Day 10 - Touch and go

Our first whole day in Washington and we decided to get some retail therapy and check out the sights.  In the morning we went to our local Metro station to find out how the system works.  We were totally confused - the ticket machines are not intuitive and the whole setup was difficult to understand.  Luckily for us, Clark came to the rescue.  He was the station manager and showed us how to get Metro Cards, and then explained how to use the Metro.  He had a great sense of humour and had us dancing through the entry gates, after touching our Metro cards to the sensors - as Clark said (while dancing): "You got to touch, and go, touch, and go".  A lovely person who really made our morning (we sent in a feedback form later complimenting him on a job very well done).  The Metro in Washington is totally different from the one in New York, as you can see from the two shots below.

New York subway station

Washington subway station

We took the subway to Pentagon City, one stop away from where we have to go on Monday.  Pentagon City is a large shopping centre, and a good place for some retail therapy.  Rhonda bought shoes, which were a very good price compared to Australia.  I got a pair of shoes also, but the best buy for me was a replacement head for my electric shaver: $95 in Australia, $45 here (somebody in Australian retail is getting rich at our expense).

Pentagon City

After the therapy we went back to the hotel, dropped off the bags and went out to walk around the local area.  We took in the White House (300 metres from the hotel) and walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, where we saw lots of the US Government Departments.  Washington is like Canberra, but on steroids.

White House from the front

White House from the back

The Capitol

Department of Commerce building

Gratuitous photo of buildings

Ornate doors - just in case you were wondering

Another impressive building

Two old guys who sat in the same spot for too long



Rhonda taking a photo of the J. Edgar Hoover Building

Finally, and perhaps an indication that I'm overthinking signs, here's one that caught my eye.

I get the 'cold drinks', but surely 'ice cold water', if it really is as cold as ice, is just 'ice'.  That's all for now, tomorrow we're visiting the Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery.

Day 9 - From the rediculous to the sublime

We left New York with mixed feelings.  Our experiences of the Big Apple were wonderful, and we are so glad we had a week there.  Some random thoughts/impressions of our stay are:

• Friendly people - every time we opened a map someone would ask if we needed help.  New Yorkers were very helpful.
• Huge buildings - the skyscrapers of Manhattan are gigantic.  I'm sure they are much bigger (higher and wider) than skyscrapers in Australia.  They look 'normal' from a distance, but when you are close to them they are truly awe inspiring.
• Smells - walking along streets brought us moments of mouth-watering food smells and nose-scrunching sewer smells.  There were food trucks/carts everywhere and casual eating is very common.
• Starbucks are everywhere - either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your personal preferences. 
• Diversity - New York was full of tourists from all over the world (as opposed to tourists from one part of the world), and filled with diverse districts, each of which had their own character.

We left the hotel in plenty of time for the short taxi ride to Pennsylvania Station to catch our train to Washingtown.  The taxi driver was a dickhead.  He took us to Grand Central Station, and when I challenged him about his route he told us that he had to take a round-about route because of traffic restrictions.  Complete crap.  Thankfully we still got to Pennsylvania Station in time to wait with the seething mass of humanity for platform numbers to be allocated.  Everybody waited in the main hall, watching a large screen which listed the trains.  The platform numbers were only allocated about 10 minutes before departure time, at which point all of the passengers for that train would rush away to their platform.  Our trip to the platform involved taking our cases and bags down an escalator, along poorly signposted passageways, and down staircases.  We figure that the Airlines own the trains and run them badly to ensure that people will still fly to most places.  Having said that, the train was comfortable (we went cattle class) and the scenery along the route was very interesting.

We got seats at the back of the carriage, which had extra leg room.  The train was still underground at this stage, so no view.

Gratuitous scenery during the train trip.

While on our journey we met a lovely lady from San Francisco, Corrinne, who wrote down many suggestions for our time to come (25 July to 2 August) in San Francisco.  After what seemed like nearly four hours, but was in fact only about 240 minutes, we arrived at Union Station in Washingtown.

The front entrance to Union Station - unfortunately the interior wasn't so grand.

A short, and very direct, taxi ride later we were at our lodgings.  What a contrast with New York, we've gone from the ridiculous (our room in New York was about 23 square metres in total) to the sublime (an 81 square metre apartment for about the same price).

The AKA White House exterior.

It's amazing.  My only gripe is that the television in the bedroom is smaller than the one in the living room!  If any of you are thinking about visiting Washingtown you should check this place out.  We went out shortly after arriving and had a cuppa at a local coffee shop.  Their mugs are huge, mine below is a medium size.

We then went for a walk to the nearest supermarket to buy groceries.  It was about 1.8 kilometres away, but a pleasant walk.  During the walk I noticed a refreshingly honest badge on a car.

The supermarket was very impressive.  It featured a huge fresh salad and hot food area for people who wanted to buy a meal along with their groceries.

We arrived back at the hotel feeling quite tired, but excited about seeing more of Washingtown (Rhonda did two loads of washing).  We received confirmation of our tour of the Pentagon for Monday, so tomorrow we'll check out the Metro, to make sure we know how to get there, and start sightseeing. 

Day 8 - We would walk 500 miles

In homage to the Proclaimers we decided to see if we could walk 500 miles around New York, and I think we succeeded.  The plan for today was to complete three more of the self-directed walking tours that Jan had lent us.  We started by taking the metro to Greenwich Village and completed a walk around there.  It was a great experience and a totally different area to the places we had been - no skyscrapers, lots of 'artsy' little places and quite a lot of gay culture (it was the birthplace of the gay rights movement).  It reminded me of the area around Oxford Street and Paddington in Sydney.  A few snaps are below.

