Washington D.C. for a Week; Or the Best $22 Value I've Ever Received Traveling
 

This will be rather long. For two near-codgers we walked nearly a marthon a day and used our "laugh" muscles nearly as much as our legs. This was an entirely light-hearted trip for being such an active one- and so demanding physically. I'll never forget some aspects of this trip, and several of the many people we meet. After this trip, I'm up to more than 2 miles on the treadmill as a cypher.

Before I begin with details, I can not fail to report that native Washingtonians helped us and were EXTREMELY friendly and outgoing in all their information. One Metro worker after one question, left his booth, took a walk with us and personally showed us all the shortcuts to get our $22 for an entire week of Metro travel passes- to start our adventure- on the spot. AND WITH a joke routine and great good humor! And we would have taken the the $32 package as we didn't understand the "difference" as there are no explanations on the pull down menus at the actual machines. And that was just one of the delightful and helpful people we met. One of MANY.

We flew ATA leaving Midway Airport, Chicago to Reagan, W.D.C.- although we did have choice of United or American if we had gone to O'Hare. The trip was leave on a Wed., return on a Wed. Something I have never done before and plan to do again, if possible. The day we left there was heavy fog delays at both airports- O'Hare flights were hours behind or cancelled, yet at Midway the fog delay was lifted by mid-morning. Leaving 20 minutes late because of that issue, we arrived at Reagan on time. We were actually early for our 3 pm hotel check-in. We brought our Chicago weather to D.C. with us and all the forecasts for the entire week never realized their optimistic local predictions, and in fact,one day that said it would not, it DID sleet ice/rain for most of the day. The day before we left, Tuesday, was the only day it reached 47 or 48 and didn't precipitate or have gale winds.

But despite the weather, and with the help of the tremendous and wonderful underground Metro system we saw all this in 6 full days:

Mall- walked the entire thing and saw every single monument. This was the day that was supposed to be clear and we ended up buying two excellent umbrellas and eating serendipity near the Vietnam Memorial. Great wrap and gelato- who would have thunk it?? The gelato was a little grainier than Italy (they never get the same texture) but pistachio and excellent overall in taste.

This includes: White House, around the entire tidal basin almost to Haines Pt., Capitol Building, Lib. of Congress (2 out of 3 buildings), Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, WWII, Vietnam, Korean etc. We did this slowly- as my guy is a vet. It took from 10am to 5pm with a 3 hour "come back" on a later day for one more of the Lib. of Congress buildings, as well.

Arlington Cemetary: All of it, including doing many individual grave location (like Audey Murphy and some "old friends")searches, including two separate ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns, because we got to participate in a school's wreathing ceremony after we saw the Changing of the Guard hours before. Also viewed all the inside buildings and the "Faces of the Fallen" located in the "Women in the Military" a newer vast hall and associated Arlington Park, with movies and artifacts of women in past service and women in the service today. This day was 30 degrees and a gale wind, so to me it was the toughest day physically but my guy's favorite day of the vacation. We also spent a full hour in Lee's Arlington house with a docent who answered our endless questions on cisterns and "bathroom" etc. (We and 3 other people were there that entire time and she had on a hoop skirt- and I bet her she couldn't get up the top narrow staircase in it. She could.) We did the bus tour AND walked to JFK's, Columbia, etc. ourselves yet again once off the bus.

Basically that only covers about two of the days. I'll continue this report, and also do the restaurant and hotel review at the end of the entire. Sorry, it will need to be piecemeal, and that I can't transmit the spirit of this trip that just flowed with us there- and with others. I'm not sufficient or superlative enough in my writing skills to detail even fractionally the spirit and adventure that this trip entailed. Unusual for an urban one, YES!

Great report so far - looking forward to reading the rest!

Wonderful stuff. Looking forward to more.

Great report, JJ5! Looking forward to the rest of it! :)

Oh where do I start again?? This trip has about 4 inside jokes that are going to go/continue as long as we are both still upright!

One was that I started to look for a wool scarf around Thursday night and was not picky. Nada! Could have had panda ears a few times, if I had cut them off the kiddie/baby Panda knapsack hat I found! LOL!

