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04-23-2006, 08:59 PM
Hurray! I have returned from a 4 night trip to Washington DC! Now, I know it ain't Disney, but there were quite a few pleasant surprises on the trip (especially on Day 4 ^_^). I will be doing it a day at a time, and soon I'll add some pics. Anyway... here it goes!
Day 1 (Tuesday): Around the Block... again and again and again...
We boarded our flight with little trouble (we used Southwest, those guys are hilarious) and they got us in 15 minutes ahead of schedule! A nice surprise already. Baggage claim took less that 15 seconds, and that's no exaggeration. They do that FAST! Next, we had booked a "cab" of sorts in advance, and immediately began our 45 minute trip from Baltimore to Downtown Washington DC. During our chat with the nice driver, we found out that the American History museum may close for rennovation for 2 YEARS! Obviously, we were going to make a point to go there (more on that later).
Okay, we arrived at our hotel, The Mayflower. It's a VERY nice hotel, and we had a room booked on the 9th floor. We went right up, did some slight unpacking, and decided to go out for lunch. The fare at the hotel didn't really please anyone, so we decided we'd head towards the White House and pick up lunch along the way. One member of my party (4 people including me) said the White House was to the right of coming out the hotel entrance, so we followed... and no White House.
Circling around, aimlessly, we couldn't find that darn White House! We also passed dozens of restaurants... but either the wait was ridiculous or one or more of us didn't want to eat there. Finally, we found a place called Luigi's Pizza.
Review: Luigi's Pizza
It's a small place, though it's on two floors. There's a hidden bathroom down a hall on the second floor... I had to ask to figure out where the heck it was. The food was alright, but I wasn't feeling my best. I didn't eat very much.
Rating: 7/10
By now, we figured out that we weren't going the right way (of course!). We started to get angry at each other, but finally shook it off and found the White House. It was so beautiful! Some Chinese protestors were standing to our left, and we got a few pics (coming soon).
Review: White House
There isn't much to say. It's abseloutley gorgeous, but we didn't have tour booked. It was still quite an icon.
Rating: 8/10
Next we decided to head over to the Mall to go to the Washington Monument. It was a very long walk... and I mean very long. We saw the monument (huzzah), but saw also the huge hill we had to climb to reach it. Ugh.
Review: Washington Monument
We ran up to buy tickets for an ascent up the famous pylon, and found out it was sold out. Ah well, we thought, we'll try tomorrow. Anyways, we admired the beauty of the monument.
Rating: 8/10
Below us, we saw three helicopters whirring away in front of the World War II monument. Stupid us, we didn't understand what these were (see below). Now, we were all tired, and thought perhaps a museum would refresh us. We headed to the Air and Space museum which I had heard so much about.... complete with another huge walk. Finally, we reached the huge metallic building...
Review: Air and Space Museum
After a 10 minute wait to get through security, we stood in awe staring at the HUGE planes and rockets. Then we went over to touch the piece of the moon... I was big time dissapointed. If there was no sign, I would've assumed it was a piece of plastic. Anyways, we headed down and saw several exhibits. Most were ho-hum. Honestly, I don't see what the big deal about this museum was. Pretty overrated if you ask me.
Rating: 5/10
Okay, so now we were all tired, hungry, and simply just wiped out. We finally realized walking was not the way to do it... but instead use the Metro! We entered the nearest station, and I was like... WOW! I have never been on a subway before... but I could've sworn I was getting into a Disney ride! We reached our hotel, exhausted, and plopped on our beds. We turned to the news... and guess what we saw! The president getting into a helicopter... in front of the World War II monument!!! The president was 100 meters from us and we didn't realize it!!! Ah!!! (lol)
Now, refreshed, we went to the Union Station for dinner. Amazing architecture! We ate at the Thunder Grill...
Review: Thunder Grill
It's a corner place, and not much theming. The food was kinda bad, and our server was cranky. Skip this one and go to Pizzaria Uno.
