{"id":901,"date":"2018-12-29T10:31:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-29T18:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/?page_id=901"},"modified":"2019-01-04T18:56:10","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T02:56:10","slug":"washington-d-c-1999","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/trips\/washington-d-c-1999\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington, D.C. 1999"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sep 4 - 7, 1999\r\nLast updated: 12\/15\/01 1:30pm CT<\/pre>\n
September 4, 1999 through September 7, 1999 we went to Washington, D.C. for our anniversary. We waited until the last minute to decide where we were going. I signed up for the last minute airfare e-mail deals that the major airlines operate. Every week, different cities are on sale for round trip prices that rival normal one way ticket prices. You never know which cities will be available until the Wednesday before the weekend (AA now gives you a week). DC came up a winner. We had done some preliminary research on a couple of cities, so we weren’t totally winging it.<\/p>\n
We stayed at the Capitol Hilton, three blocks north of the White House, and about a block and a half in two directions to a subway station. This is an older building, so the rooms were on the small side, but very clean. One day as we were leaving our hotel, we heard loud sirens and saw many black vehicles, (limos, SUVs) speeding down the street. We saw guys in suits with large automatic weapons hanging out of the windows of the SUVs. The locals didn’t even give it a second look, when all we could do was stare.<\/p>\n
DC is one of those cities where you probably don’t want to rent a car. Everything you’ll want to see is within walking distance, or at least walking distance from the subway. We flew into Reagan National Airport and took the subway to the hotel. (If you fly into Dulles, you’ll need a car or a taxi). The subway trains were clean and efficient. The cars seemed wider than most other subway cars I’d been on. And the floors were carpeted, yes, it was an ugly burnt orange, but carpeted. One thing to be aware of is the ticketing system. You get a paper “card” with a stored value on it. You run the card through the turnstyle and it deducts the appropriate fare. These “cards” are very flimsy. If you get them wet, they will not work.<\/p>\n
The Mall, a large open space connecting all of the major monuments, is about 2.5 to 3 miles across, so bring good walking shoes. It rained heavy one day (there was a hurricane passing through) and my feet were soaked, leading to blisters. (This was before our Alaska trip when we had the appropriate rain gear).<\/p>\n
Sites that we saw on The Mall include:<\/p>\n