Well, I packed PERFECTLY, and very light, all EXCEPT for the ear muffs and/or hoody scarf or any of my 20 great wool ones. Who would have thought I would need them in D.C.???? I didn't care if it had stars and stripes, or baby tigers on it! LOL! But I DID have the right coats- 2 of them. And great layers. And new shoes of two types that were perfect. The Eurosoles were from the gods. NEVER got any moisture on my feet, and never a sore spot- unbelieveable if you saw what we walked through overall and at what lengths.

Found a great place INSIDE and an outside dealer too (street vendor) on Tuesday in the bright sun when I didn't need the scarf or ear muffs anymore. LOL! Why didn't someone tell me there was an inside mall about 3 blocks from the Quincy???? Found that the last day too. LOL!

But apart from the scarf question. "Sir, do you know where I could purchase a scarf." (This lead me to a wisp of silk- NOT what I needed.) So I learned to alter my question quickly. AND I had had my old grey wool scarf ready to pack, and forgot to put it in because I moved my camera. Oh, it was really funny after a while. The scarf question.

Day zero: We arrive at the Quincy promptly and are told that it is too early to check in (it was only about 2:20pm) and so they took our bags and gave us a check for them, and off we went. We just started walking as the sun had come out- we found a good deli and had a quick corn beef on rye- excellent. I think it was called Jack's. And walked.

Found our Metro station at Farragut West immediately and scoped out our maps and started making plans. We had prebooked NOTHING or got tickets for nada on purpose. We wanted to have "an experience". We did. All good. Not a person who was sane was at anything. We had nearly every place to ourselves. People asked us several times. "How did you make it in?" Everyone acted like they were going through a National Disaster. We laughed and laughed. I never even got my socks or trousers wet. Hair only a couple of times!

Well by then we walked back to the Quincy, checked in and studied the place. Will tell you more in detail at the end, but our first impression was strangely CORRECT. Because it WAS so MIXED. Some things were perfection, others the pits. Room was huge, 4 times the size of a hotel room. Coffee pot, fridge, and very nice sectional couch area that was soft leathered matieral for laying around, reading, good table to eat on there etc. Beds were stupendous. Quality at the Westin Heavenly level with the same kind of superior linens and pillows. Good shampoos, top of the line glass containers with cotton balls, swabs etc. GREAT towels and a bathroom that was an 8 out of 10 with super powerful hot water. CLEAN!

BUT- there were several missing features that had been advertised and also the service people were vague and clueless. No one ever knew anything that was a solid fact. The pub below (Mackey's) and also a breakfast Recessions joint had good food, but weird hours. Recessions didn't even open on some days. A 4 star in some ways and a 1 or 2 star in others.

Well, we had the room. So after putting away our clothes in large closet with 4 star hangers/ pants hangers etc. and into a couple of nice dressers, we are off again. And we walk. As we figured we would get the Metro passes on the morrow, we wanted to check closer options. And we did. And ended up right in front of the White House.

Now a 1/2 hour discussion begins as HE insists it is the BACK of the White House and I insist it is the FRONT of the White House. I am right. Of course.

Both of us saw it as children (well, he was 19 and a bald recruit) so we remembered it as a thru street with lots of traffic and he always thinks big porches go on the front. So what can I tell you. We observed groups of media goings-on in various locations and especially at the staging place for the Washington's 250 (George the original's birthday anniversary)speak that had occurred and lots of comings and goings by the gates. Also lots of helicopter activity.

We went home/ went to sleep and prepared for the assault on culture.

This will be continued. But right NOW you should know that we never get up before 8:30 am and never really get out into the street before 9:30 am or 10:30am. Once it was 11:30am. He more than I; he is NOT a morning person. I sleep later too, anybody would if you had walked as much as I did- morning person or not. Talk about not needing a sleeping pill, I have the cure.

We hit AU BON PAIN every morning on the way to the Metro- grab coffee, he tries a different huge sandwich /meat/ pastry thingee every day. I grab fruit or a breadstick some days, and get a croissant more than a few times as well. Tried all different blends of the coffee. Great breadsticks for the stache in my purse and off we go. You should also know that on vacation we never eat more than twice a day. So I know when we both get into the "mission" mindset to take something to chew as I could end up on a mountain. (And I have.) About this time I realized I had brought two different gloves from the same type of black leather duos I have from Field's, but at least they are 1 right and 1 left. It really doesn't matter to any of this, but I think it is funny that no one ever noticed.

