Adam Turtle, Freelance Web Design in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Since1986
Washington D.C. and Philadelphia
- 9th September, 2008
- filed under: Travel
- 4 comments
After my terrible experience at the airport, I finally made it to Washington. Baltimore is a solid 20 or so miles from DC, so I grabbed a shuttle van that would drop me off at the front door of the hostel. The driver was a nice guy from Nigeria, he knew quite a bit about the NI political situation from living in Belfast about 12 years ago.
Washington, DC
After checking into the hostel, I headed out for something to eat. It took a while to find any life in the city, but I eventually wound up in Chinatown which was bustling and grabbed a burger.
Washington is very easy to navigate. This is mostly due to it being a planned city. Around the time that the founding fathers of the USA were signing the Declaration of Independence, they were scouting an area to become the new nation’s capital. They didn’t want any jealousy between the 13 original states, so this city would be in an incorporated federal area, rather than a state. They eventually chose the area now known as the District of Columbia, due to it’s central location and proximity on the banks of the Potomac River. They drew designs for the city’s layout, and planned out every detail. Looking at Washington today, the Washington Monument sits almost in the center of the city, with four diagonal streets dividing the city into it’s four quarters – aptly named NE, NW, SE and SW.
So later in the evening I made a quick stop at the Capitol to snap a quick photo of it at night all lit up. It didn’t come out so well…
The next day I intended to see a good part of the city but it actually took me all day just to walk the National Mall and stop at a few things along the way. All the photos are on my Flickr. A highlight of the day was the National Air and Space Museum, which like all of the Smithsonian museums, was free. They have some cool things there, like the Spirit of St Louis – Charles Lindinburg’s Trans-Atlantic plane, the Wright brother’s famous bi-plane, and the Bell X-1 – the first plane to go supersonic. I also stopped at the National Museum of the American Indian, which was interesting.
The walk along the mall was quite long, about 2 miles from start to finish but I had to take a lot of detours to go around museums and to view the various monuments. The most disappointing part of the day was that Ford’s Theater, the scene of Abe Lincoln’s assassination, was closed for repair work, and the White House had some sort of event going on so Pennsylvania Avenue that runs past it was closed. The best shot I got of it was from a grassy area close to the street, but it was very far.
The walk down the mall is rewarding though. It ends at the Lincoln Memorial, which has a series of steps leading up to the top. From the top, you can see the entire mall, and the Washington Monument reflected in the pool in front. I stuck around there until close to sunset, as it was relaxing to just sit on top of the steps and watch the world go by below.
Philadelphia
I got a bus to Philly for the bargain price of $15. It arrived later than expected, so I missed out on a lot of the things I wanted to do that afternoon, but I still got a great Philly Cheesesteak from a bar nearby along with a good pint of Sam Adams beer. I took a walk around the downtown area afterwards and went back to the hostel for a movie night. Movie was crap, didn’t really watch it, can’t even remember what it was.
Today I went to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and a few other historical sites. It was quite interesting, but it rained hard in the morning.
In the afternoon, I went to the Museum of Art, made famous by the Rocky movies as the place where Rocky Balboa runs up and down the steps training for his big fight. I made a rather crap movie of my attempt:
Afterwards, there really wasn’t much else to do so I headed back to the hostel and made some arrangements for tomorrow. I’m going to Amish country then taking the night bus to Boston, which will end my trip. I’ve decided to skip New York, as it’s waaay too expensive for a room and I’m getting kinda tired of dragging all my stuff between places. Tomorrow – Amish Paradise.
HAHAHAHAHA AT THE VID! You even put the black and white in there! HAHA i was waiting on it… Cool post man
your hillarious…
That Rocky remake was magic. Had Pamela and me in stitches!!! Looking forward to hopefully seeing you next week. You have a young niece who no doubt will be keen to see her uncle Adam for the first time….
Next time you’re in the District, try Z Burger. Z Burger is another cool burger spot in the District. It is casual with a good selection of food and milkshakes. The one in Tenlytown is real cool, the servers are nice.