A few Washington DC questions!

[mouseclick1]

We are almost ready for our trip to DC, but I have a few more questions! Our party consists of me and DH, and DS's 13 & 14, and we are going over Labor Day weekend.

First of all, we have a room booked at Loews L'Enfant hotel because we have a Loewsfirst card, but are thinking of switching to the Grand Hyatt. Pretty comparable in price, but looks a little better location-wise. Is this a good move or should we stay put?

We have decided to fly instead of drive, and are flying in to Ronald Reagan Airport. What is the best means of transportation to get to the hotel? I'm guessing taxi, though we are pretty much taxi rookies. Do you have to call ahead, or just grab one at the airport? Are there shuttle services available that would be better?

Can you take pictures inside the National Archives of the Constitution and other documents?

We plan to do the tourmobile at Arlington. Does this need to be scheduled ahead of time, or do we just show up by tickets there?

Many of you have been so helpful in earlier questions I had! Thanks for helping me plan our trip!

 

[Cindy B]

You may be able to get Grand Hyatt on Priceline.

WE DID!

We got two nights during the Cherry Blossom festival for $70 per night.

My DH then negioted a deal with the parking garage as well.

The Grand Hyatt was very close for us, but again we walked everywhere, the Washington Monument, the monuments. We even walked to the Air and Space from the hotel, (the furthest wakl)

 

[AlreadyexcitedGrammy]

My DH and I did a bike tour - not sure if it is still available -but it was a very good time. Hit the hot spots and the guide made suggestions of places to return to on our own, etc.

 

[olena]

We just returned last week from Loews L'Enfant Plaza. The hotel had superb location. We flew into Reagan National with no problems. We got on the Yellow line and went 4 stops to our hotel. Cheap, direct and efficient.

The L'Enfant Plaza Promenade under the hotel saved us. There was a CVS. We bought some snacks and drinks for the room. There were many little restaurants and eateries there, too. We saved a lot on food.

We had a city view at the Hotel. From our balcony, we could look left at the Washington Monument and right towards the Capitol. The rooftop pool was a nice relaxer at the end of the day. Our one complaint was about housekeeping. On the day we checked in, our room wasn't ready. They put a 'rush' on it. We asked again (3 hours later) at normal check-in time of 3pm. No progress. We came back at 3pm on the second day and our room wasn't made up yet. Chris had a word with the manager. The manager personally brought us a fruit plate, Evian and wine and apologized. Housekeeping was fine after that.

The hotel is interesting. It's the top few floors of a federal building. HUD and the NTSB were in that building.

Getting around was great. We were 2 blocks from the mall and near the middle.

I suggest a trip to the new Air and Space Museum in VA. Buy shuttle tickets in advance at the A&S Museum at the mall. We took the 9am shuttle and were there just prior to opening. It felt like we had the place to ourselves. You'll only need 2-3 hours there, if that much. The Labor Day holiday will likely be busy, so get those shuttle tix.

You can take pics at the National Archive, but not flash ones. It's VERY dark in the rotunda there, so non-flash photography may not be worth the effort. The Declaration of Independence looks very faded and worn. It was enough of a pleasure to view it with my own eyes. Copies of it and the Constitution are available at the gift shop.

DC is high security. All museums and buildings have bag checks and metal detectors. We had no problems. Just be prepared to dump your pockets.

Don't miss the Baseball As America exhibit at the American History Smithsonian. It was one of my favorites.

If you have any questions, just PM me.

 

[TDC Nala]

www.wmata.com

If you can help it, don't drive in DC. Use the Metrorail system. If your hotel's near a station, you're all set. Check out the system maps on the site and remember that the signs in the stations may be confusing at times.

Taxis are everywhere but they're on this screwy "zone fare" system that's pretty hard to figure out.

You can take the Metro direct from Reagan National Airport. There is a station right at the airport.

I see lots of visitors who believe that they can get their entire party in and out of the Metro on one farecard. That doesn't work... you need farecards for each member of your party. Prices and ticket options should be on the site.

 

[Cindy B]

There is a metro stop underneath the Grand Hyatt as well. I forget what it is called, but it is there.

 

[mouseclick1]

So do people get right on the metro from the airport and head to their hotel, with their luggage and all?

