We were up early this morning as we needed to be over to the other side of the city by 9am for our bus to Washington DC, but Murphys law hit us today! There is always one thing that happens each trip that you have no control over! We caught an uber across town but got caught in standstill traffic which was weird for a Sunday morning as NYC is always quieter in the am. Our driver was deaf and he started getting stressed, so we indicated to him we would jump out and walk as we were only a block or so away and we were getting tight on time.
We asked a cop for directions and get over to where the bus pick up is on 6th Ave - only to find 35,000 cyclists going throught he closed off street, on an annual 7 hour event!! No bus in sight of course since there were barricades everywhere, so I rang the Bolt bus and turns out they decided to change the departure point to the other side of town cos of the bike event. They said they had text and emailed passengers, but another woman turned up in the same predicament as us and no notifications from the company for her too! They told us the bus was going to wait another 30 mins for us all to get there. So we walked quickly to get out of all the one way, jammed up traffic for a while then got another Uber to 33rd st, the other lady came with us and we get there finally to find the bus hadnt waited and was long gone!#@!.
But the lady bus driver who was taking the next bus at 10.30am, said "Im hearing you, dont you worry girl I will get you all on first and Im flying with no stops to DC so I'll get you there girl!! True to her word, she hopped it and a full bus down the highway and got us there in 3.hrs 10 instead of 3.30 lol. Gray was a bit stressed & over it all but I just try to think, you do what you can do and luckily we didnt have any connecting flights so all was ok in the end. However on the trip down I sent an email to the bus company, detailing what had happened and the $54 we had had to spend in cabs cos they didnt notify us. Strangely enough 10 mins after sending it, I got an email saying they had moved the departure point - umm a tad late! But they did refund our bus tickets.
Reached Union Station in D.C, a beautifully maintained building and found our way out and waited for another Uber to get to the Capitol Hill hotel. Its a very nice 4 star hotel and we were given a corner suite with double aspect, looking out at a beautiful old church.
Capitol hill hotel
They are very patriotic here 
Church across the road from the hotel
Love the architecture in the States- all the old buildings everywhere We had dinner at the Hawk and Dove pub up the road afterwards, another great spot we are in for everything. Makes all the hours of trip advisor and research worthwhile. Into bed to crash as we are knackered after all the late nights & early mornings!
Day 26-
Woke after great sleeps and had breakfast - pretty disappointing I have to stay for a 4 star hotel and the worst we have had, but never mind.
A big day of walking today - we wandered to the Smithsonian air and space museum and spent a few hours in there. Graeme was seeing stuff of his childhood and space dreams and we both thought how much Dad would love this place. Then we walked to the National history museum and the botanical gardens. Then we walked to the Capitol building and looked around the massive fountain and statues there. Hobbled! Back to our hotel - man did we both have sore feet!
Air & space museum 
National geographic award winning photos
Lay down once back and were out like a light for an hour after a cold corona we had bought yesterday at the bottle store down the road. Made ourselves get up and walked round the corner to an Italian restaurant for a lovely fresh, but expensive meal. Saw the beggar guy from yesterday out on the street corner again. He was asking for a quarter and we gave him a few last night. He recognised us today but seemed hyped up on something today, not alcohol but he was ranting a bit. We went and bought a coffee and a cookie for him and he hugged us - skinny as a rake and his eyes welled up with tears about it being hard on the street in motherf*c*ing america etc etc! So gave him the food as he didnt drink coffee and said our goodbyes. Its a hard one, there are so many mainly black, middle aged men begging, but they seem to have a bit more pride than the ones back home who are mad as meat axes usually.
Huge fountain outside the capitol building 
Gift for Danni!!
National history museum 
General Grant statue 
Botanical garden conservatory 
Back to the hotel to enjoy a bath and catch up one photos etc. Lucky we had beautiful weather again today!
1 comment:
Love that you gave some food to the guy on the street. Who knows what is behind his situation, and who are we to judge anyway, eh?
Sounds like Dad would like the Smithsonian Institute, as you say.
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