gallery Plaza metro stop)

We were in Chinatown area for our adventure at The International Spy Museum www.spymuseum.org/tickets/ ($29.00 combo ticket- 2.5 hours) I LOVED this place.

You can tour the museum- which is so interesting- tracing espionage back to its roots- it had interactive displays and guide with fill- in- the- blank questions to keep kids engaged. There was even a whole floor dedicated to James Bond.

But my favorite part was participating in Spy Adventure based on a real espionage story. It is too detailed to explain- but there are multiple rooms with clues and spy equipment you must operate in order to make it to the next level- kind of like a live action video game. Our guide was terrific. The experience is unforgettable, if you are able to release your inner child- if you hate pretending then you will not like this spy adventure).

After the Spy Museum, we went to a Chipotle type restaurant- basic fill your stomach food- we both wanted food truck food, but we wanted air conditioning more!

With our tummies filled, we went to the National Portrait Gallery (free). I think this was my favorite art gallery.

I loved the space and the art!

The day was super hot and with afternoon rain expected, we headed back to the hotel for a break. We were starting to hit the sight-seeing wall. Our lunch was late and filling so we opted out of dinner, so we headed directly to the L’Enfant metro stop and to our Bike and Roll night Monument Tour ($45 pp- 3 hours- $40 per person with AAA) http://bikeandrolldc.com/tour/monuments-nite-bike-tour/

It was pouring rain- so we waited for the storm to pass. The company passed out rain ponchos and we biked on our merry way. We made it to 4 out of 8 monuments- unfortunately the ones Rose and I had already seen- but then it started to thunder and lightning (a bit scary, but look at the cool shadow of the Washington Monument on the clouds to the right!)

..so our tour group was taken back to the bike shop- we got a free 3 hour rental the next day (or we could have had a 50% refund- class act customer service!) I wish we could have done the whole tour, because our guide was so informative and it was awesome riding and NOT WALKING!!!

We took the metro home- soaking wet- but happy..stopping at a 7-11 store to pick up some hot dogs for a snack- this was our dinner!. (as you can see this was NOT a DC culinary trip!!)

Our last morning we packed our bags and put them in the hotel’s luggage hold room at 8:00a.m.. We had until 2:00pm to tour some more- so we went back to the bike rental place and got our kind-of-free bikes. We biked to all the monuments we had missed the evening before; Korean War memorial- remarkably eerie with its soldier staures and etched reflective wall

the Martin Luther King Jr. monument- stunning and gigantic

The Franklin D. Roosevelt monument- a large park like area with displays of his life

and the Jefferson Memorial on the other side of the tidal basin lake.

We could not have gotten to all these places without our trusty bikes! We turned the bikes in 2 hours later and then headed back the Air and Space Museum to see the bottom floor.

We returned to the hotel- got our bags and took the metro back to Union Station to take the train home. I LOVED DC…there were so many things to do and so many things STILL left to do.

When I return I would like to investigate more ethnic places to eat, I would get the tickets to go up the Washington Monument and possibly get a tour of the White House or the Capitol…. But it truly is impossible to everything in 4 days..In conclusion (lol) our trip was awesome and my niece, Rose was an excellent traveler. I am so proud that she mastered navigating the metro