 

[snoopy]

Yes, you definately want to take the metro here. Its accessible at either hotel, but the Hyatt actually is connected to the station. You're fine coming in from National Airport to the hotel with your luggage, people do it all the time.

Olena, glad you had a good time in our fair city. DH has been wanting to go to the Baseball exhibit, maybe next weekend.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

How long is the baseball exhibit running? I know my DH and my 10yo would like that and with any luck we have a free Saturday the week after next. Then our busy fall schedule starts...

As far at the OP's question, is Printing and Engraving still doing tours? We've always enjoyed that.

T&B

 

[joats]

We were in DC two weekends ago when the weather was so hot and humid. Hope you have a great time.

My two favorite things to do were:
The Spy Museum - unfortunately this museum is not free, but was the best IMHO.
Taking the elevator to the top of the old Post office. The views were breathtaking, the breeze was great and not as crowded as the Washington monument. My pictures came out better here than at the monument.

Enjoy!

 

[Jeafl]

Olena, I could have written your post word for word. We also recently got back from a week in Washington and stayed at the Loews L'Enfant Plaza (as well as a couple of other hotels). We had a city view on the top floor, but it was not ready when we checked in. They told us to come back twice before we talked to a manager. They did however, give us a temporary room where we could store our luggage and freshen up, so it wasn't a huge deal. It was about 5:30 before we actually got in our room. It was a very nice room, with a balcony and a great view of the Washington Monument, Capitol building and right in front of us, the Smithsonian castle. Incidentally. we got the cheapest rate by just calling the hotel directly and asking for their best rate. We paid $139 for a deluxe balcony room.

As far as location, Loews is walking distance to the Smithsonian, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and Holocaust museum. Pretty much everywhere else you need to take the metro. The Capitol building looked really far away when we were standing on our balcony, but the valet guy said it was only 5 blocks and an easy walk, so I guess it was deceiving!


The mall underneath Loews is great IF you happen to be there Mon-Fri. We were there on a Saturday and Sunday as well and the mall is closed. We found all of the restaurants (except the Chinese one) closed at 5:00 during the week. The metro station underneath was very convenient as well.

The metro is fantastic, and we used it every chance we could. The metro employees were extremely helpful as were most of the people we met on the street.

We did the Old Town Trolley tour which allowed us to see all the highlights in Washington all in one day. You just get off and on at any stops you choose. It was great because it also entitled you to take their free shuttle from the Lincolnn Memorial over to Arlington cemetary, where we then caught the Tourmobile tour. You do not need reservations for the Tourmobile tour at all. Once you get to Arlington, just go to the visitors center and there is an area where you can buy tickets. I believe we paid $6.00 for adults and $3.00 for kids. You just line up outside and get on the next tram. It was well worth it because there is so much walking and it enabled us to see more in one day. Arlington is really HUGE, plus it's very hilly which makes it difficult to walk, especially in the high heat and humidity we experienced.

We also enjoyed the Spy Museum, but we had the unfortunate timing as to enter with 100 day camp kids. Since you go through the museum in a logical order for the most part, it was tough to shake that crowd without missing anything.

I think we saw just about everything in Washington, so if you have any more questions, just let me know!

 

[Megan's Mom]

Check and see if they are doing the FBI tours again. I have heard some confilicting reports. It is the best tour in town. The stop and get on and off tour around town is the best way to go. That way you can see everything without walking your self to death. DC is a great town to visit things are very easy to get to and their public transportation is great. Do not drive! Back in my single days two of my friends and myself made the trip to DC for the 4th of July weekend. We rode up the escaladar at Roslin which is the world's longest with all our luggage. I am sure it was a funny sight to see and it was before rolling luggage. Have fun.

 

[Kallison]

We would like to do a DC trip also. How many days do you need to hit the highlights? Can you get into the White House again?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You could easily spend a week with the different museums, the zoo, monuments, etc. Of course since you only live in Philly it would be easy to stay for a long weekend and then come back another time if you don't want to spend that many days in this area.

