We arrive in DC straight from the comfy Amtrak train and headed straight for the connecting subway. We need to buy a metrocard, one similar to an Oyster card, annoyingly having to put $2 per card down so $10 only got us $8 worth of money. It’s rush hour and busy but nothing which can phase us, we have a plan and a map! We jump 2 trains and then land at Columbia Heights, a smart young suburb of DC where our apartment is. We exit the subway in Columbia Heights and make our way 5-10 mins to the apartment. We have only a code to let us in which felt weird just walking into what we thought and felt was someone's house. We arrive and annoying work out our flat is on the top floor by this time in the 28 degree heat both with a bit of a sweat on, we head up the stairs to the lighthouse room and find a large, spacious and comfy room with two double beds, small kitchen all very nice just a little dated. We start to poke around and plan our stay. One good point is that we have laundry machine for only $1 dollar, a small basic kitchen and a fridge, izzi immediately starts to plan some washing even though we have only been away for 5 days! We also decided to head to the supermarket to get some fruit, cereal and milk for breakfast which makes a healthy change from the usual fast food which is prolific in the USA, it seem very possible you could go through your entire life without the need for a knife and fork! After a delicious meal, knife and fork included, we settle down and plan the next few days before going to bed.
The first day arrives and after a decent sleep and a good breakfast of cereal & fruit we head out, today we plan on walking The Mall, the White House and seeing the National Monument (the iconic big obelisk). We catch the subway and start walking down the Mall. One thing to note is how modern the subway feels, its massive, spacious, air conditioned and efficient. Not having the historic restrictions and age of London or even New york this feels well designed and well thought out. We jump a few tubes then arrive, the first thing which hits us is how big everything is and how much land it covers. Later on after walking for several hours we have covered nearly 8 miles just walking around.
We walk down the Mall passing monuments and museums, the only one we venture in is the American History Museum both looking for a bit more context to our trip and hopefully to fill in some gaps in our knowledge of American culture and history. As with New York history it only spanned back to back to the late 1600’s which doesn't feel all that old but it does seems to have a fairly vivid and tremulous history especially during the early stages with mass expansion, slavery, colonial and civil wars which unfortunately seems to highlight the fact America and the west has been involved in war of some sort for many decades. One interesting section was on the Vietnam war, one which brought huge similarities and massive difference when compared to the vast amount of things we saw in Laos, Cambodia and obviously Vietnam. Asia portraying and giving and much different view on the war and its outcome, one thing for sure is thats it was horrific on both sides. Interestingly not much of a mention about the bombing of Laos which we saw first hand the damage that this still causes throughout various parts of the country due to mines and unexploded ordnance.
We carried on down the Mall stopping for a nice bite to eat before heading on to the White House. Once we arrived, we were soon ushered away from the building by secret service which due to some “security issue” when asked was pushing back its perimeter. Unfortunately this stopped us getting too close but not to worry we still walked around and got some good pictures. Due it not being high season luckily everything feels quiet and not busy, we haven't had too much trouble anywhere and it's been nice to not be swapped by other tourists.
We headed towards the monument which felt a lot bigger up close then down towards the reflection pool and the famous Abraham Lincoln memorial. On the steps of the memorial a large group gathered protesting against voting rights injustice, an ideal and icon place to be having such a protest. The last part was to head down the river and around a large lake which produced some wonderful photos of looking over the National Monument with its reflection in the lake. The clear weather and near 30 degree heat had finally taken it out of us, we headed back via a supermarket for a drink to chill out for an hour or two before going for food. We decided today would be BBQ day and headed to a local BBQ restaurant which had a “Rib Tuesday” special, a favourite of my own. We got some taste BBQ meats and luckily only one portion of fries to share which actually was more like a small bucket you would take to the beach. A few drinks later and full of homemade BBQ we headed back for a good sleep.
