DC-NYC Trip Log: Washington DC
After I've made it to the embassy, I headed toward a bus stop for route D2, which would take me to the Washington Metro Red Line, which would take me to Union Station.
As I headed south, the blocky apartment buildings quickly gave way to something more old-fashioned. Even, dare I say, picturesque.
According to Googlemaps and Wikipedia, the area is called "Woodland Normanstone." I'm not sure if that's what locals call it - annanov would probably know better.
The actual bus stop looked fancier than what I was used to in Chicago - and, as I realized later, they looked an awful lot like newer New York City bus stops
The view from the bus stop was actually pretty cool
The bus came in pretty much on schedule. I didn't take any pictures from the bus window - didn't want to seem too touristy - but now I'm wondering if I should have. We went past a lot of pretty cool buildings. Washington D.C. is older than Chicago, more European-influenced - which isn't a bad thing in my book.
When the bus arrived at our final stop at Dupont Circle, I'm embarrassed to admit that I almost didn't realize that everybody else leaving was a big clue that, hey, this is a final destination.
With my train to New York City scheduled to leave at 7:04 PM, I didn't have too much time to hang around - but I did take a quick shot of the neighborhood
And a musician planning just outside the Dupont Circle Metro station
Here's the shot of the station entrance. Have I mentioned how weird it was to see escalators exposed out on the freaking sidewalk? Because it still feels weird.
Heading down
I couldn't help but noticed an inscription on the walls. As I later found out through Wikipedia, it was a poem by Walt Whitman. Wikipedia didn't mention why it was engraved there, though.
Deeper underground
One thing I couldn't help but notice about underground Washington Metro stations was how plain they were. The "one huge tunnel" design was pretty common in Soviet stations built around the era this section of the system was built, but at least my people tried to spruce it up a bit. From my admittedly biased perspective, they looked unfinished. And dark. Too dark.
Here's the shot of the station - with the train to Washington Union Station pulling in. See what I meant when I said that it looks like 1980s vision of the future?
Unlike Soviet-era stations I keep comparing them to, Washington Metro subway stations don't have escalators reaching from the platform level. No - there are stairs going up to a landing about a floor above the platform itself. That's where the fare controls are located. And only once the passengers clear it that the passengers get to go down the hallway and up the escalator.
One definitely upside to this set up - it let me take a pretty cool view of Union Station Metro station.
Fare card vending machines behind the fare controls
And newspaper recycling boxes. I haven't seen those in New York subway, but Chicago 'L' definitely has them. They used to be blue and used to be sponsored by the Chicago Tribune, but now they've been painted green and seem to be sponsored by no one.
I like the Washington Metro newspaper recycling boxes. It's a neat design. And I quite happily tossed an issue of RedEye I've carrying around for the past three days.
As you have probably guessed, the Union Station Metro station links directly to the capital city's iconic train terminal. You can keep going forward and enter the shops/food court on Washington Union Station's basement level, or you can go up the escalator and get out on the street level.
I decided to see at least a little bit of downtown Washington D.C.
Washington Union Station shares a lot of design elements with Chicago Union Station (mostly because both were designed by Daniel Burnham), but to former is bigger, taller and, in a lot of ways, grander than its Windy City counterpart.
Check out some of the fine detail
The entrance closest to the Washington Metro exit
Chicago Union Station can basically be divided into two halves - the grand nearly century-old headhouse that contains the Great Hall and lots of unused spaces, and the much busier and distinctly more modern concourses. Walking inside Union Station, I expected to be greeted by towering ceilings and a nice sitting area. Instead, I saw... retail. Lots and lots of retail.
I quickly found the boarding areas.
But, since I still had 20 minutes left until the my train had to leave, I decided to explore the area a bit. I tried to find a copy of Washington Post I could take as a souvenir of sorts, but no luck - they were all sold out of it. And that's about the time Randi called to discuss how I was going to get from New York Penn Station to the Astoria subway station, where Don was going to pick me up. Since I've only had so much time at the Washington Union Station, I continued to explore as I talked. Which is why photos came out a bit more haphazard than usual.
This part in particular really reminded me of the Great Hall
A more classic-looking arrival/departure board. (My train is on the "Departures" table, fifth one from the top)
Part of the historic customer sitting area. It's no Great Hall, but it's impressive in its own way
Unfortunately, parts of the station were being restored, which marred the view a bit. But at least it should look nice when they're done
By the time I got off the phone with Randi, I had 16 minutes left. I considered getting a snack - I skipped lunch because of delay-related stress and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. But then, I remembered that I was going to have to leave Washington DC in 16 minutes, so I decided to look outside, even if for a little bit.
Right in front of the Washington Union Station, there were taxi cab lanes. Which doubled as tour bus lanes.
Once I crossed the cab lanes, this was the view that greeted me.
A plaza on the opposite side of the street from the Washington Union Station
The bell you see here is a replica of the iconic Liberty Bell known as the American Legion Freedom Bell. It was built to mark the American bicentennial, and it has been at this location since 1981.
Back before the Capitol Limited delays derailed my plans (pun very much intended), I was going to actually stop by the Capitol building (home of the U.S. Congress). But given the circumstances... This is probably the closest I'm going to get for quite a while.
And, turning around - a view of the Washington Union Station
And the surrounding neighborhood
With departure time for my train to New York City quickly approaching, I headed for the boarding gate. But not before snapping a few more pictures of the Washington Union Station (this was the only good one)
In the next entry, I'm going to talk about the DC to NYC portion of the trip. And, because it's mostly during the night, there's going to be a lot less pictures. Alas.
