Life as a Tour Guide Part II: Why Can't Tour Groups Take the Metro?

photo by clydeorama on flickrcrossposted at Greater Greater Washington

When last we talked about my school groups, I promised to get into the nitty gritty of those big honking tour buses you see all over town. And I’d love to talk tour buses with you. I really would. But let me address the inevitable question I’m going to get first: “Why can’t these kids just walk and use the Metro?”

It’s a fair question. After all, I’m willing to bet just about every reader out there has been a tourist in a new city and managed to poke around without the benefit of a motor coach. We have a perfectly serviceable mass transit system that manages to shuttle thousands of other tourists while killing only a infinitesimal proportion of its riders. What makes eighth graders so special, so lazy, so pampered, they can’t hoof it a few blocks?

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A Day in DC: Taking in the Memorials

View Memorials to White House in a larger map

Some time ago, I sketched out a sample itinerary for a day in DC focused on Capitol Hill that combined a bit of the National stuff that you’ve come to see with a little of the local color that humanizes the experience and makes your visit more memorable. So in that vein, let’s lay out another day, taking in the Memorials in the morning and a little of DC the rest of the day.

We’ll kick off at the Foggy Bottom Metro Stop on the Orange and Blue lines. We got a lot of walking to do this morning, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t do it without a cup of coffee. DC has some top notch coffee shops, but as we’re not near any of them now we’ll make do with the Starbucks at the GWU Hospital. We’re heading south on 23rd (downhill) towards the Lincoln Memorial. As we head down 23rd, you may want to swing by the Columbia Plaza shopping center (just past Virginia Ave) and pick up some water or other supplies. We’ll be walking a good chunk of the morning and pickings are scarce on the Mall.

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Getting Around Town: A Visitor's Guide to the Bus

uploaded to flickr by davereid12I’ve long recommend to visitors that driving in DC is a bad idea for the uninitiated and to instead take Metro. 

Metro is relatively simple to figure out, comparatively inexpensive, hits a good chunk of the places visitors want to take in. What's more, it’s concrete, both figuratively and literally. Their is no doubt when you are in a station, the station is clearly named, and the whole thing is color coded. Sure, there’s a bit of confusion for visitors about which side of the platform to get on the train from, and the pricing is becoming increasingly complex; but the average tourist can get on, spend a minute or two looking at the map, and get where they’re going.

The problem: the Rail system doesn’t go everywhere. Georgetown, the Frederick Douglas House, the National Arboretum, Adams-Morgan, the National Cathedral, and, yes, the Lincoln Memorial, are but a few of the incredible things Washington has to offer that ill-served by the train. They all, of course, are accessible by Metro Bus, but most visitors shy away from it.

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Weekly Washington: Elephants Now and Then!

photo uploaded to flickr by the Smithsonian InstitutionSo when my wife asks me what I did today, I honestly have no idea. Probably because I've spent way too much time pouring over the photos of old DC landmarks the Smithsonian released this week. (Smithsonian)

The big local news this week, of course, was the short-lived hostage crisis at the Discovery Channel Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD, just outside DC. Fortunately, no one was harmed except for the poor crazy bastard who was responsible for the whole thing. (TBD)

And oh no! My absolute favorite Smithsonian exhibit will be dragged into modern times, kicking and screaming. Western Cultures, 2nd floor of the Natural History Museum, will be closed starting September 26th. The exhibit, which was delightfully dated, was originally designed in 1978, and is looking increasingly out of place as the Museum rapidly upgrades around it. Fine, I guess. Minister Cox and I will just have to find somewhere else to hang out. (WaPo)

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Should You Give This Guy a Buck?

Last Friday, I wandered down to the Mall to see how our Tea Party friends were making out taking in all Washington has to offer. As I exited the Smithsonian Metro, I, like so many visitors before and to come, was immediately accosted by a gentleman offering to help me out.

Repeat visitors to DC are no doubt familiar with what I'm talking about. These guys hang out at the top of the Smithsonian Metro, sell maps, and offer directions. After they give their pitch, they give you a song and dance about trying to raise money for their shelter or some such nonsense, and you're on your way.

Now, I should note that these guys were not here for the Tea Party rally, on the remote chance you might have thought so. Perhaps they were just more visible Friday, as they are uniformly African-American and the Tea Partiers were uniformly not. But these gentlemen appear whenever a large gathering is expected, or for that matter, busy Saturday afternoons. I've walked by them so many times I don't notice them.

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