Hi,

We are planning to take the Washington by moonlight tour on old-town trolley on July 6 night. I guess it starts at 7:30 from Union-station and lasts 2-1/2 hours. Assuming , the tour ends at 10:00 PM near Union staion , what are the best ways of reaching our hotel at that time . We are staying at Hotel Melrose , near Washington Circle at Foggy Bottom.

Definately want to cab it unless there is a metro terminal inside Union station. I think it might be a few blocks thought. The surrounding area is definately bad. A cab driver told me he does not even like to drive through it and fears carjakings. Not sure where you are from but he said occationallly someone will have a brick thrown threw there windo.

Insid Union Station is nice with restaurants, movie theatres and shops.

There's a metro station at Union Station.

Union Station metro is on the Red line - take it to Metro Center (3 stops), where you need to transfer to the Orange/Blue line. Then you take Orange/Blue 3 stops to Foggy Bottom. The area immediately around Union Station is fine at night, just be aware of your surroundings as you would in any city.

I don't know why they are calling this a "moonlight tour" since it will be full daylight for most of it. It starts getting dark around 8:40 or 8:50, but it's not really dark until after 9:00. They wait until 9:10 or 9:15 before starting the fireworks (on the Fourth, of course).

I thought that term moonlight tour was kind of funny, also, but maybe the last hour will have some moonlight. Well, you can take the metro as someone advised, but at that time of night, if you're tired, you might just take a cab for convenience. DC cabs are fairly cheap within that area and splitting the costs between at least two people, it shouldn't cost that much. Chaning metro trains etc can take up time and energy. It's real easy to get a cab at Union Station, also. The area NE of Union Station (or directly east) is the bad part, that might be what some driver was referring to. Anyway, it's moot as there is a metro stop right there.