first
The first tip I'm going to give is see all the monuments at night, they are less crowded and look nice lit up.
Second tip I'm going to give you is make full use of the metro, its dc's subway and its far cleaner, simpler and overall nicer then New York's or the L in Chicago. From what I have heard from friends its nicer the the subway in several other capitals in other countries as well. One thing you are going to want to remember is that you lose all cell signal when you go into the tunnels so bring something else to do.
Another thing you might want to think about is if you ever go where will you stay. Staying in DC is a total rip and the sublines extend far into the surrounding states, so my advice would be to go somewhere past Rosslyn on the orange line.
Another tip, if you go you are of course going to visit the capital and want a tour. The public tours have terribly long lines and waits. The best way to get around this is to contact your representative and they will book you for a private exclusive tour. This tour is free, has no waits and is move extensive. One of the neatest things about the private tour is the way you move from your congressman's offices to the capital is through underground tunnels used by the senators and congressmen. You will probably see no other people like yourself down there, so you feel mighty important.
I think now is a decent time to talk about food. DC Has some great food. If you want a cheap massive burger hope on the metro and go to Ray's Hell Burger. Its the best and biggest burger I have had in my life. If I remember Obama and Biden have both gone there. Its only 6.99. There was another place I went that was actually closer and had the best fries I have ever had in my life and a damn good hamburger as well, once the name comes back to me I will post it.
One thing you should avoid going to is the international spy museum. I heard it was good and I paid the 17 dollars or whatever it cost. It was not worth it at all, it may have been worth it for free but it was more of a play place for kids then a museum.The rooms were the smallest of any at any museum in DC and it was extremely crowded. So definitely steer clear and don't waste your time.
Now I will include some fun personal things that happened to me and some observations.
When I was on the steps of the Supreme Court building I saw a un marked black SUV zoom by. The windows were down and inside I saw four men in swat gear all holding some sort of assault rifle. I heard sirens go off for awhile but I had no idea what it was until I read the paper the next day.
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So my guess is I saw the secret service making sure this went no where near the capital since it started out very near it.
The other coolest thing that happened possibly was my tour had 2 tour guides, one leading and one training. The one training was a cute girl who was 15. So I start to talk to her and find out I am talking and lightly flirting with my congressman's daughter. Was just kind of interesting to here her views on DC and what it was like to be that daughter of a congressmen.
So in general I would say DC is pretty much one of the coolest places I have vacationed it. As far as major cities go I would rate them like this
New York, New York
Washington, DC (extremely close second, might be my first if this was not my second trip)
Chicago, Illinois
And then if you are ever stuck in god for saken Texas San Antonio isn't to bad.
Questions? Comments?
