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DC is not a city with a personality. I once read it was a city of museums,
monuments, and maybe a few politicians, and that is perfectly correct. It’s not a place where interesting people can
be seen wandering the streets, mostly because it is set up into distinct
areas. Most people visit the tourist
areas with the monuments and the museums and if that is the only place you
travel to, then you won’t really see the denizens of DC. In fact, when we were on our pedicab tour we
asked our driver Kevin where he lived.
He lives in Maryland, said it was cheaper.
DC is a city where you see stuff. We went to four museums: Natural History, Air & Space, American
Indian, and the Postal Museum. We also
went to the Zoo to see the pandas. And
then there are monuments and memorials:
Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Martin Luther King, WW II and Vietnam.
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There is a lot of walking, and that’s why the pedicab is
ideal. For $ 75 the driver will take you
wherever for one hour. Kevin took us
around the Tidal Basin (where the cherry trees bloom) and stopped at the MLK monument
and Jefferson. He also took us to the
American Indian Museum for a little bit more.
He was so helpful and knowledgeable.
The taxi drivers on the other hand were the most surly and awful people
I’d ever meant. No conversation was a
good thing. One driver said he would not
take us down towards the monuments and back to our hotel. He says, “If you asked me now to take you to
Virginia I would say no.” He complained
that he did not want to be fatigued as he still had four hours of work
left. He didn’t get a tip. Another driver (who did not get a tip) sassed
me. As I got into his car at Union
Station I politely asked if he was available.
He responds with, “would I be sitting here if I wasn’t?” Really pal?
There are many incidences where a taxi looks available but the driver is
waiting for a person to get to the car.
Geez! It doesn’t pay to try to be
courteous. Needless to say, my feelings
were hurt. I do not like to be
humiliated. That in turn makes me turn
so cold my mother said she was uncomfortable and sensed that people around us
can tell how I feel. Good, I don’t like
to be treated poorly and I’ll let you know!
Taking the train to DC was fun and I highly recommend
it! The North East Regional has some
stops, but mostly you just keep going.
The station was walking distance to our hotel (Hotel George, also highly
recommended ).
I had thought there would be more beauty, but I think it was
partly because it was early spring and the winter had been so harsh that the
ground was recovering. There were a lot
of pansies and hellebores out, but the winter was so cold, and the spring not
much better. The famous cherry blossoms
were not open at all! You could see that
the bud was on the tree and a pinkish red, but that was it! That’s so late that it will likely set a
record for the latest bloom!
Would I go back?
Sure, if someone wanted to, but I’ve pretty much seen what I needed to
(well blossoms open would be nice). And
yeh, we didn’t even see the White House!
Nor did we see the communities where real people live. Getting around is not as easy as NYC. Taxis are plentiful, but the bus is non-existent
on the weekend. The subway has a weird
multi-priced payment system that requires configuring mathematically before purchasing
a ticket (but it is clean and timely)!
Still, mom and I had a lot of fun! Getting away is always good and spending time
with someone you love is too!
