OT: Washington DC help needed...

[vsimeone]

If you don't use the Tourmobile, what is the best way to get to FDR Memorial and Arlington Cemetary? That was the main reason I was using this system..it goes there easily.

QUOTE]

I'm not sure how you're doing the rest of the monuments but once you've walked from WWII to the Lincoln Memorial, it's not THAT much further to walk to FDR. We've always walked it. Once you're done with FDR, just keep going around the tidal basin to the Jefferson Memorial. Especially with you going so close to Cherry Blossom Festival, the walk around the tidal basin is gorgeous!

Sounds like your plans are coming together! Do what you can this time and then use what you didn't see as an excuse to plan another trip in the future!

 

[PlutoPony]

For the monuments, get off Metro at the Smithsonian stop and walk from there. There's no stop any closer I'm afraid. They're all in the same general area, lots of walking to see them but don't know how you get around that. The plus to the Tourmobile is that there are other stops around the monuments so you can do less walking if you want. No personal experience with it however.

For Arlington National - take Metro out. Both the Orange and Blue line stop at Smithsonian so take Blue from there and it will go straight to the Arlington Cemetary stop. Once there take the Tourmobile tour of the Cemetary, otherwise you're walking forever! You'll stop and get off (if you want, which I'd recommend) at JKF's grave, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Lee House which has a fabulous view of the City. There may be other stops, don't remember. Narrative along the ride is worth it IMO. If you want to look for a specific grave, info on that is available there.

 

[MrsPete]

You can Metro to Arlington and the Cathedral.

Yes, you can Metro to Arlington, but I'd suggest including it in the Tourbus day. With the bus, (in addition to the driver) you'll have a tour guide who'll tell you some things about the site; with the Metro, you'll just have a ride.

Most of those guides were very good, though they each had a different style. The first guide was an older man who was extremely informative --plus we had the good fortune to be alone on the bus with him, so it was more like a personal talk with a history professor; we made sure to thank him when we left the bus, and we said to each other, "They can't possibly all be that good! Let's hope for his bus again." We did not see him again. One bus had a woman guide who was more interested in screaming at us about getting on/off the bus (even after boarding was complete, and we were all seated) -- she seemed mentally unstable -- and she told us nothing of historical value. Finally my husband went up and whispered to her that he hadn't paid to have his wife and children treated his way, and he'd like to hear the history behind the Jefferson Memorial. She just sat down and was silent. The last tour guide of the day looked to be barely out of high school. Instead of just talking to us about the things around us, he had reworded his speel into a quiz-show format; our daughters were particularly engaged by this style -- he had a whole busload of people involved in the discussion, and he obviously was passionate about history. Several other guides were just average. We enjoyed the TourMobile bus rides tremendously!

Arlington has a fascinating history. It was the homeplace of Robert E. Lee, and after the South's defeat, his Northern enemies wanted a way to punish him personally for defecting to the Confederate cause. So they took his plantation and made it into a cemetary for Union soldiers. Distraught, he never returned to his home. His wife went back once, but when she saw Yankees walking through her rosebushes, she could not bring herself to leave the carriage. In later years, bodies from other wars were moved to Arlington, and soon it was no longer simply a resting place for Union soldiers.

 

[MrsPete]

The things we'd like to see, in order of importance:
White House
capitol

The only thing booked thus far is the hotel...Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill (New Jersey Avenue).

It seems that most people end up saying that the White House is much less interesting than they expect, while the Capitol Building is much more interesting!

I gave you bad advice earlier on the hotel When you said Hyatt, I thought that was the one inside Union Station, which would be HIGHLY CONVENIENT because of its proximity to a Metro Station and a low-cost food court. I don't know anything about New Jersey Avenue. That Hyatt is right next to the Old Post Office. If possible, I'd switch to the one at Union Station.

 

[MrsPete]

You really have way too much planned. The monuments/musuems are HUGE and will take a very long time. Crowds, crowds, crowds!

I disagree about having too much planned. In fact, I think we did more in a day in DC. I'm not saying we weren't exhausted by the end of every day, but that was the way we chose to approach it. I'd lean towards overplanning; something that's been researched can always be dropped off the plan. We can sleep and relax at home for free!

On the other hand, I woudn't allow less than 2-3 hours for any of the big museums.

 

[MrsPete]

How does the Washington Monument compare to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We enjoy that, even if it's kind of cramped up top. Can you get decent photos from the top?

I hadn't thought of comparing those two. The space inside the Gateway Arch is much larger. The Gateway is taller. Washington's Monument is scarier; I kept thinking, "Nothing's holding these stones together." I would not go to the top of the Washington Monument again. It's lots of trouble, and it's more impressive from the outside.