As I headed south, the blocky apartment buildings quickly gave way to something more old-fashioned. Even, dare I say, picturesque.
According to Googlemaps and Wikipedia, the area is called "Woodland Normanstone." I'm not sure if that's what locals call it - annanov would probably know better.
The actual bus stop looked fancier than what I was used to in Chicago - and, as I realized later, they looked an awful lot like newer New York City bus stops
The view from the bus stop was actually pretty cool
The bus came in pretty much on schedule. I didn't take any pictures from the bus window - didn't want to seem too touristy - but now I'm wondering if I should have. We went past a lot of pretty cool buildings. Washington D.C. is older than Chicago, more European-influenced - which isn't a bad thing in my book.
When the bus arrived at our final stop at Dupont Circle, I'm embarrassed to admit that I almost didn't realize that everybody else leaving was a big clue that, hey, this is a final destination.
With my train to New York City scheduled to leave at 7:04 PM, I didn't have too much time to hang around - but I did take a quick shot of the neighborhood
And a musician planning just outside the Dupont Circle Metro station
Here's the shot of the station entrance. Have I mentioned how weird it was to see escalators exposed out on the freaking sidewalk? Because it still feels weird.
Heading down
I couldn't help but noticed an inscription on the walls. As I later found out through Wikipedia, it was a poem by Walt Whitman. Wikipedia didn't mention why it was engraved there, though.
Deeper underground
One thing I couldn't help but notice about underground Washington Metro stations was how plain they were. The "one huge tunnel" design was pretty common in Soviet stations built around the era this section of the system was built, but at least my people tried to spruce it up a bit. From my admittedly biased perspective, they looked unfinished. And dark. Too dark.
Here's the shot of the station - with the train to Washington Union Station pulling in. See what I meant when I said that it looks like 1980s vision of the future?
Unlike Soviet-era stations I keep comparing them to, Washington Metro subway stations don't have escalators reaching from the platform level. No - there are stairs going up to a landing about a floor above the platform itself. That's where the fare controls are located. And only once the passengers clear it that the passengers get to go down the hallway and up the escalator.
One definitely upside to this set up - it let me take a pretty cool view of Union Station Metro station.
Fare card vending machines behind the fare controls
And newspaper recycling boxes. I haven't seen those in New York subway, but Chicago 'L' definitely has them. They used to be blue and used to be sponsored by the Chicago Tribune, but now they've been painted green and seem to be sponsored by no one.
I like the Washington Metro newspaper recycling boxes. It's a neat design. And I quite happily tossed an issue of RedEye I've carrying around for the past three days.
As you have probably guessed, the Union Station Metro station links directly to the capital city's iconic train terminal. You can keep going forward and enter the shops/food court on Washington Union Station's basement level, or you can go up the escalator and get out on the street level.
I decided to see at least a little bit of downtown Washington D.C.
Washington Union Station shares a lot of design elements with Chicago Union Station (mostly because both were designed by Daniel Burnham), but to former is bigger, taller and, in a lot of ways, grander than its Windy City counterpart.
Check out some of the fine detail
The entrance closest to the Washington Metro exit
Chicago Union Station can basically be divided into two halves - the grand nearly century-old headhouse that contains the Great Hall and lots of unused spaces, and the much busier and distinctly more modern concourses. Walking inside Union Station, I expected to be greeted by towering ceilings and a nice sitting area. Instead, I saw... retail. Lots and lots of retail.
I quickly found the boarding areas.
But, since I still had 20 minutes left until the my train had to leave, I decided to explore the area a bit. I tried to find a copy of Washington Post I could take as a souvenir of sorts, but no luck - they were all sold out of it. And that's about the time Randi called to discuss how I was going to get from New York Penn Station to the Astoria subway station, where Don was going to pick me up. Since I've only had so much time at the Washington Union Station, I continued to explore as I talked. Which is why photos came out a bit more haphazard than usual.
This part in particular really reminded me of the Great Hall
A more classic-looking arrival/departure board. (My train is on the "Departures" table, fifth one from the top)
Part of the historic customer sitting area. It's no Great Hall, but it's impressive in its own way
Unfortunately, parts of the station were being restored, which marred the view a bit. But at least it should look nice when they're done
By the time I got off the phone with Randi, I had 16 minutes left. I considered getting a snack - I skipped lunch because of delay-related stress and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. But then, I remembered that I was going to have to leave Washington DC in 16 minutes, so I decided to look outside, even if for a little bit.
Right in front of the Washington Union Station, there were taxi cab lanes. Which doubled as tour bus lanes.
Once I crossed the cab lanes, this was the view that greeted me.
A plaza on the opposite side of the street from the Washington Union Station
The bell you see here is a replica of the iconic Liberty Bell known as the American Legion Freedom Bell. It was built to mark the American bicentennial, and it has been at this location since 1981.
Back before the Capitol Limited delays derailed my plans (pun very much intended), I was going to actually stop by the Capitol building (home of the U.S. Congress). But given the circumstances... This is probably the closest I'm going to get for quite a while.
And, turning around - a view of the Washington Union Station
And the surrounding neighborhood
With departure time for my train to New York City quickly approaching, I headed for the boarding gate. But not before snapping a few more pictures of the Washington Union Station (this was the only good one)
In the next entry, I'm going to talk about the DC to NYC portion of the trip. And, because it's mostly during the night, there's going to be a lot less pictures. Alas.