Froze our Toes in DC March 17-18
Mar 22nd, 2006, 10:54 AM
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Froze our Toes in DC March 17-18
I did some planning for this birthday weekend trip for DH here so thought I would report back:
3/17 - we arrived at the Vienna Metro station around 11:00 a.m. and (amazingly!) got a parking space in the garage and took the metro to DC, Smithsonian stop. I have to say the rule that you have to have the SmartCard to exit parking probably speeds things up a lot but it's weird that good old cash no longer cuts it.
Once downtown we walked in the chilly weather to the WWII memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korea Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and then back up for our timed entry to the Washington Monument. The monument's views were excellent and even though we thought they wouldn't turn out through the smudged windows, we took some photos--to our delight, they turned out quite nicely.
After the monument we walked past the White House and checked into our Hotel--Renaissance Hotel (Marriot Property) for $85/nt on Priceline. It was a really nice place to stay and although a bit of a walk from the sights, we didn't mind. The bed was fluffy and soft, the toiletries were nice (their brand is called "Lather"), and staff were helpful. We were only there one night and it worked out well.
After checking in we ate dinner (brought from home) and got ready to see Shenandoah at Ford's Theatre. The show was enjoyable (it was in previews) and I enjoyed it much more than the movie. DH was excited because Scott Baccula from Quantum Leap was the lead and we waited after the show and got his autograph (along with a throng of middle-aged women wearing buttons with Scott's face on them).
Then we ducked into a place to have a couple of drinks--nothing special, just McCormick & Schmicks because it was close and had really good St. Patrick's Day prices. Didn't get to try Tabaq because it is rather out of the way.
Off to bed anticipating our second day.
3/18:
Not a successful day. We went early to get tickets for a tour of the Capitol building. It was freezing and miserable and a bust. Our first tickets were for 10:20 but we couldn't use them because we had to be at the line for the White House tour at 11:45. So we tried to wait it out to see if we could get later ticket times (it's first come first served and distributed only in chronological order---why the heck don't they do the advance choose-a-time tickets like the Washington Monument??!!). By the time we left, they were only at 12:00 tickets, still too early. So we metro-ed back to the hotel to leave off all our belongings since we couldn't take anything into the WH and then off to the WH.
The White House tour was self-guided but cool--it's fun to say you've been in the White house.
We then grabbed some lunch and picked up our stuff from the hotel. We made a second attempt at Capitol tickets and by 1:00 they were totally out of all the tickets for the day - not surprising but still disappointing. So we will save that for another trip when we don't have a WH tour clogging up our schedule. At this point I was freezing, wind-burned, and miserable so we scurred off the the National Archives to see all the big documents. Fortunately, no line to see the important stuff so we just checked out the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration and took a brief look at the "public vaults" exhibit. By then we had had it with the weather and the walking and hopped on the metro back to Vienna.
All in all it was an ok trip but I think we'll plan for warmer weather next time (I told DH he needs to pick a new birthday date--one in summer or fall!).
Thanks for all the help from you fodorites. I will post a link to photos (nothing special but what the heck) tomorrow.
3/17 - we arrived at the Vienna Metro station around 11:00 a.m. and (amazingly!) got a parking space in the garage and took the metro to DC, Smithsonian stop. I have to say the rule that you have to have the SmartCard to exit parking probably speeds things up a lot but it's weird that good old cash no longer cuts it.
Once downtown we walked in the chilly weather to the WWII memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korea Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and then back up for our timed entry to the Washington Monument. The monument's views were excellent and even though we thought they wouldn't turn out through the smudged windows, we took some photos--to our delight, they turned out quite nicely.
After the monument we walked past the White House and checked into our Hotel--Renaissance Hotel (Marriot Property) for $85/nt on Priceline. It was a really nice place to stay and although a bit of a walk from the sights, we didn't mind. The bed was fluffy and soft, the toiletries were nice (their brand is called "Lather"), and staff were helpful. We were only there one night and it worked out well.
After checking in we ate dinner (brought from home) and got ready to see Shenandoah at Ford's Theatre. The show was enjoyable (it was in previews) and I enjoyed it much more than the movie. DH was excited because Scott Baccula from Quantum Leap was the lead and we waited after the show and got his autograph (along with a throng of middle-aged women wearing buttons with Scott's face on them).
Then we ducked into a place to have a couple of drinks--nothing special, just McCormick & Schmicks because it was close and had really good St. Patrick's Day prices. Didn't get to try Tabaq because it is rather out of the way.
Off to bed anticipating our second day.