On our last trip, we just took trick photographs from the outside. You know: stand in just the right position and have a child hold out her hand so that it looks like she's holding the Monument in one hand.

 

[MrsPete]

I agree that Lincoln is underwhelming after all the walking... its one of those things where we say "we could just google this" as we were walking halfway to North Carolina (or so it seemed).

I disagree. You can look at a picture of the place, but a photograph cannot reflect the magnitude and grandeur of the place itself.

If you want to google something about this monument, look up some urban legends. Find out whose image is supposedly etched on the back of Lincoln's head! LOTS of weird rumors about this monument! I printed them out and gave them to my kids while we were at the monument -- they were very interested and were very motivated to take a closer look to see if the urban legends were true.

We did the Archives once. We saw one person take a pic (with a flash) of the Dec. of Independence... and the security guards were on this middle school kid like nobody's business. The line was INSANELY long for this.

One of the copies of the Declaration had just come through a museum near our home a few months before our trip to DC (8 or 10 original copies of the Declaration actually exist; when the Congress wrote it originally, they had multiple copies made so that riders could take them throughout the 13 colonies -- interesting story about how this copy was found: someone'd found it behind a portrait he'd bought at a yard sale). Anyway, having seen this so recently, we didn't bother standing in that insanely long line. The lines were just as long and the no-photography folks were just as stringent here in North Carolina.

 

[Soupermom]

We used Priceline, so I am locked into the Hyatt on New Jersey/D street.

I'm working on a revised itinerary, so I'll try to post that later. Thanks for everyone's help thus far!

 

[MrsPete]

A word of warning concerning the Tourmobile, it only runs from 9:30 to 4:30 everyday and does not live up to a bus very twenty minutes.

We found that the "every 20 minutes thing" was true in the morning . . . but by mid-day, perhaps because of traffic and other issues, they'd deviated from their schedule, and they never regained that "every 20 minutes" standard.

 

[Soupermom]

If you walk to FDR, how do you cross the river? Is there a walkway on TR Memorial Bridge?? I'm thinking we'll use the Tourmobile for FDR and Arlington...

 

[MELSMICE]

I've spent my life living near DC. I've seen all of the monuments, museums, etc. several times and you should not miss the Holocaust Museum. I urge you to bump it up the list. You will not regret it. Does anyone know if the room with all of the shoes is still in there?

Yes, the shoe room is still there. For me it was the most moving & possibly the most disturbing room in the entire exhibit. I felt as if I could actually "feel" the people that those shoes belonged to. It was like they were in the room with me.

I was mesmerized & frozen, as if I couldn't move on to the next exhibit after entering that room. Thinking about it still gives me the chills.

By the way, there is what they call the "permanent exhibit" & then some other exhibits. You want to get tickets to the permanent exhibit. We didn't have any problem getting them but we were there during the summer, so it wasn't a crowded tourist season, I was told.

For the monuments, get off Metro at the Smithsonian stop and walk from there. There's no stop any closer I'm afraid. They're all in the same general area, lots of walking to see them but don't know how you get around that.

Definitely the closest stop to all the monuments & some of the Smithsonians. Very convenient. Yes, there is some walking involved, but we are big walkers so that didn't bother us at all.

 

[PlutoPony]

If you walk to FDR, how do you cross the river? Is there a walkway on TR Memorial Bridge?? I'm thinking we'll use the Tourmobile for FDR and Arlington...

Not clear on what you're crossing the river for. If you're talking about going from FDR to Jefferson there's a walkway right there to follow and you stay on the same side of the Potomac.

 

[Soupermom]

Originally Posted by Soupermom
If you walk to FDR, how do you cross the river? Is there a walkway on TR Memorial Bridge?? I'm thinking we'll use the Tourmobile for FDR and Arlington...

Not clear on what you're crossing the river for. If you're talking about going from FDR to Jefferson there's a walkway right there to follow and you stay on the same side of the Potomac.


It looks to me like the FDR Mem is on an island in the river...do I just have a wierd map?

 

[PlutoPony]

Yes to the weird map FDR is on the banks of the Tidal Basin, same as Jefferson. Walkways or sidewalks all the way around. The FDR Memorial follows the timeline of his terms in office with the earliest years furthest from Jefferson. We didn't know that and walked from Jefferson to FDR and essentially started at the "back" of the Memorial - didn't realize the set-up until part way thru. Not a big deal but I like to warn people. Just walk to the "front" to start....

