Around Washington DC

The US Capitol

So I decided that the best way to get a look at what Washington DC had to offer was to take a bus tour around the city. Of course I do this in pretty much every city I visit so why should it be any different just because I live here.

Ok so this technically isn't a bus but the trolley got me around the city just the same.

The first thing I had to learn all about was the Metro system. Driving in Washington is not that fun. All the numbered streets run north/south, the lettered streets (like N street, U street etc.) run east/west and all the streets named for the States (New Jersey Ave, Florida Ave etc) run on the diagonal. Basically what this means is when you get to a stop light you have more than 3 options (go straight, turn left or turn right). There are many options. They do not all look like options and you have to be very alert and someone is probably honking their horn behind me but hey I have Canadian license plates. They have to assume I have no idea where I am going. Parking is really bad too and they don’t mess around. You park in the wrong spot they will tow your car without warning so I have decided to use the trains and buses as much as possible. I drive to work and that is about it when I am heading into the city. They run a shuttle van from my building to the closest Metro station in the morning and evening and the rest of the time there is a bus right outside my place so no worries there.

Anyway, once I figured out how to get on the train and which train to get on (well actually I got on the blue line instead of the yellow line but it worked out ok because they both end up at the station I needed to get to, the blue line just takes longer) I made it downtown to Union Station. Union Station was the largest train station in the US for about a month and then Grand Central opened in New York but it is still a very pretty building.

Union Station

This stands in the small park across the street from Union Station. It is all about the discovery of America. The man in the centre is Columbus and although you cannot see it from picture his eyes are closed symbolizing his "blind" discovery of The New World.

I decided that the first day I would ride the whole line, get off at only a couple spots and then come back another day and stop at most of the memorials (there are a ton of them). The number of museums I will be able to visit is so exciting and the best thing is that most of them are free. Here are some pictures from my tour. Don’t worry there will be more to follow.

The Jefferson Memorial

The Washington Monument

One of the few places I did stop was here, at the Washington National Cathedral. The foundation stone was laid in 1907 but the cathedral was not completed until 1990 (let me do the quick math for you...it took 83 years). Everything was hand built and hand carved. It is an absolutly beautiful building. The best part about it is that its doors are open to all faiths. It does not matter what church you attend, you can have a service, a wedding, a funeral, whatever you want here.

Just a sample of all the beautiful colours you can see in the Cathedral from all the stain glass windows.

A view of the Washington Monument from the top of the cathedral

I also took a quick litle walking tour of Georgetown. The area is very nice. The school has all these nice old buildings and there are a ton of restaurants, bars, stores and that kind of stuff too.

Georgetown is a very old area of Washington and what gets built in Georgetown stays in Georgetown. That means that all over the place you can see the old trolley tracks and the old cobble stone streets.

Ah Canadian soil....this is of course the Canadian Embassy. It is one of the few embassies that is not on Embassy Row. It is right down the street from the US Capitol. I am told it is so close due to the close relationship our two countries have.

The National Archives. This is where you will find the most important documents in US history including the Declaration of Independence.

Quick someone call the FBI!! This is the J. Edgar Hoover Building which of course is home to the FBI. No Mulder or Sculley sightings but hey roumour is they may be working on a new movie (sorry about the bad X-Files reference).

So here are the hightlights (well some of them anyways) but there will be many more. I did get a look at the White House but did not get too close on the trolley so no pictures. I will wander around the outside of the fence and get some better pictures later.

Julie