Washington DC - The US Capital Wants YOU!
My dear friend Noah had asked me to keep a few days open in the beginning of April for a surprise he had prepared for my birthday. I figured we would be enjoying some local sites around
After arguing for 15 minutes while I packed my bags, I still wasn’t anywhere closer to finding out the truth. Why? Because Noah is a stubborn person! So we took the subway to Penn Station and headed towards a bus going to
Again I turned to Noah asking why we were going to DC. He refused to answer the question saying that it sounded like a fun place to go. Huh? I know it is the US Capital and all, but most people I had spoken to who had visited
We got there during the early evening, though there wasn’t much see at the bus terminal unfortunately, well, except for the usual things that you would expect to see at a bus station.
He came clean; we were there for the Tori Amos concert. Ah Tori, the woman who helps young women get through their womanly angst. Now it all made sense! All of a sudden
We didn’t have much time to get to the concert but Noah had done his research and knew what bus line would get us there.
Our stop was coming up and we pulled the cord three times, but the bus driver was giving directions to somebody sitting in the front seat. Which is great, but his primary role is to pick up people and then let them off; we wanted off. So we stood up and told him we needed him to stop, which he did. Then he apologized and gave us some advice: walk quickly and stay on the main road 15 blocks back and 4 streets up, this wasn’t a good neighborhood especially at night. With that he pulled away to finish his rounds. Not the kind of advice you want to hear while stranded in a strange city.
So we doubled back but Noah thought he knew a short cut. How he knew a short cut in DC when he had never been there before I will never know. Why I trusted him in the first place I will never know. But we went against the bus driver’s advice because Noah’s reason was we lived in NYC we could handle anything.
Famous last words, not even 5 minutes later we were lost and were trying to back track in the general direction he had pointed us to. We also realized that we were being followed by a shady character who was trying to match our pace and get closer to us. I began to panic but in a quiet fashion which usually consists of mumbling various four letter words under my breath. But Noah stayed calm and began to act like he was crazy and began having all kinds of physical ticks and convulsions to scare the guy off.
After a couple more minutes we came around the corner to see the concert hall in the distance. It was completely safe in this area. How was this possible? What a difference a few blocks can make.
After all the drama getting there, the concert was fabulous! It was so good, I didn’t even mind the 50 minute wait afterwards to get a taxi and had quit cursing the bus driver’s name. Noah had originally planned on us returning to NYC that night. It was 11:45PM, there was no way I was going back and I hadn’t seen DC. So we directed the cabbie to take us to a decent hotel for a cheaper price. He knew where to go, so we checked in.
But wait, we couldn’t sleep yet! So we left the hotel and headed out to the
Not five minutes later we were joined by a group of guys who had apparently had a few too many and wanted us to take their photo with the
The next day was promising as it was a beautiful morning and unlike the night before, the streets were teeming with people; normal people! Seriously, it was one of the bluest skies I have ever seen, please see the pictures if you don’t believe me. Incredible! And it was quite a contrast from the night before where the streets were completely deserted. It was kind of eerie how quiet it is a night, but Thursday means business as usually so we were back in the land of the living.
We began our trek to the White House just in case we ran out of time. You can’t miss the White House while in DC, no you really can’t; it is quite large! On our way there I grabbed a coffee as mornings are not my friend and made it over to the front gate.
There it was, in all its glory! Sure it was surrounded by a huge gate and I couldn’t get anywhere near it, but still, it was amazing, especially with a coffee in my hand to tame the morning chill.
Unfortunately we couldn’t stay at any place for too long because we were on limited time. So we decided we were fans of Abraham Lincoln and wanted to say “hi”. So off we went to see his memorial. On our way there we ended up on a trail that led us to a grove of trees. In front of us was a huge wall that stretched out a ways glistening in the late morning sun. What we had stumbled upon was the Vietnam Memorial Wall in the
Construction began on the The Vietnam Veterans Memorial or The Wall March 11, 1982 and was completed on November 11, 1984 at the cost $9,000,000 which was paid for entirely by private contributions.
This is a very touching piece regardless of your feelings on the Vietnam War. 58,256 people died during the years of 1961 to 1972; this number doesn’t hit home until you see it laid out on the simple black granite walls. These were individuals whose lives were taken prematurely before the prime of their lives and it is very sad and very humbling. There were so many people there the day we went, but it was so quiet that the only thing that could be heard was the sounds of birds in the nearby trees. This is such a simple yet touching memorial and definitely worth seeing if you go to
We were glad we were sidetracked by this piece and after twenty minutes we continued our journey towards the Lincoln Memorial. It is pretty close by to The Wall and very hard to miss.
Heading up the stairs, you feel as if you have stepped into Ancient Greece for a moment, except it was a lot chillier than I imagine
We decided to do a Where’s Waldo photo near the base of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for each of us before we both met at The Reflecting Pool. If I heard one more reference to Forrest Gump in regards to the Reflecting Pool that day, I may have gone ballistic. I feel the movie was overrated and that The Shawshank Redemption was the better film that year, but hey that is only my opinion and I am not the type to cause trouble. So I stayed calm and focused on the serenity of the pool and the reflection of the deep blue, cloudless sky bouncing off the top of the sparkling water.
There was a child next to me who was way to close to the water on his stomach. I had to keep an eye on as I leaned to down to stare into the water. I don’t know where the child’s parents were but he was making me nervous. Not that the pool is really that deep, 18 inches and the kid was about 9, but still his parents should be watching him. Though he did keep me entertained as he poked his hands through the water looking for fish.
Our last stop on the trip before we headed back to the train station was the Capitol Building which was all the way on the other side of where we were, but we didn’t mind, we would be sitting on our butts for the next couple of hours so we welcomed the hike. Unfortunately we didn’t get too close because we had to be back into NYC by a certain time to meet friends for dinner. Yep, it looked just like it does on TV; we were satisfied and moved on.
I really wished we had had more time in
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