Although Washington DC is obviously not part of New England, I have decided to do a review about it because its withing a day's drive of New England. Its our nation's capital. I personally think every American should visit Washington D.C. There is so much to see and do in D.C. In case anyone is thinking of visiting, I have been three times, I hope this post will help in planning. Since there is so much to see and do , I will break up my analysis of the place into a series of posts. I don't know how many, it depends on how much useless babbling I do ( like right now). First I will start with an overview of travel. I was going to start with writing about monuments which is way more fun to me, however, it would be much easier to read future writings is I explain how the tourist areas work.
It is an 8 hour drive from North Attleboro, MA to downtown Washington. I swear it is 7 but we always seem to get in traffic either in Baltimore, Delaware or the Beltway. I have left home at midnight to be at Arlington National Cemetery for 8 am. I have left at 5 am to be in D.C. in early afternoon. Always seems to take the same 8 hours.
We always stay in the heart of the city at the Hotel Harrington. It is about 3 blocks from Ford's Theater and the White House and 4 blocks from the National Mall. Hotel Harrington is the cheapest hotel in the heart of the city. Unfortunately no other hotels are even in the price range. The in season price for a queen bed is about ( gulp) $179. Most of the other hotels are about $300. When you wake up from passing out take a deep breath, get a glass of water and read on.
This is not an advertisement for Hotel Harrington. The rooms are small. It is over 100 years old.The rooms interior is old wallpaper. You know your not in a 5 star establishment. I am in the room for maybe an hour a day that I am not sleeping so I have no problem sleeping in a hotel with these faults. Like I said above, you can't beat the location and its the cheapest hotel around.
If you want to stay slightly outside the city, lodging is much cheaper. You will have the hassle of driving/ taxi into the city every morning. There is no doubt you could save a bundle of money, but with all the time commuting to the sites, that is up to you. It is a large city with a lot of red lights. It takes a long time to drive a couple of miles.
This leads to my next topic- transportation. Driving in Washington D.C. is a huge hassle. Once in the city we don't touch the car for the entire trip. We use our bikes. You could fight for parking spots all day, you can take the taxis to destinations ( a better option than driving) or you could be cool like me and bike ride. Every night we bring our bikes into the hotel. Management let us use there storage closet to store them. Every morning we pick up our bikes and are ready to go. This works out great for us. We have the freedom to go anywhere we want, don't have to hail a taxi, or worry about parking meters. Although there is probably a statute against it, we ride our bikes on the sidewalks. We take our time if there are pedestrians and cross the street when walkers have right of way. I feel its far safer than riding in traffic dodging morning commuters.
Most museums have bike racks and when there weren't any there was always a skinny tree or fence post to lock up too. Since most museums check backpacks we usually leave our backpacks in between the locked bikes, with the chain going through the straps. This way we can walk in without standing in that line. I figure the worst thing that can happen leaving the backpacks outside is someone steals my lunch. No one ever touched them.
It is an 8 hour drive from North Attleboro, MA to downtown Washington. I swear it is 7 but we always seem to get in traffic either in Baltimore, Delaware or the Beltway. I have left home at midnight to be at Arlington National Cemetery for 8 am. I have left at 5 am to be in D.C. in early afternoon. Always seems to take the same 8 hours.
We always stay in the heart of the city at the Hotel Harrington. It is about 3 blocks from Ford's Theater and the White House and 4 blocks from the National Mall. Hotel Harrington is the cheapest hotel in the heart of the city. Unfortunately no other hotels are even in the price range. The in season price for a queen bed is about ( gulp) $179. Most of the other hotels are about $300. When you wake up from passing out take a deep breath, get a glass of water and read on.
This is not an advertisement for Hotel Harrington. The rooms are small. It is over 100 years old.The rooms interior is old wallpaper. You know your not in a 5 star establishment. I am in the room for maybe an hour a day that I am not sleeping so I have no problem sleeping in a hotel with these faults. Like I said above, you can't beat the location and its the cheapest hotel around.
If you want to stay slightly outside the city, lodging is much cheaper. You will have the hassle of driving/ taxi into the city every morning. There is no doubt you could save a bundle of money, but with all the time commuting to the sites, that is up to you. It is a large city with a lot of red lights. It takes a long time to drive a couple of miles.
