Monday, August 7, 2017

Well, that happened...


I lost a blog post from yesterday, about our trip into Washington DC via subway and bus.  Never had that happen before, so this is my attempt to put it back together...

We drove to the Metro (subway) nearby, parked, and caught the next one...



After all the crowds, it was blissfully empty and quiet in the subway.  We got off at a stop near the Capitol: remember this building so we know where to catch the subway going back...


That should be easy enough: how may buildings are there in DC that have big pillars out front?

Walking to the bus, we had to cross the widest crosswalk I've ever seen...


Twenty-six seconds on the "walk" timer... it took us 28 to get across.  Close.  Another block or so to the bus stop...


... and we waited about 20 seconds before the bus pulled up.  Good timing.  On the way to our first stop, we passed the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument...



Like the subway, the bus was nearly empty on a Sunday morning...


We got out at the Viet Nam War Memorial ("The Wall"); after seeing it in the dark, I knew it would be even more moving in the daylight...




Very moving.  Walking back to the bus stop, there is a nice view of the Washington Monument (once again), through the park-like grounds around the memorials...


Back on the bus and off to our main destination for today: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum...


No line to get in, we cleared the security check and started taking it all in...




The displays and exhibits are absolute world-class...





The Hubble Space Telescope...


The back-up SkyLab...




We bought tickets for an IMAX movie about aircraft carriers, the aircraft on them, and the support ships...


By the time we came out of the movie, the crowds in the museum were so thick it was hard to move around.  Fortunately, we had seen most of the displays.  We caught the last few and headed out.  This is just a small portion of the line waiting to get in...


We walked across the Mall (the green space, not a shopping center), stopped for ice cream at one of the many food trucks...




... then walked through a sculpture garden on our way back towards the subway station...



That is a "chrome tree" sculpture above.






Yes, you are allowed to sit on those "chairs" in the sculpture above.

On our walk back to the subway, I marveled at all the amazing architecture, statues, and memorials in this great city...








Back to the subway...


More people on the way back than the way into the city this morning, but certainly faster and less expensive than driving the car in.  I was impressed with the city's public transportation.  It wasn't long, and we were back to our stop...


Another delightful day in our nation's Capitol.  This is a great city!


2 comments:

Bill K said...

It must have been up for awhile as I saw and read it yesterday.
Google sure knows how to mess with people.

Bill Kelleher

Captain Jim and the Blonde said...

Oh, I'd like to blame Google, but this was my fault. Yeah, the post was up for a day. It isn't unusual to get a "blank" post as a draft, and I delete those almost each time I sign on... that's what happened in this circumstance, but I guess I got hasty with the delete button.