Nitemare
Lifer
What's Hot
Rail system is excellent, clean and efficient and open from 7AM to 3AM Friday and Saturday nights
Only encountered 2 beggars (We have them at virtually every intersection here. Maybe the cold weather will make them go away...yes I know that was bad)
Looks really safe at night in the touristy spots
Monuments, memorials and museum's are excellent (I highly recommend the Holocaust museum especially to someone that does not know that much about it), FDR park, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean & Vietnam war memorials, National Air & Space museum are all highly recommended
Street Merchants have some great deals on food, clothing and souveniers (3 T-Shirts for 10 bucks, nice sweatshirts for 18, set of thinsulate gloves for 5)
All the people were pretty friendly and helpful
What's Not
Traffic is worse than Phoenix rush hour. About as bad as San Diego on a bad day and this was at 6 PM on Sunday night
North DC was in fairly bad condition, lots of abandoned buildings and vehicles, graffiti, and barbed wire
The hour and a half we waited to get in to the National Archives
The hour we waited to get into the National Air and Space museum
Not being able to get to the permanent display at the Holocaust museum on the first day after waiting an hour to go through the metal detectors and arriving 3 hours before it closed
Not being able to walk up to the Washington Monument(had to get free tickets) even though we were there 5 hours before it closed
Not being able to get into the International Spy museum even though we were there 3 hours before it closed.
The food @ Union Station's Panda Bowl(local food court at mall has cheaper and better), the fries at Steak & Shake...literally and soggy, the lamb gyro from a Greek place there...literally
The food at Broadway Diner in Rockville except the Black Angus burger (Turkey burger was processed meat, fries were the kind you could find in the frozen food section of grocer)
The Best Western in Rockville, it was the cheapest but never again..not convenient to anything, restaurant closed at 9PM on a Saturday night, had to walk 2 floors to find a working ice machine, only one outlet in the bathroom, and only one half of an outlet(lamp in one of them) in the room
Who's bright idea was it to put traffic lights on the corners of intersections?
After further review. Things I will do better next time
Don't carry any metal, pretty much all museums have metal detectors. Take or rent a bicycle and spend the first few hours getting tickets. I bet we walked 8-10 miles the first day(I have plantar fasciitis so my puppies were howling). Stay in a different hotel. Ask the locals where is a good place to eat (alot of Asians in Rockville, hopefully one can guide me to one that has better food than the mall food court), drive up early Saturday(60-65 a night is too much to pay for a place in which all you do is sleep and shower), bring more cash for the street vendors (alot better deals than the souvenier shops)
Over all it was a really pleasant trip. My only real knocks are on the horrid hours and limited tickets at some attractions and the hour plus wait to get through metal detectors
Rail system is excellent, clean and efficient and open from 7AM to 3AM Friday and Saturday nights
Only encountered 2 beggars (We have them at virtually every intersection here. Maybe the cold weather will make them go away...yes I know that was bad)
Looks really safe at night in the touristy spots
Monuments, memorials and museum's are excellent (I highly recommend the Holocaust museum especially to someone that does not know that much about it), FDR park, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean & Vietnam war memorials, National Air & Space museum are all highly recommended
Street Merchants have some great deals on food, clothing and souveniers (3 T-Shirts for 10 bucks, nice sweatshirts for 18, set of thinsulate gloves for 5)
All the people were pretty friendly and helpful
What's Not
Traffic is worse than Phoenix rush hour. About as bad as San Diego on a bad day and this was at 6 PM on Sunday night
North DC was in fairly bad condition, lots of abandoned buildings and vehicles, graffiti, and barbed wire
The hour and a half we waited to get in to the National Archives
The hour we waited to get into the National Air and Space museum
Not being able to get to the permanent display at the Holocaust museum on the first day after waiting an hour to go through the metal detectors and arriving 3 hours before it closed
Not being able to walk up to the Washington Monument(had to get free tickets) even though we were there 5 hours before it closed
Not being able to get into the International Spy museum even though we were there 3 hours before it closed.
The food @ Union Station's Panda Bowl(local food court at mall has cheaper and better), the fries at Steak & Shake...literally and soggy, the lamb gyro from a Greek place there...literally
The food at Broadway Diner in Rockville except the Black Angus burger (Turkey burger was processed meat, fries were the kind you could find in the frozen food section of grocer)
The Best Western in Rockville, it was the cheapest but never again..not convenient to anything, restaurant closed at 9PM on a Saturday night, had to walk 2 floors to find a working ice machine, only one outlet in the bathroom, and only one half of an outlet(lamp in one of them) in the room
Who's bright idea was it to put traffic lights on the corners of intersections?
After further review. Things I will do better next time
Don't carry any metal, pretty much all museums have metal detectors. Take or rent a bicycle and spend the first few hours getting tickets. I bet we walked 8-10 miles the first day(I have plantar fasciitis so my puppies were howling). Stay in a different hotel. Ask the locals where is a good place to eat (alot of Asians in Rockville, hopefully one can guide me to one that has better food than the mall food court), drive up early Saturday(60-65 a night is too much to pay for a place in which all you do is sleep and shower), bring more cash for the street vendors (alot better deals than the souvenier shops)
Over all it was a really pleasant trip. My only real knocks are on the horrid hours and limited tickets at some attractions and the hour plus wait to get through metal detectors