Rating: 3/10
Now we did a bit of shopping and returned to the hotel for the night. We watched Yours, Mine, and Ours via our on demand service. Pretty good movie.
Day 2 coming soon...
-skippyskippy
Day 1 (Tuesday): Around the Block... again and again and again...
We boarded our flight with little trouble (we used Southwest, those guys are hilarious) and they got us in 15 minutes ahead of schedule! A nice surprise already. Baggage claim took less that 15 seconds, and that's no exaggeration. They do that FAST! Next, we had booked a "cab" of sorts in advance, and immediately began our 45 minute trip from Baltimore to Downtown Washington DC. During our chat with the nice driver, we found out that the American History museum may close for rennovation for 2 YEARS! Obviously, we were going to make a point to go there (more on that later).
Okay, we arrived at our hotel, The Mayflower. It's a VERY nice hotel, and we had a room booked on the 9th floor. We went right up, did some slight unpacking, and decided to go out for lunch. The fare at the hotel didn't really please anyone, so we decided we'd head towards the White House and pick up lunch along the way. One member of my party (4 people including me) said the White House was to the right of coming out the hotel entrance, so we followed... and no White House.
Circling around, aimlessly, we couldn't find that darn White House! We also passed dozens of restaurants... but either the wait was ridiculous or one or more of us didn't want to eat there. Finally, we found a place called Luigi's Pizza.
Review: Luigi's Pizza
It's a small place, though it's on two floors. There's a hidden bathroom down a hall on the second floor... I had to ask to figure out where the heck it was. The food was alright, but I wasn't feeling my best. I didn't eat very much.
Rating: 7/10
By now, we figured out that we weren't going the right way (of course!). We started to get angry at each other, but finally shook it off and found the White House. It was so beautiful! Some Chinese protestors were standing to our left, and we got a few pics (coming soon).
Review: White House
There isn't much to say. It's abseloutley gorgeous, but we didn't have tour booked. It was still quite an icon.
Rating: 8/10
Next we decided to head over to the Mall to go to the Washington Monument. It was a very long walk... and I mean very long. We saw the monument (huzzah), but saw also the huge hill we had to climb to reach it. Ugh.
Review: Washington Monument
We ran up to buy tickets for an ascent up the famous pylon, and found out it was sold out. Ah well, we thought, we'll try tomorrow. Anyways, we admired the beauty of the monument.
Rating: 8/10
Below us, we saw three helicopters whirring away in front of the World War II monument. Stupid us, we didn't understand what these were (see below). Now, we were all tired, and thought perhaps a museum would refresh us. We headed to the Air and Space museum which I had heard so much about.... complete with another huge walk. Finally, we reached the huge metallic building...
Review: Air and Space Museum
After a 10 minute wait to get through security, we stood in awe staring at the HUGE planes and rockets. Then we went over to touch the piece of the moon... I was big time dissapointed. If there was no sign, I would've assumed it was a piece of plastic. Anyways, we headed down and saw several exhibits. Most were ho-hum. Honestly, I don't see what the big deal about this museum was. Pretty overrated if you ask me.
Rating: 5/10
Okay, so now we were all tired, hungry, and simply just wiped out. We finally realized walking was not the way to do it... but instead use the Metro! We entered the nearest station, and I was like... WOW! I have never been on a subway before... but I could've sworn I was getting into a Disney ride! We reached our hotel, exhausted, and plopped on our beds. We turned to the news... and guess what we saw! The president getting into a helicopter... in front of the World War II monument!!! The president was 100 meters from us and we didn't realize it!!! Ah!!! (lol)
Now, refreshed, we went to the Union Station for dinner. Amazing architecture! We ate at the Thunder Grill...
Review: Thunder Grill
It's a corner place, and not much theming. The food was kinda bad, and our server was cranky. Skip this one and go to Pizzaria Uno.
Rating: 3/10
Now we did a bit of shopping and returned to the hotel for the night. We watched Yours, Mine, and Ours via our on demand service. Pretty good movie.
Day 2 coming soon...
-skippyskippy