Washington DC, Day-1

I'll say from the start of this post, that just getting into DC was an adventure. We are small-town folk and this is "big city" ... getting there involved deciphering a subway map, parking options, train ticket purchases from a complicated machine (a 3-day unlimited-access seemed like a good choice), and color-coded escalators. Oh, and did I mention a transfer from the "yellow" train to the "red" train at an appropriate station along the route ... All this in about 45 minutes!

Anyway, we made it and, on my Sister's recommendation, elected to take a guided shuttle-tour the first day. This got us an excellent overview of the entire city, a 30-minute stop at the Lincoln Memorial, and a much better, pictorial map of the city layout, desperately needed for day's 2 and 3. 

But first, a ride down into the train station on the longest escalator we've ever seen!

Most of the following pictures are from the shuttle and the one stop. The driver-guide gave an excellent overview and history of most of the sights along the route! The first pix is of the Museum of Archives. You may remember it from the movie, National Treasure with Nicolas Cage.

The picture of the White House above is as close as you can get with a vehicle right now ... you can walk up to the fence if you choose; about two large city blocks ... in the heat of the day! We chose not to. We did witness the President's three helicopters take off, headed to points unknown. Which one he was in is the "shell game" the Secret Service plays to thwart an assassination attempt. Oh, and if you want to spend the night at the Trump International Hotel, bring $400/night! However, our guide told us the restaurants were excellent!

So, after the initial shock of navigating the subway system wore off, we started to explore a bit, traveling to Union Station (the hub for all transportation; Metro, Amtrak, Greyhound, etc.), finding a Hard Rock Cafe where we ate an excellent lunch, and finally taking-in a good part of the Museum of Art.

The last picture is of Union Station, where we paused for a cup of coffee and caffeine to decipher the Red train map on the wall for the return trip to the car park. Do you see "You are here" noted anywhere? The little color-coded dots are of other trains in the city going in different directions ... you MUST know where you are and where you want to go in advance of boarding. So, in this case, we ride to the Gallery Place station, and then transfer to the Yellow train, which we know goes back to the car park.

The Day-2 plan is to head for the Museum of Natural History. And, since I posted this yesterday, I discovered Google Maps on my iPhone offers excellent directions to any of the museums via the mode of transportation you select; train, bus, walking, etc. Navigation will be much easier today!