3/18:
Not a successful day. We went early to get tickets for a tour of the Capitol building. It was freezing and miserable and a bust. Our first tickets were for 10:20 but we couldn't use them because we had to be at the line for the White House tour at 11:45. So we tried to wait it out to see if we could get later ticket times (it's first come first served and distributed only in chronological order---why the heck don't they do the advance choose-a-time tickets like the Washington Monument??!!). By the time we left, they were only at 12:00 tickets, still too early. So we metro-ed back to the hotel to leave off all our belongings since we couldn't take anything into the WH and then off to the WH.
The White House tour was self-guided but cool--it's fun to say you've been in the White house.
We then grabbed some lunch and picked up our stuff from the hotel. We made a second attempt at Capitol tickets and by 1:00 they were totally out of all the tickets for the day - not surprising but still disappointing. So we will save that for another trip when we don't have a WH tour clogging up our schedule. At this point I was freezing, wind-burned, and miserable so we scurred off the the National Archives to see all the big documents. Fortunately, no line to see the important stuff so we just checked out the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration and took a brief look at the "public vaults" exhibit. By then we had had it with the weather and the walking and hopped on the metro back to Vienna.
All in all it was an ok trip but I think we'll plan for warmer weather next time (I told DH he needs to pick a new birthday date--one in summer or fall!).
Thanks for all the help from you fodorites. I will post a link to photos (nothing special but what the heck) tomorrow.
Mar 22nd, 2006, 12:14 PM
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I am a Virginian so I know how lovely it was for the two previous weekends! I was deperately hoping for the same for our weekend but it was not to be.
I think cities just hate me--I have been to Boston, NYC, Phillie, and Vegas and was frozen in all! But country and international trips the sun shines on me like I'm a fried egg on the sidewalk!
I think cities just hate me--I have been to Boston, NYC, Phillie, and Vegas and was frozen in all! But country and international trips the sun shines on me like I'm a fried egg on the sidewalk!
Mar 23rd, 2006, 12:38 PM
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Anon. - Good question! We've been wondering it ourselves 
First, we grew up in NoVA and have seen our favorite Smithsonians numerous times. There's always more to see but nothing was really calling to us that day.
Second, It was one of those things where we waited in the a.m. because it seemed like we would eventually get to the times we wanted and we had already invested so much waiting time, why not wait some more. And some more. And some more. Lesson learned.
The p.m. attempt for tickets didn't really take up any time and was close to the Archives so there it felt like "no harm, no foul."
Certainly we'll plan better in the future and hopefully by sharing my mistake won't be someone else's mistake.
First, we grew up in NoVA and have seen our favorite Smithsonians numerous times. There's always more to see but nothing was really calling to us that day. Second, It was one of those things where we waited in the a.m. because it seemed like we would eventually get to the times we wanted and we had already invested so much waiting time, why not wait some more. And some more. And some more. Lesson learned.
The p.m. attempt for tickets didn't really take up any time and was close to the Archives so there it felt like "no harm, no foul."
Certainly we'll plan better in the future and hopefully by sharing my mistake won't be someone else's mistake.
Mar 27th, 2006, 05:29 AM
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Forgot to mention that we saw Marine 1 and Marine 2 right as we were at the monuments on the National Mall. It was great and we managed to snap a few pics. Here is a link for all the photos:
http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=7327...=SYE/otsi=SALB
http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=7327...=SYE/otsi=SALB
Mar 27th, 2006, 05:29 AM
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Hmm: Let's see if I can make is show up as a link:
http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=7327...=SYE/otsi=SALB
http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=7327...=SYE/otsi=SALB
Mar 28th, 2006, 09:14 AM
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Nice followup, and pix.
Try http://tinyurl.com/qtxn6 for the above link.
http://tinyurl.com is a great site that allows you to paste a Loooonnnnnggg URL into it, and it creates a "shortcut" more easily used in messages and message boards such as this.
Try http://tinyurl.com/qtxn6 for the above link.
http://tinyurl.com is a great site that allows you to paste a Loooonnnnnggg URL into it, and it creates a "shortcut" more easily used in messages and message boards such as this.
Mar 28th, 2006, 09:42 AM
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Schlegal1,
Looks like we were there the same weekend and in the same line for the Capitol! I referenced your report for weather in mine, hope that's OK.
It was indeed a chilly one! Thank goodness it was at least sunny! I saw that Shenandoah was playing, of course it was the Quantum Leap guy that caught my eye, I used to love that show! Glad you enjoyed it.
I've got to learn to use priceline! What a great price for your hotel. Glad you had fun!
Looks like we were there the same weekend and in the same line for the Capitol! I referenced your report for weather in mine, hope that's OK.
It was indeed a chilly one! Thank goodness it was at least sunny! I saw that Shenandoah was playing, of course it was the Quantum Leap guy that caught my eye, I used to love that show! Glad you enjoyed it.
I've got to learn to use priceline! What a great price for your hotel. Glad you had fun!