T&B

 

[Jeafl]

Kallison, we spent a week there and saw just about everything. You could hit most, if not all, of the highlights in one day if you do the trolley tour. You can get on at any one of 16 stops and get off wherever and whenever you want. When you're done with that stop, just get back on the trolley. In one day we saw:

National Cathedral
Embassy Row
Georgetown
Lincoln Memorial/WWII Memorial/Korean Memorial/VietNam memorial/Washington Monument (all one stop)
Ford's Theater/house where Lincoln died
Arlington National Cemetary
Union Station

You can also get off at the Smithsonian, Capitol building, White House, etc., but we didn't since we had planned to see them on another day. You can't get off at the Jefferson Memorial, but you pass by it a couple of times.

You can easily do the tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Holocaust museum in one day, since they are right next door to each other. Both of them require a timed admission ticket (free). We went to the Holocaust museum and got in line, then DH walked next door and got us tickets for later that day for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. We finished both by about 2:30 and still had time to swim at the hotel.

I think you can do just about everything in 3-4 days if you tour non-stop. It also depends on how much of the Smithsonian you want to do. We only did the Air and Space, The Natural History and the American History (my favorite!). If you do all 13 (?) buildings, it will take about a week.

We also spent half a day doing a congressional tour of the Capitol building and Senate offices. It was very interesting, but VERY crowded. It seemed about a million other people had also contacted their congressmen!

The International Spy Museum was fun, and that only took about 3-4 hours to go through.

As far as getting into the White House, it's really difficult. I contacted our congressman back in February for a late July trip and they said they were all booked up. Tours are extremely limited and are usually reserved for groups of 10 or more, or military personnel. It can't hurt to try your congressman though.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

 

[sk8belle]

My DH and I did a bike tour - not sure if it is still available -but it was a very good time. Hit the hot spots and the guide made suggestions of places to return to on our own, etc.

Yes, there still is a bike tour. The company is called Bike the Sights. Here's their website: http://www.bikethesites.com/

As others have said, your best bet is to take the Metro from Nat'l Airport to Loews L'Enfant. If you do switch your reservations to the Grand Hyatt, it is above Metro Center which is pretty much the hub of the Metro system. Personally, I think Grand Hyatt is the better choice. It's in the center of the city as opposed to the edge where Loews is. The area around Loews can get pretty deserted once the gov't goes home.

If you do decide to take a taxi, you can just pick one up outside the airport. There are taxi stands along the sidewalk closest to the terminals.

And I HIGHLY recommend the Spy Museum and the new Air&Space Museum out by Dulles. Both are amazing. Also be sure to check out the FDR Memorial. It's kind of tucked away over by the Jefferson.

If you are there on a Fri., you may see a group of skaters out on the streets by all these monuments and memorials. That's the skate club I'm with on our Fri. night skate. Wave as we go by!

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

sk8belle

 

[mouseclick1]

Thanks so much for all your replies! I am really excited about this trip. We have had to cancel 2 previously planned trips to DC, and even came close to cancelling this one due to DS's football schedule. We decided if we fly instead of drive we can still make it work. Tickets are already purchased, so it looks like we are finally going to make it!

You have answered all my questions, now I just have to decide what to do about the hotel.

Thanks again!

 

[tinatark]

We were there in Feb/Mar - escalators make it easy for you and your luggage to get from there to the Metro/Hotel! We ended up having, I think a ZILLION metro maps!

If you're planning to do the tourmobile tour, you can get a 2 day pass for just a little more than the 1 day one. We did that, and our feet really appreciated it! I think it was $30/adults, $20 for kids for the 2 day.

 

[olena]

Just a note. We could not get into Printing and Engraving. It was closed and we don't know why. We wanted to visit the store and buy some proof sets.

 

[frndofpooh]

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing sells out early in the day (around 10:00a.m.) during busy times (holiday weekends and spring breaks). Also, you might want to consider taking the Duck Tour - it is a land and water tour that you pick up at Union Station and it is a favorite of mine. You travel on a Coast Guard "amphibious vehicle" and tour the city sights by land first. Then the driver takes you to the tidal basin and the bus goes into the water for a water tour of some of the monuments. It takes about an hour and was a lot of fun. At the end of the tour everyone gets a duck call and you can honk all the way back to Union Station - the kids loved it although my friend and I were soon threatening to leave them at the station if they did not cease and desist with the quacking! Have a great trip!