Washington DC

[Stat Brother]

There's a couple of Washingtonians on NSC, who'll help you out.

Between now and your trip if you want to get a feel for the place and have an understanding/appreciation of some of the following:-

American Sports.
Liberal American politics.
Weather.
Cinema.
Larry David.
Speed camera updates.
Restaurants.
Parking in Bethesda - voi don't talk to me about parking in Bethesda.

Then start listening to Tony Kornheiser podcast on from www.espn980.com.

It's completely Tony therefore Washington centric (I've never been).
It'll take you a little while to get into the rhythm of the show and references but it's worth the effort.
Fantastic listening, the very best guests (Tony is incredibly connected (regularly plays golf with Obama)) all centred around Washington and a self deprecating old bald orange jewish man.

 

[APACHE]

Agree with all that's been said above about Washington D.C., most places can be reached on foot and the trip out to the zoo is worth the effort. If you hire a car a couple of nights in Gettysburg is worth it, the battlefield tour is very well done and the whole area is a different experiance than the city.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Great city with a vast amount of history and culture to explore but, in common with some other posters, I found it a bit soulless – two to three days tops.

Anyhoo - after spending all day in the museums you really do need to find a few decent bars and the Church Key is among the best, good food and one of the largest selections of beers in DC.

 

[ShandyH]

It's a really nice city and there were some cracking restaurants up near U Street from memory.

The Phillips Collection is probably the best private collection of art I've seen. It's well worth a visit and takes you slightly off the Smithsonian beaten track which is refreshing.

 

[Paskman]

When you visit the White House, they really appreciate it when you mention what a good job they have done of restoring it after after the Brits burnt it in 1812

By the way lovely city, I used to live there in the 1980s - wonder if the Sign of the Whale is still going on 18th and M? A trip by boat to Mt Vernon - George Washington's home - is well worth a day out.

 

[grummitts gloves]

Alexandria is a great little town to stay in. Lots of good bars, friendly locals. Embassy Suites is a great hotel near the station. Short train ride into DC. Arlington, Vietnam memorial are worth a visit.

 

[Stat Brother]

There's a couple of Washingtonians on NSC, who'll help you out.

Between now and your trip if you want to get a feel for the place and have an understanding/appreciation of some of the following:-

American Sports.
Liberal American politics.
Weather.
Cinema.
Larry David.
Speed camera updates.
Restaurants.
Parking in Bethesda - voi don't talk to me about parking in Bethesda.

Then start listening to Tony Kornheiser podcast on from www.espn980.com.

It's completely Tony therefore Washington centric (I've never been).
It'll take you a little while to get into the rhythm of the show and references but it's worth the effort.
Fantastic listening, the very best guests (Tony is incredibly connected (regularly plays golf with Obama)) all centred around Washington and a self deprecating old bald orange jewish man.

I'm currently listening to today's show, picking up the feed from Twitter.
Not many sports radio programmes begin with a chat (not an advert) about Brewster's Ice Creams, on 355 just north of 124 , leading to a dig at colleagues the show doesn't like.
Naturally this then leads into rant about a specific mattress company, then a mattress discussion.
Of course next on the agenda of a sports radio show is airplane seat reclining.

The opening is quintessential Mr Tony, classic listening.

 

[goldstone]

Otherwise, in terms of museums, DC is world-class and amazingly, in the land where very few public attractions are free, most of the big attractions there are.

The aerospace museum at the airport is a bit of a drive but so well worth it: a space shuttle, a Concorde, Enola Gay, even the model that they used to film the mother ship in Close Encounters. Basically every model plane you've ever built is there for real.

And visiting the Capitol building is made a pleasure by the sheer friendliness of all the staff, including the security people. The Library of Congress is terrific too. Great city.

Museums, schmooseums ... who the hell wants to spend their holidays in museums? Boston, as well as being an interesting city, has loads of places to go for day trips. There is very little worth seeing on a day trip from DC. Baltimore has the waterfront, but that takes about an hour and then leave town as quickly as possible.

 

[severnside gull]

A train ride to Washington's house at Mount Vernon dropping off at King Street in Alexandria on the way back and visiting the waterfront craft centre there for some unique and unusual souvenirs is not a bad way to pass a sunny day.

 

[cheshunt seagull]

If you can hire a car Annapolis and Harpers Ferry in West Virginia are interesting days out.

 

[Turkey]

Most people often say you only need a few days there. I actually went for two weeks, although that was because I was staying with some family who lived there.

Maybe my judgement is clouded as it was the first time I'd ever been to America, so I was wow'd by the most simple of things, but I absolutely loved Washington and definitely want to go back one day.

I went on a bike ride through Rock Creek Park which was brilliant and finished up at the Zoo which was a good day out. I'd recommend that for sure.

I saw the Wizards (NBA) and Nationals (MLB) both play which was good, especially the Nationals. It was an evening game, a really good game and perhaps I'm a bit of a geek, but it was cool walking back into the City after the game with all the fans, past the Capitol building all lit up etc and experiencing a bit of their fan culture compared to ours.

The Air & Space Museum near the airport was very good, not sure how you get there without a car mind. The War Memorial at Arlington cemetery was cool to see, good views walking over the bridge from the Lincoln memorial too.

 

[ofco8]

Agree about Boston. I lived in Rhode Island for a time and travelled to Boston on several occasions, but never found it that fantastic in the same way that I also found Philly quite a soulless/underwhelming experience. As far as the East Coast is concerned, for me it's all about DC, NYC and the Baltimore Orioles playing at home under the floodlights with the city skyline in the background.

Now you are talking. A visit to Camden Yards to see the Orioles is a great experience. If Frutos is going to be in DC for a while a trip to Baltimore by train is a good trip. The Inner Harbour, National Aquarium Museum and Railway museum in Baltimore are all worth a visit.

As mentioned by someone previous Baltimore/Washington Airport is a good one to use.

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

I saw the Wizards (NBA) and Nationals (MLB) both play which was good, especially the Nationals. It was an evening game, a really good game and perhaps I'm a bit of a geek, but it was cool walking back into the City after the game with all the fans, past the Capitol building all lit up etc and experiencing a bit of their fan culture compared to ours.

I went to see the Nats while I was out there as well. Nearly a full house; hugely enjoyable to this baseball fan, broadly neutral as I was.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

I remember the Museum of Modern Art being fairly good

 

[Turkey]

I went to see the Nats while I was out there as well. Nearly a full house; hugely enjoyable to this baseball fan, broadly neutral as I was.

It was the first baseball game I'd ever seen and I've been fairly into it ever since, so much so I now have an MLB TV subscription! There was a terrific atmosphere there, really enjoyed it. Saw a couple of Cubs game last year when I was in Chicago but wasn't as good as the Nats.

 

[Superphil]

Arlington cemetery is quite striking, Smithsonian is amazing, the Air & Space Museum could have kept me going all day.

If you want an easy evening out Pizza Paradiso in the DuPont Circle area is quite brilliant. Firstly, the pizzas are really rather good, but the bar and the beers are astonishing, a huge range, and don't think for one minute that the Americans don't know how to make beer, they do, they really do. If you go during October they have Octoberfest, where all the breweries make specials just for the month, it is even better.