On the Wednesday we awoke and decided to do a few more jobs, booking hotels/hostels for both Charleston and Hilton Head, our next destinations, also picking a plantation to visit when driving between the two places. Today as we had covered the main attractions we wanted to see we planned to go on a DIY walking tour called “Gentle Georgetown”, a lonely planet walking tour through a affluent historic colonial suburb which today is peppered with old neo classical and colonial buildings from the 17-18th century.
The walk covered parks, cemeteries (which we liked) as well as a visit to Tudor Place with a tour ($10 p/p) around the historic house built and designed by one of the original architects of Washington. Classed as one of America’s first National Historic Landmarks, it was built by a granddaughter of Martha Washington and a son of Robert Peter, a prominent Scottish-born tobacco merchant, landowner and Georgetown’s first mayor, original purchased with the inheritance of George Washington himself. The house was well kept and interesting, our guide was a nice and welcomely lady and luckily we only had one other German couple in the tour so it felt like we had the whole house to ourselves. The house was littered with hundreds of antiques most of which were English in origin, something which contrasts the history of the city, all of which were as exquisitely well kept as the 8 ½ acre gardens which the house sits one.
We trekked back through the genteal and leafy streets passing high end brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Hugo Boss & Ralph Lauren to venture to see the stairwell where the original Exorcist was filmed. We were nearing the end of the walk and headed back to the subway via a famous cupcake shop called “Baked & Wired” getting back about 6ish. For food we headed to a Mexican bar both ordering some small and different eats however both slightly surprised when another sandwich esq meal turned up, no cutlery required for a change, it tasted good though!
The walk covered parks, cemeteries (which we liked) as well as a visit to Tudor Place with a tour ($10 p/p) around the historic house built and designed by one of the original architects of Washington. Classed as one of America’s first National Historic Landmarks, it was built by a granddaughter of Martha Washington and a son of Robert Peter, a prominent Scottish-born tobacco merchant, landowner and Georgetown’s first mayor, original purchased with the inheritance of George Washington himself. The house was well kept and interesting, our guide was a nice and welcomely lady and luckily we only had one other German couple in the tour so it felt like we had the whole house to ourselves. The house was littered with hundreds of antiques most of which were English in origin, something which contrasts the history of the city, all of which were as exquisitely well kept as the 8 ½ acre gardens which the house sits one.
We trekked back through the genteal and leafy streets passing high end brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Hugo Boss & Ralph Lauren to venture to see the stairwell where the original Exorcist was filmed. We were nearing the end of the walk and headed back to the subway via a famous cupcake shop called “Baked & Wired” getting back about 6ish. For food we headed to a Mexican bar both ordering some small and different eats however both slightly surprised when another sandwich esq meal turned up, no cutlery required for a change, it tasted good though!
We awoke early on the penultimate morning heading for a organised day trip to Gettysburg, we arrived and immediately felt like it was a tour for an older crowd but this doesn't bother us and got talking to a Canadian couple in the queue for the bus. As we didn't know the full details and foresaw an expensive lunch stop somewhere we had brought a homemade pack up of sandwiches for our lunch. We arrived after an or hour or two on the bus and were swiftly taken around a old house where the tour guides dressed up and acted as if they were from the 1800's when the battle happened, the tour was average in my opinion which I didn't really gain much from. We then headed for lunch and enjoyed a slightly warm ham & tuna sandwich in the blazing near 30 degree heat in a small outlet style mall with a Christmas tree shop and a large number of plus size clothing shops, bizarre combo!
Once we actually arrived at the battle field we were shown a short film narrated by no other than Morgan Freeman which was very interesting and a good introduction for those which don't know much of the battle or the civil war. After the film were shown something which we had never heard of, the cyclorama of Gettysburg, a huge oil painting detailing the battle which took place, after this a trip around the museum geared us for an actual guided tour.
Tomorrow we fly to Charleston, leaving the organised nature of the first part of the trip hitting the road on the trek down to the keys before flying back in 2 1/2 weeks....time is going too fast as per usual on these trips!
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