Hi there JJ5, I am so happy to hear you two got away for a week. Way overdue! I love your report and smiled as my grandson was in DC last summer (age 15). The most precious memories for him was Arlington Cemetary and the Lincoln Memorial. I almost was in tears when he described the Arlington Cemetary and his feeling
Your trip report is lovely and your joy shines through. Take good care!

Totally enjoyed your report. I was absolutely in love with Audie Murphy when i was a child, so grinned at the mention of our most-decorated soldier (Does that honor still stand??) So glad you had a good time. Isn't that city wonderful?!

JJ!! You're a gem and this report is just delightful. LoveItaly is right on, your joy is shining bright thru your words. Thanks for sharing the heartfelt reporting... we'll talk baseball another time... hahahahaha!>:D<

ps... <i>&quot;Now a 1/2 hour discussion begins as HE insists it is the BACK of the White House and I insist it is the FRONT of the White House. I am right. Of course.&quot;</i>

Too funny... :D

Be patient with me, lovely and kind people- I have outlined and will try not to wander, as we did so well.

I forgot two first arrival night events concerning God and wine. Looking for a liquor store on the walk back from our jaunt to the White House and a quick California Oven Pizza treat (we always do a chain the first night when we are bushed- as it is quick and painless)we ran right into St. Matthew/Mark or Marcus (Cathedral) and I went in and prayed and got ashes. Was in fine company as lots of elegant coats, suits in the restaurants/bars had smudgy brows that night. Ken loves to visit churches and walked around while I prayed. Of course, he wouldn't want the church to cave in if he did. (That's his joke, not mine.)

Liquor store was $$$, same exact wines twice as much as home. I bought a couple to use at the Quincy during the week.

Thursday was the large walking in the rain/snow &quot;mall&quot; day described in the first segment. That night we limped to Smith &amp; Wollensky down the block and I had a filet mignon on aspargus with a bernais crown. It was scrumptious, but I fell asleep after without even turning on the news or weather. Lincoln, FDR, Jefferson, WWII, Korean, and VN all too much in my mind. Kenny went back and spent some 1/2 hour with a Vet at the VN wall to keep him company, that we had talked to for awhile earlier. He says he goes out there for about an hour a day when the weather is bad as no one is there. He was retired too. Ken's favorite was the Korean. (He was in Korea.) I think my favorite was Lincoln and WWII. I had seen Lincoln before when I was 12, but with all the outward view now, it is even better.

We were all alone at FDR until someone came and we took their picture and they took ours posing in the statued &quot;bread&quot; line. I'll try to post it at the end, if I can. I'm rather machine/tech limited here.

Anyway- the people in the new (close to VN wall) snack shop who outfitted us with umbrellas, brought out the gelato etc. were very friendly and super to us. Plus with no one around they were bored- and I doubt many in other seasons get personal attention or to see all those memorials in the rather solitary way we did. In snow, in rain, in ice and sleet. And with sanitation all trying to keep the pathways clean- sporadically- and so SERIOUSLY for the amount of slush that was on the GRASS, for pete's sake. We laughed and laughed. More later about the clean up at/on the zoo day.

Friday we started the assault of the Smithsonians. I hit all that were open. We started with the Hirshb. (sp?)- the one that looks like a furnace's circular air filter. Sorry, I'm a provincial blue collar in many ways- you couldn't take it out of me in 100 more years of polish. Ken survived an hour there. I liked it and loved the ice gardens/ shapes with the weather particularly.

Then we hit Holocaust. No wait, handing out tickets as you came in. This and the Spy were the only two that had what I would call a &quot;half&quot; crowd. All the Art, and some of the Specialty, like Archives were virtually empty- or viewing another patron or small group once in about every third room.

I have been to memorials/ camps in Europe and Ken has worked with Holocaust survivors, so we knew what to expect and spent about 1-1/2 hours there. Metro again, Smithsonian exit, past Hirsh. to Air &amp; Space. I sit or do interactive while Ken spends 3 hours running air craft carriers or going behind the scenes where he isn't supposed to be.

Next we hit the Natural History, much more my speed, and spend about 2 hours on dinosaurs and gems (Hope Diamond) and also a great special exhibit on American Historical &quot;stuff&quot; (probably because the Amer. Hist. is closed for rennovation right now). I saw ruby slippers, Archie's chair, Jerry Seinfeld's puffy pirate shirt, and SO many other things. Loved it.

