Day 6 - Washington DC

Today was the last day in town and the last day of my trip...seems like I've been gone for about a month. I'm really ready to be home.

It was a beautiful day...clear, sunny and a little chilly...about 42 degrees to start off. I grabbed breakfast at the hotel...pretty good too...with along with a bunch of other tourists and then headed for the subway station. Unfortunately for me, the Metro system was having some track repairs today so they were operating on only one track on certain routes...yep, you guess it, mine was one of them.

After waiting about 20 minutes, my train finally came and I rode downtown to the Smithsonian area. I started walking toward the Washington Monument, intending to go to the top and then head down to the Vietnam Wall and Lincoln Memorial...since I would be so close. As I approached the monument's base I noticed signs telling visitors that they must have a timed ticket for admission. Not really knowing what that meant, I continued up to where everyone was standing so I could ask a Park Ranger about tickets. Then, I noticed metal signs stuck to the doors saying all the tickets for today had been distributed...no trip to the top of the Washington Monument today.

I took some pictures and headed down the hill towards the Lincoln Memorial. As I started that way, I noticed a huge group of people walking along the sidewalk to my right. I thought it must be some sort of demonstration...and the way my luck was running this morning I figured they were headed to the Lincoln Memorial. I decided to continue on my way and deal with the crowd when, and if, it became necessary. I merged with the crowd...which included several midshipmen from the Naval Academy...and as I walked along started to read the signs and t-shirts the folks were wearing. To my relief, it wasn't a demonstration...at least not a political one...it was a march for autism, and they turned off at the next street and circled back around towards the capital.

On the way to the Lincoln Memorial, I stopped at the WWII Memorial...I had never been there before. It is really nice memorial, set at the end of the Reflecting Pond between the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. Today, there was a group of WWII veterans being escorted to the memorial. There aren't many of them left and they're dying at an alarming rate so it was nice to see some of them get to visit the memorial.

I walked along the Reflecting Pond to the Lincoln Memorial, took a few pictures, and then headed to the Vietnam Memorial where I got a rubbing done by the people there. I have a rubbing from one of the traveling 3/4 scale walls but I wanted one of the real thing. By the time I finished at the wall it was about noon so I started back towards the subway station with the intentions of going to the Library of Congress.

I walked along Constitution Avenue, past the White House, past the Washington Memorial, past the Museums of Natural History and American History. I bought a coke along the way and sat down to check my map. As I read the map, I noticed that the International Spy Museum wasn't far from where I was, if I took another subway that the one headed toward the Library. I finished my coke and headed to the station.

Thirty minutes later I was walking into the Spy Museum...which is a great museum to go see. There are pictures, bios, history of espionage through the years and many actual spy gadgets to see. I spent about an hour walking through reading and looking...sorry no photography in the museum.

At the end of the tour, I decided I was hungry...it was now 2:00pm...so I decided to eat at the Spy Cafe...I had a very good Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. As I sat eating my sandwich and watching all the activity outside, I noticed one of those double-decker buses with the open top drive by. The signage on the side of the bus said it was a "Get Off-Get On" affairs and that you could buy the ticket from the driver. I decided to give it a try. I finished my lunch and headed across the street. Five minutes later, I was sitting on top ready for the tour.

Well, I rode on top for the next 1 1/2 hours, seeing parts of Washington...and Georgetown...that I had never seen before...at least from this vantage point. However, it was very cold. The weather had gotten very cloudy and the sun no longer gave us any warmth. The wind from the bus moving down the street didn't help either. I zipped my jacket all the way up, put on my gloves and tried to ignore my cold face.

We saw Georgetown, Dupont Circle, almost all the important federal buildings, the Vice President's residence, the Naval Observatory, the Mayflower Hotel and many other interesting sites. It would have taken me at least a week to see everything...and that's if I would last a week. When the tour bus pulled up to the front of Union Station, the driver said he was taking a break but we could move to the bus in front of us...I declined the offer and went inside the station to find a little boy's room. Besides, I was too cold to continue. Turns out that I didn't miss too much and there were only 4-5 more stops...oh, yes, the bus has about 30 stops along the route where you can get off and look around and then get back on in about 30 minutes...before I got back to the place I started. I walked around the station a while and then headed for the subway station on a lower level.

I checked the route I needed to return to Crystal City and the hotel and thought I had a good idea of which train to get on...only one out of Union Station...and where to change trains. I got on the right train headed the right direction but I missed the stop where I was supposed to change trains. No big deal...I got off at the next stop, went over the other side and got on the next train headed back to my stop. I got off the train once again, got on another, but this time I went the wrong direction. It took me a couple of stops before it sunk in. I got off once again, crossed over to the other side and once again traveled to the station where I had to change trains one more time. Finally, I arrived at the Crystal City station and made my way to the hotel. I may have added one too many train changes in this description but I lost count.

Anyway, I got back to the hotel safe and sound and that's all that counts...isn't it? I'm sitting here watching Arkansas kick the crud out of poor South Carolina. In a few minutes, I'll pack my bags for tomorrow and get in bed to take advantage of the extra hour of sleep I'm going to get tonight. Of course, a 0500 wake up call will negate any feeling of an extra hour of sleep. The first airport shuttle from the hotel leaves at 0600. I'll eat breakfast at the airport, once I check in.

I hope everyone has enjoyed hearing about my trip and seeing the pictures. Unless the trip home tomorrow has a lot more interest/adventure than I anticipate, this will be the last blog for my trip to New York City and Washington D.C. Wish everyone had been able to come with me...but when you do I'll do a better job navigating. :)

Until next time, I'm Papa Jax, signing off.