This leads to my next topic- transportation. Driving in Washington D.C. is a huge hassle. Once in the city we don't touch the car for the entire trip. We use our bikes. You could fight for parking spots all day, you can take the taxis to destinations ( a better option than driving) or you could be cool like me and bike ride. Every night we bring our bikes into the hotel. Management let us use there storage closet to store them. Every morning we pick up our bikes and are ready to go. This works out great for us. We have the freedom to go anywhere we want, don't have to hail a taxi, or worry about parking meters. Although there is probably a statute against it, we ride our bikes on the sidewalks. We take our time if there are pedestrians and cross the street when walkers have right of way. I feel its far safer than riding in traffic dodging morning commuters.
Most museums have bike racks and when there weren't any there was always a skinny tree or fence post to lock up too. Since most museums check backpacks we usually leave our backpacks in between the locked bikes, with the chain going through the straps. This way we can walk in without standing in that line. I figure the worst thing that can happen leaving the backpacks outside is someone steals my lunch. No one ever touched them.
You could also use the subway system to get around. There are stops near the Smithsonian and the Foggy Bottom stop is the closest to Lincoln Memorial. If your lodging is near a subway station, this might be the way to go. Just remember to do some research about what kind of neighborhood you are staying in. I have walked around the mall and our motel area after midnight and felt perfectly safe. I would be skeptical about the rest of the city. I would read motel reviews from travel websites just to double check on my safety.
Food- Georgetown area of D.C. is famous for upscale restaurants. Unfortunately getting a bite to eat or a cheap meal is a little difficult in the Mall area. The Smithsonians have cafeterias. The food is expensive and worse than that- the portions are small. If I'm paying $7 for a burger I want to get full. The food situation was so bad, that we were ecstatic when we found a Subway. We ended up eating lunch there a couple days in a row.
Right next to the parking garage that we kept our car in ( the one Hotel Harrington uses for its guests) there is a pretty good pizza and ice cream place. Next to Hotel Harrington is an ESPN Zone. Remember that all around the mall are government buildings and museums, when they designed the city our founding fathers didn't leave room in the plans for a future Applebees. If you are in the mall area at lunchtime, a little planning may be needed to keep your belly full and consequently continue enjoying your day. You could bring a lunch and leave it outside ( if you rode your bike like the cool kids! ). If you have a smaller appetite than me, you could buy food in a museum.
Another option are the tour buses. Washington DC is loaded with them. A quick internet search showed me they are between $ 30-40 a day but some have a second day free option. You can get on and off at there stops at will. Many of the buses are narrated so you can learn a little something while you are in them. There are many different companies and especially at night the monuments will have buses lined up by the dozen. If this is something you are interested in, it might be a good idea to do some internet research and see what is the best, convienent or cheapest option for you.
Okay, I have covered transportation and lodging and food now I at least get to talk about the city. Most of the tourist areas are around the National Mall. The mall is a grass lawn extending 2 miles from the Capitol Building to the Lincoln Memorial. It is maybe 1/4 mile wide. Around the mall are most ( not all ) of the attractions tourists want to see. The main monuments and most of the museums are around this rectangular piece of real estate. One thing many people are a little confused about is the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian Institute is not one museum but 14 in the city and 2 in New York. Many of the buildings are around the mall. Most of the government buildings that you want to visit are at the mall
Okay, I have covered transportation and lodging and food now I at least get to talk about the city. Most of the tourist areas are around the National Mall. The mall is a grass lawn extending 2 miles from the Capitol Building to the Lincoln Memorial. It is maybe 1/4 mile wide. Around the mall are most ( not all ) of the attractions tourists want to see. The main monuments and most of the museums are around this rectangular piece of real estate. One thing many people are a little confused about is the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian Institute is not one museum but 14 in the city and 2 in New York. Many of the buildings are around the mall. Most of the government buildings that you want to visit are at the mall
The link below is for the map I use around the city. I use it religiously. I print up a bunch of copies and put one in my pocket for bike rides. It is free and has never lead me off course.
www.aaas.org/dcwest.pdf
www.aaas.org/dcwest.pdf
I will leave this post with that. This way everyone that reads this can print up a map. When I talk about
specific areas you will be able
to reference back to the map for relative location
specific areas you will be able
to reference back to the map for relative location
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