Buses by day and buses by night

Union Station

It’s back to the Big Bus tour today to see the remaining few sights we’ve not yet seen, so we walk to George Town and stop for a coffee in a lovely café with tempting pastries, yummy. Once on the bus we realise that today’s tour guide is a lady, however her delivery fails to endear us to her. We enjoy seeing Washington’s sights but after 10 minutes Dave’s already asking when we can get off, we both put up with the over the top commentary and “friends” as she calls them getting on and off but the final straw is the whooping up the passengers to wave to the Canadian embassy as we have Canadians onboard today. The headphones are rapidly pulled out and stowed and before Dave says anything I drag him off the bus.

The Capitol Building

Fortunately, Union Station is not too far, it has a tall arched ceiling embellished with 22carot gold leaf, impressive and everywhere is very clean. We move on to The Capitol, the botanical gardens and back to the bus tour. Thank goodness when the bus arrives it’s not the same tour guide but I must be getting tired as his use of “people” every third word really grates but I do enjoy seeing the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Korean war memorial and Martin Luther King’s memorial.

View from Washington DC to Arlington

To get back to Arlington we experience another first, the Washington Metro system and with a lot of help from a guard we manage to purchase some rechargeable tickets and go down to the platform. Fortunately, we can get any train from this station as long as we’re going in the right direction and it turns out we’re headed to Vienna! The escalator at Rosslyn is also an experience it is probably the longest I have ever seen and the steepest.

Vietnam War Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Our final trip here in Washington is the Night Bus Tour, so back into Washington, down the impossibly long escalator and hot foot it to The Willard Hotel to pick up the tour but we’re early. Dave treats us to a drink in the street side bar of the hotel and we sink into the luxuriously cushioned rocking chairs and sip cool drinks, sheer bliss. The bus arrives and we all board the bus, thank goodness, this guide is excellent, Sam has a good sense of humour, a wide knowledge base and no annoying sayings. The best part of the trip is undoubtedly the Lincoln Memorial and the nearby Vietnam and Korean War memorials. The latter is so realistic at nightfall that the figures look like they are just emerging from the trees on patrol. I expect them to speak at any moment. There’s just time for us to rush back to the hotel and fall into the onsite restaurant for a take away pizza, never has a pizza tasted so good.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial at night