We Metro 3 stops back and get ready to go out to dinner, I am REALLY limping. This was the only day I did not wear my Eurosoles. We go to Luigi's for dinner. EXCELLENT and a rec from here and other sources. GREAT Veal Marsala, good wine, and Ken loves his clams etc. too.

Saturday was supposed to be warmer. It wasn't. It was colder and windier and that was all Arlington. Longer ride out past Pentagon City on the Metro. By now I am finally get expert on locating that magic pass effortlessly(you just CAN'T purse it everytime) and ripping it in the front and out of the top like everyone else. You do this routine when you enter AND when you exit. If you are old or slower, you get on the right side of the steps on the escalators because they are running up/down the other sides. Very, very different than Chicago, NYC or anywhere else I have been. This is better. More like a spider with excellent long legs and not a grid going just some one place somewhere.

Sometime around Friday, I put down my first commandment that despite being walked to death (but I love it- as he is better than ANY personal trainer)- I refuse to ride backwards. He finally gets what I mean by Saturday and we face forward from then on. Sorry, I want to see where I'm going and signs -not where I've been.

Also around now we are getting to talk to people more as we are making jokes about the superior train conductors, announcements etc. compared to what we &quot;know&quot; (a Chicago southside el is NOT the same experience). Some of the conductors are perfect, some are low talkers, some are mechanical.
For years I will think of certain sights when I hear &quot;Stand Back, the door is about to open. Move to the Center of the car upon entering. Stand Back.&quot;

Hey, I got him on the train/ subway about 40 to 50 times. But I feel I will never get him on the bus. Tried once this time to Georgetown, but no. He refuses. One out of 2 ain't bad.

Also kept him out of any private personally owned vechicle for 8 days. That has to be the record. No boats, no riding lawn mowers, no cars, no motorcycles, not even a 4 wheeler or snowmobile or jetski. I wonder if it will ever happen again!

Saturday next: will be more Smithsonians, Archives, Spy, Ford's Theatre, and some REAL wanderings and getting lost. Also going to the movies at night to see The Astronaut Farmer, so I could sit down a couple of hours. LOL!

This is the day I convince him (on walked to Dupont Circle before the show) that there IS another Red line Metro station NEARER at Farragut North. Up until then he has been a wizard on the Metro but from then on, we didn't need to do the MetroCity transfer to another train, and we were total three or four line Metro fools. One time I even made him get up and out at Foggy Bottom just to see what was there. LOL!

Sorry outline failure ahead: on the Mall day we also got to the top of the Washington Monument. Tickets being given out there with times on the hour, but they took you immediately despite what the time read. I'm SO glad I did not get these with service charges ahead of time on line. The only people who ever waited were the first hour people. The guide also stopped the elevator about 3 or 4 times coming back down so that we could observe the stones or placques through the slotted windows, from 100s of communities, states, countries, etc. placed in the inside walls.

Every single venue we entered was free, and all required a purse inspection and/or a xray run through as well. Everyone was pleasant and did this with grace and humor. Also, at the Art once, they let us in a handicapped exit as she (guard) saw that we would have to enter the building by a 2 block walk and as it was blizzarding, she did the inspection there.

Also forgot that after the Air &amp; Space we did a short hour in the first of the Art Gallery buildings. We saw primarily 14th to 17th Century. I got my picture taken next to the only DaVinci outside of Europe. The second National Art Gallery building we did the Archives/ Spy day.

And first award goes here, if I forget at the end for the black marble bathrooms and central live flower gardens at hall junctions in the National Art Gallery. Overall top award for glorious out of all the public and private buildings we saw in D.C., IMHO, hands down. I love black marble bathrooms of that ilk, with full to the floor wooden doors and many other luxurious features. Bella, bella!

I would have went back there that night for the jazz but for getting involved with Nationals' fans at the Chop House. More about that later.

Also forgot- Ken loved the Korean monument the best because of the monument's terrain authenticity and wonderful representation of their exact snap ponchos and thought it got the spirit of the actual the most correcly.

Sunday: Smithsonian stop again on the Metro, but only on the way there. We walked so much that we ended up coming back on another entrance and on a totally different line.