75 1/2 Bedford Street, NYC's skinniest house

Public sculpture in Christopher Park

We found a good coffee shop during the walk, courtesy of the self-directed guide card.  Rhonda had difficulty getting good coffee in New York, but this coffee shop was up to her high expectations.  The lady in the photo agreed to Rhonda taking the photo - we thought it was best to ask.

After Greenwich Village it was time to visit the 'Tenement Museum'.  A fabulous place to visit and one we would never have found without Jan's guidance. 

The Museum features an original tenement building (just down the street on the left from the visitor centre you can see here) that had been abandoned for about 50 years before being 'rediscovered' in the 1980s.  The museum features apartments (only about 30 square metres in size) that have been reconstructed to look exactly how they were when occupied.  The guides tell you stories about what life was like for the migrants who lived there, based on research of the actual families (it's a bit like an episode of "Who do you think you are?").  A brilliant set up and we could have spent much longer there.  Some of the tours allow you to interact with actors playing characters from the periods of occupancy.  All tours need to be booked online.

Our next stop was across the East River for a walk around Brooklyn Heights, an old and quite affluent suburb.  A total contrast to Greenwich Village, but fascinating in its own right.

Rhonda having a chat with a professional dog walker in Brooklyn Heights - we saw quite a few dog walkers in New York

The last walk we did was across the Brooklyn Bridge, and iconic sight and a wonderful example of engineering.  The walk is very popular, and you get great views of the Manhattan skyline while walking across the bridge.  The only problem is that there are support wires everywhere, so the view is somewhat constrained (although interesting in its own right.  A couple of happy snaps below.

Our day finished with dinner with Jan, at an Asian fusion restaurant near her apartment.  A delicious end to our time in New York.  As an added bonus we had coffee after dinner at the coffee shop featured in the movie You've Got Mail (starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks).  Lovely.

Two final signs from New York - the first spotted in a church we were walking past, and the second at a building site. 

Tomorrow we're off to Washington DC by train.  Or, as Rhonda likes to think of it, Washing Town (since we need to do some washing).  Deeply saddened by the news of the Malaysian Airlines plane - tragedy can strike at any time, so enjoy your life while you can.  'Bye for now.

Day 7 - Culture eagles

Another day, another museum.  Today we visited the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The Americans do 'grand' buildings really well.  We first called in at the library and it was a beautiful building.  Unfortunately, the main reading room was closed for renovations, but the areas we saw were beautiful, as we hope you can see from the photos below.

 

 

After the library it was off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It was absolutely fabulous - the collection is very well presented and the building is huge.  You really need a couple of days to do the collection justice. Given our limited time we decided to focus on the American art collection, although we did pass by some of the other collections on our travels.  The photos below give a feel for what we saw.

 

After the museum we strolled back to the hotel through Centralish Park.  It was very popular, no doubt because of the weather, sunny but not too hot.  We had one of those "you just had to be there" moments.  Rhonda noticed a bird of prey (small eagle or large hawk, we're not sure) in a grassed area and we went over for a look.  The bird of prey had killed a smaller bird and was trying to eat it.  Other small birds were swooping down on it, so eventually it flew off, taking its meal with it.

I told Rhonda that I'd show her a good time in New York, and sure enough there were people having a good time everywhere in the park.

A final reflection on the day.  Up to now I've spent a fair bit of time criticising the lack of thinking that goes into signs here.  To be fair, the Americans do some things really well.  One of the things they do well is traffic reports on the morning news.  Instead of simply telling viewers that certain roads are busy, they show a graphic which is a road map, with the main roads colour coded according to how fast or slow the traffic flow on them is.  It makes it much easier to take in the information.  A screen shot is below.

That's all for today, we'll be back tomorrow after visiting the Tenement Museum and walking through Greenwich Village and Brooklyn.  By for now.

Day 6 - Culture vultures

A day of culture and we set off for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).  It's located in 53rd Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, and, but for the signs on the outside of the building, you'd never notice it. One of the least impressive buildings from the outside housing one of the most impressive and inspirational collections on the inside. 

MoMA starting to get busy

The Starry Night - Van Gogh (Vinny to those who know him well)



A Picasso - I think he needed glasses

Salvadore Dali - The Persistence of Memory (ironically I forgot it almost instantly)

 The art at the MoMA was wonderful, and they also featured works of design and had a great bookstore.  There was something about the MoMA that resonated with me and Rhonda.  The museum also had a courtyard sculpture garden where we had a bite to eat for lunch.  A few of the sculptures are shown below.

A Henry Moore - those of you who know your sculpture will be impressed

The same from the front

 

Not a Henry Moore - but I liked it

This just looked cool

By the time we left the MoMA a storm had arrived and we experienced a new aspect of life in New York - getting wet.  We've been very lucky with the weather and the few episodes of bad weather haven't stopped us doing anything.

In the evening we made our way to the Snapple Theater Center to see an off-Broadway play - Perfect Murder.  Jan (who else) had organised tickets for us and we met her at the theatre to pick them up.  The theatre was small and intimate and our seats were in the second row.

 

The play has been running for 25 years and was very good.  We had three ladies sitting to our right and they made the night even more interesting, with their comments about a painting on the wall of the set that was featured in the play.  All in all a great experience.  The walk back to The Hotel was eerie, with the tops of the skyscrapers disappearing into the clouds.  The pictures below give an idea of what it looked like.

 

I'll finish off with another sign showing why thinking is important.  How much do you think it costs to park for the day?

 

The answer is about $30.

We'll be back tomorrow with more culture - our visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.