OH - I just looked at a map - were you thinking of Theodore Roosevelt Island? That's a natural park of sorts and has no connection to the memorials.

 

[Soupermom]

Tuesday (using Metro)
Bureau of Engraving (tix in advance)
Holocaust Museum (tix in advance---my UG says you can do this now!)
Wash. Monument (tix in advance)
Lincoln,Vietnam,Korean, WWII Memorial
FDR
Suggestions for lunch on the Mall?

Wednesday (using metro)
Space museum
Nat. American Museum (lunch before, here)
Botanical gardens
Maybe a Capitol tour
Postal Museum (open "late"...until 5:30; our hotel is very close)

Thursday (metro)
White House (tix in advance)
Ford's Theater/House where he died
Hard Rock for lunch
National Archives
Nat. History Museum
Sculpture Garden

Friday-car/Tourmobile
Is this do-able???
Drive to NASA museum in MD...be there before opening at 10am. (how long will it take to get here from my location near Union Station via car at 8:30 in the morning? What about coming back around noon?)
Tourmobile: Arlington Cemetary (and anywhere else we feel like getting off to see again, if time)

I'm not sure about the time frame for this day. If I get back from NASA by 1pm (hotel near union station where we can catch the Tourmobile), will we have enought time to do Arlington before the Tourmobile stops running at 4:30? Their schedule is a little confusing to me.

 

[Soupermom]

OH - I just looked at a map - were you thinking of Theodore Roosevelt Island? That's a natural park of sorts and has no connection to the memorials.

YUP! I got my Roosevelts mixed up!

 

[PlutoPony]

You're talking about Goddard Space Center right? Is there something specific there you want to see or have you heard anything about it? This is not someplace that people generally go to and my understanding is there's really not much there for the general public. It IS good for school groups that schedule tours but I don't believe they do that for the general public. You'll be traveling out there during rush out and it will likely be a pain so want to make sure it's worth it for the effort involved....... Maybe someone will post who's been there, I'd like more first hand info myself.

 

[autumnbride2B]

I live in the area and would suggest that you don't use the metro early in the morning. It is packed full of commuters - it is amazing how many people pack into the cars. It is much more tourist friendly after 9:30.

 

[Cindy B]

Tuesday (using Metro)
Bureau of Engraving (tix in advance)
Holocaust Museum (tix in advance---my UG says you can do this now!)
Wash. Monument (tix in advance)
Lincoln,Vietnam,Korean, WWII Memorial
FDR
Suggestions for lunch on the Mall?

Wednesday (using metro)
Space museum
Nat. American Museum (lunch before, here)
Botanical gardens
Maybe a Capitol tour
Postal Museum (open "late"...until 5:30; our hotel is very close)

Thursday (metro)
White House (tix in advance)
Ford's Theater/House where he died
Hard Rock for lunch
National Archives
Nat. History Museum
Sculpture Garden

Friday-car/Tourmobile
Is this do-able???
Drive to NASA museum in MD...be there before opening at 10am. (how long will it take to get here from my location near Union Station via car at 8:30 in the morning? What about coming back around noon?)
Tourmobile: Arlington Cemetary (and anywhere else we feel like getting off to see again, if time)

I'm not sure about the time frame for this day. If I get back from NASA by 1pm (hotel near union station where we can catch the Tourmobile), will we have enought time to do Arlington before the Tourmobile stops running at 4:30? Their schedule is a little confusing to me.

The Botanical Gardens (If I am thinking of the right place) is right near the Washington Post-- and is in a tough neighborhood... I may be thinking of the Arboretuem. If the Botanical Garderns/Arboretueum are the same place I wouldn't go there-- Its a ROUGH area. Everytrip we pass the Arboreteum and every time we pass it by because of the area. Ok, I looked the Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum are two different places, but the Arboretum is in a TOUGH area.

You still have WAY too much stuff planned for each day. You will be lucky to hit maybe 3 of each things.

Your Thursday plan can be doable, since the Ford's Theater and the House Where Lincoln died is very very quick. The only thing that may trip you up is the Natural History museum-- that can be a time sucker. The Sculpture garden is closer to the Hirshorn and the Smithsonian castle.

The NASA museum in MD-- are you thinking the Udar-Hezey? (I know I spelled that wrong) That is in Virginia not MD. If there is something in MD, it may take a while. For example, Baltimore looks very close to DC on a map, but in reality it can be up to a 2 hour drive.

 

[ceopamom3]

We are going to DC over Thanksgiving, and my kids are near the ages of the OP... 12, 10 and 9 ... Is the Holocaust museum to intense for kids this age?

Don't mean to highjack the thread...

Thanks!