This day started out sunny and &quot;nicer&quot; but ended up with solid rain/ice, turned to ice coming down- and we were super glad we had brought our new umbrellas. The last 3 hours in the evening we were out, it was like walking in snow cone material piled to over your ankle bone height. This is not a Chicago type of snow, and it was weird to walk on. Almost like walking on inclines in the sand dunes.

This day we asked questions of others and got wrong information from several groups (some were tourists) or venue owners more than we got right information. Two people told us the Spy was NOT where it was and it was also wrong on one of our maps, but we did view some Art Gallery inside (ah the live flowers), and the outsides of National Portrait Gallery (this closed for remodel/changes)as well as a wonderful (my very favorite) 2 plus hours in the Archives on the way to &quot;looking&quot; for other things.

Archives had several special exhibits on memory, inspiration, and imagination- that I absolutely loved. Also the room with all the documents from USA political history is not to be missed. IMHO, the entire trip to D.C. is worth it for this alone, if you had no interest in anything else. We met people from Germany, France, and several Eastern European countries here too.

What is mind-boggling to me, re 2007 era politics and media interpretation of most of these original papers re our constitutional beginnings and Amendment years etc. is the number of times each of probably 80 to 100 &quot;originators&quot; mentions God or some aspect of God's place in free will etc. as a primary foundation stone or inspiration.

The &quot;separation&quot; of Church and State is formalized in words to inclusion in STRUCTURE and ORGANIZATION, not even close on/for intent and context. A totally, totally different mindset from today's. Way past the Civil War times, positive possibility and belief in God by different forms and names, are foremost in all legal wording and documentations.

We also go to Ford's Theatre and view that exhibit next door. LOVED it. Now I'm absolutely going to Springfield, IL again next summer. Would you believe they (the crowd at both his death room and on the way) ripped materials right off his coat and lace from Mary's dress right there that night for &quot;souvenirs&quot; and that all his opera glasses, gloves, etc. were all just dropped in the meyhem!

Then we went to the Spy- where we paid $16 each. Only entrance fee for this entire trip for museums or zoos or any public domain venue was here at the Spy. This was a private venue. Many others enjoy the Spy, but it was my least favorite. Ken was almost on the same page. It was very commercial and we knew 80% of the stories and histories already. I did like the Hanson &quot;theatre&quot; and history at the end. Learned quite a bit there.

I read a lot and Ken is an expert on almost anything electronic or mechanical, so I found that some of the &quot;stories&quot; were actually quite wrong. Although Mata Hari being a complete failure as a spy is one of the correct ones. Some of those locks would be a piece of cake to Ken. It's a good thing for all of us, that he didn't take the wrong road. I tell his daughters to be careful with any gizmo that he may give them, because you never know who will be listening! LOL!

I had a real taste for Mexican and we passed by the Hotel Monaco (went in to look) and several classy restaurants, but I noticed this ONE really eclectic designed one on the way to Spy. We walked back there and it was closed for a &quot;private party&quot;. So we were going to head over to Jaleo (not far)but then we saw an interesting looking Brewery. Ken wanted some good beer, so we went there first. It was called Chop House Brewary &amp; etc. Well, it was better than GOOD and everyone was super friendly. I had an excellent tenderloin salad on baby greens, a great dark red beer, and some other appetizers. Ken had the only hamburger of his trip and some other appetizers. All was 9 out of a 10 scale. Just as we got our entree, about 50 people piled in from the Verizon Center. They had on Capitol's sweatshirts and jerseys etc. Also a large contingency of National's fans. We had a delightful couple of hours trying brews and talking to the fans.

Ah, if I was younger. Male hockey fans rule! This, and the night at Mackeys, I doubt that there were any around us that were closer than 20 years to our ages, maybe 30 years younger. But they were friendly and very accepting.

Also our server here at Chop House was an EXPERT at his job. He was from NYC and ask us about 20 questions about Chicago. We went to the bar and had another with the crowd, then went home on the Metro.

This night was the ultimate test for my Eurosoles. I'm going to write them and tell them how GOOD they were. Ken's are still soaked. It was a good thing he had other good shoes for after that night.

Wow, fabulous report. Too bad Fodor's doesn't pay by the word -- and I've read every one. You folks are my kind of travelers, which makes this more fun.

