First Day in DC

We landed late at night in Union Station, and the first order of business was to get to the hotel. We picked up a cab which I think I mentioned I assumed was ripping us off, but we later realized that he wasn't. The cabs have some complicated system of fares that baffled me. That didn't mean, however, that underhanded bad deeds were occurring.

The hotel is in what is known as the Golden Triangle, which is some sort of real estate marketing term for this section of town. Two things struck me about DC from our arrival - it's a whole lot cleaner than NYC, and a lot quieter. It's really nice, in fact, and we lucked out on the weather. It's been pleasant and mild. We hit the hay immediately and had a good night's sleep.

The next day, our goal was to check out our tax dollars at work, but not before some breakfast. In the daylight, you get a sense that DC is a really nice town. I'd heard that it was a bit bland and sterile, and compared to NYC, I can see that, but it's also kind of happening, full of young and hip people, and with a lot going on. And did I mention it's clean and quiet? We walked to a diner and had a nice breakfast, and got to see some of the Wall Street protesters walk by. After our meal, we then jumped on the Metro to go to the Mall. Our goal was to check out the Air and Space Museum. One thing nice about DC that I remember from my first visit here is that all the government museums and galleries are free. Then again, our tax dollars are paying for them.

Figuring out the Metro was a bit of a chore, it's an awful system that takes awhile to figure out. The fares depend on where you're going, and it's this complicated mess trying to get fare cards, but we eventually figured it out. Plus, it's kind of expensive. We stopped near the White House because we figured no trip to DC was complete without at least a view of the President's home. There was something going on and the secret service was not letting people near it. A train of black SUVs exited, which we assumed was the President going off to do diplomatic duty.

From there, we walked by the Washington Monument, where crowds of people were promoting Martin Luther King. I couldn't figure out why until later I learned that they are unveiling a statue of MLK on Sunday. There were speeches and vendors, and all sorts of activities. It took awhile to finally find the Air and Space Museum, which is part of the Smithsonian, but find it we did, and was it ever cool.

We all really enjoyed it, and my first thought was, R's father, RR, would love this place. Something to think about. More later, we have to run. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to edgar0587 and gerard79 for the pics.