Thoughts on D.C.
Posted: June 16, 2012 | Author: alangager | Filed under: Travel | 2 Comments »
Got back recently from a nice little trip to D.C. Here are some thoughts:
• Love the 2 hour 15 min non-stop flight from Des Moines. Really easy to take the metro from Reagan International. I was also surprised how close Reagan is to the mall (close enough that we actually biked right by it later in the trip)
• The city is a bit of a paradox. On one hand, it is quite compact and walkable, and on the other hand if you want to walk everywhere, your legs will fall off. We took the metro a lot the first day, walked the next couple, and biked the last couple. Biking is a lot quicker, provided you can weave through traffic and fellow tourists.
• There is a lot of construction going on all through the city, including the reflecting pool on the mall. It probably has more construction going on than any city I’ve been in. Nothing much to add to this thought, except all the construction makes it feel like it is very much ‘improving’ itself, although it is already quite a clean and vibrant city.
• The ‘locals’ seem very full of life. If you live in D.C., you’re probably already a pretty motivated and active individual to begin with. There was a lot of jogging, biking, soft ball playing, and generally enjoying all the restaurants and things to do.
• The Smithsonian Museums were all impressive. The Holocaust Museum was probably the most impressive. The building itself, from the main lobby to the elevators, is designed to make you feel like you’re in a concentration-camp-esque facility. They prime you on the elevator ride up with a short video, and you feel like you are stepping back in time when you start your journey. The special exhibit on propaganda was amazing as well.
• The city needs better bike signage. Des Moines has done a good job letting you know where the bike paths are and where they are going. In D.C., it is illegal to bike on the sidewalk in certain places. There are bike paths throughout the mall area, but you have to guess which is a path and which is a regular sidewalk. The result is quite chaotic. Even when we were biking into Arlington, we weren’t quite sure what path to take and if we were even on a bike path or a sidewalk.
Andy, thank you for the notes! I love-love-love DC, and my legs and feet nearly fell off after the last trip. I just can never get enough of being there, you are right, somehow, it is always so full of life. I also found people to be generally friendly, too. Uh, I am biased, I just love it there 🙂 What else did you, guys, do? What did you like the most? I found quite a few little grocery stores, maybe not as abundant as our stores here, but completely adequate, but those are scattered in residential areas. [that concludes my contentless “Whaaaa someone else also likes DC and just got back!!!” post :-)]
We went to a Nationals game, almost all the Smithsonian’s (except the National Gallery of Art — we did go to the American Art museum…), Arlington cemetery, Capitol tour, the Library of Congress (which was one of my favorite places.. very ornate), pretty much all the memorials/monuments.
I know you love good food; probably the best place we went was Old Tabard Inn. Award-winning chef (and wine list, although we didn’t have any there).
Also ate at Pizzeria Paradiso, which is supposedly a favorite of the locals. They had an amazing beer list.
Aimee did the Spy museum while I caught up with a friend from high school.
What were your favorite things?