Please excuse my typos and noun/verb disagreements etc. I edited quickly at night or not at all, mea culpa!

Monday we went to the zoo. Left earlier than usual (about 9:30am) and it was supposed to be a nice clear day. Well, at least it was less windy than the day before- which had been at a level where it was hard to speak. LOL!

After several stops (Hey, I want to see what is on THIS line) of getting on/off the Metro- we get, by way of Georgetown and some University scoping out, to the Woodley Exit. We walk to the zoo, uphill- as I TOLD HIM it would be (as one of you smart posters had warned me) but he would not wander to Cleveland Park with me first. He is a ZOO PERSON, a former Brookfield Zoo docent and we are Brookfield Zoo members- so he was chomping at the bit.
Regardless, mountains do not stop us, so how would a slight 4 block incline! LOL!

It was a wet day and everywhere in the zoo there were more sanitation people than patrons. They were scooping up the slush (not even snow by our standards) INTO TRUCKS with small machinery to take it away. hahahhahahha! Some of the walkways were closed with signs and cones because they had bridges that MAY get slippery. Warning: this never stops Ken- a bad boy in this way since he has been born, according to his dear Aunt Ad.

Ken asks them why they do not just push it over as it will be melted very shortly. They are picking it up everywhere in the city, EVEN WHEN IT IS ON THE GRASS!! We are flummoxed.

The zoo takes us at least 4 solid hours. We spent at least 1 hour in the bird house. He is a raptors person, but this one is good and a free flying room of size at the end. We miss Sydney. I ask for scarf vendors. We find panda hats- all wrong size. We laugh. We take lots of digitals re baby tiger and snowballs. Hilarious.

We have all three pandas to ourselves for about 1/2 an hour until some others come. The baby won't get out of his tree and we watch the Mom eating whole trees herself. It is amazing. She snaps them off like twigs (4 inches across trunks, for God's sake) with a large CRACK and them sticks them right down chomping like a wood chipper- FAST. She eats an entire tree in about 20 minutes. They eat 44 lbs of trees/leaves bamboo every day each minimum. Little nutrient value, but what a noise! They LOVE the snow- the male is digging in it and having a ball.

We follow the Omstead Trail and do every single inch- even spending my required time at the merkats. I am a merkat freak, and am SO HIGHLY rewarded by finding a corner that houses a burrow. We see one 3 or 4 inch long infant come out, shivery- hardly walking yet. His/her mates still won't show their noses- are deep under the stones.

We find Ape houses and the skyway used for the orangutans. I find my little girl they took from Brookfield. I feel bad because she is downsized and went from a 4 star to a 1 or 2 star accomodation. I hope the guy ends up being worth it. I doubt very much that he will.

We see the Asian Elephants, as we are totally connected to African, we find them interesting and wish they had a little more room. It's coming, we see.

We leave the zoo and I see a liquor store on the way back to the Metro. I only want some batteries. We stop at 2 stores, and I find a huge selection of wonderful wine at &quot;home&quot; prices NOT in downtown Washington D.C. I buy an excellent Pinot Noir for our last few nights.

We get on the Metro and head back toward &quot;home&quot; at the Quincy. Now is a good time to dish the dirt on the inside Quincy &quot;jokes&quot;.

Look here soon for that and the final days in Alexandria and on King Street.

I'm loving reading your report! I'm going to DC with a friend in April, and am wondering where this liquor store is? We'll be in the area. I'm ok paying &quot;city&quot; prices, but cheaper(er) wine makes me happy!

Thanks!

bethke14- Right straight across the street from the main entrance to the Zoo there is a drug store and strip of stores- with the liquor store in question being one. By the way, I loved that neighborhood. We walked all over looking at the colors/rehabs etc. Many walk-ups there, block long with NO sideage. As we say in Chicago, &quot;Where's da gangway?&quot; College town atmosphere around those parts and lovely vintage places too. Not enough light and windows for me though.

Wonderful report!

I'm really enjoying your report JJ5. The two of you are so intrepid!

Thanks JJ5! I love touring cool neighborhoods, and it seems that DC has plenty - we're staying in Embassy Row, and are looking forward to walking around there as well. Maybe Georgetown too - wish I was staying longer than 2 days!