Washington, DC  

9 Hour DC in a Day Tour, Grey Line Tours      

All Pictures   (DC Metro,  Museum of Natural History,   Museum of American History,  Grey Line Tour of DC,  Air & Space Museum,  World War II Memorial,  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial)

October 15, 2014                                

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All you have to do is check where you are, where you want to go, check the schedule at the station for GR (green line), YL (yellow line) etc. and if you need to transfer to another color line, you walk up or down steps depending if the line goes over or under the line you’re on, simple right!  We also needed a Smart Trip prepaid card to use the bus system.  You purchase this card, put any amount of money on it you want and swipe it as you enter the bus; they don’t take cash.  We were able to buy our Smart Trip cards at our campground that is also a stop on the bus line.  The campground told me about a coupon savings on tours of DC on Groupon.com and when I checked it out, I was able to buy two All Day DC Tours for $39 instead of $90.  I just had to exchange my certificate for tickets when we got to Union Station.  Our First Experience on the DC Metro.  It had rained when we arrived at the campground and was forecasted to rain all day the next day so the campground recommended not going on the bus tour because the windows get all fogged up and you can’t see anything.  So we boarded the bus at our campground that headed to College Park Station to pick up the Metro to go to the Smithsonian.  When I entered the bus and swiped my card, it made some awful noise; Jack’s made the normal “bing” noise.  The bus driver was on his phone when we boarded so when he finally got off I walked up and told him the noise my card made.  He responded by saying “Just go sit down”.  Wow, that was rude so I said I just wanted to make sure I indeed had money on it.  He responded “It registered, just go sit down”, and pulled away from the curb as I stumbled my way back to my seat.  Well, this guy drove like he was driving a racecar; weaving in and out of cars, blaring the horn, cutting cars off and speeding and breaking; we had the driver from Hell.  We were never so happy to get to the College Park Station in one piece and no mishaps.  I went to a Metro employee to ask if my card did indeed have money on it and after checking, he came out of the cage and told me “I’m sorry, but it didn’t register and I have to call the drive to bring the bus back so you can swipe it again”.  OH NO! I never want to see that guy again.....”Just kidding”, he said with a smile; Metro people are very funny.  We swiped our cards to get onto the Metro platform.  The Green (GR) line was the one we needed to go to the Smithsonian.  The subway station has signs on both sides of the platform that tell you what color line is next and how many minutes before it arrives.  It pulled in two minutes after we got there.  Once on the Metro we sat back to enjoy the ride trying to listen for each stop but the speaker system is horrible.  Fortunately, each station has large signs with the name of the stop so it wasn’t bad at all.  We got off at the Archive Station.  We had to walk up steps because this station is underground.  Once back on ground level we took out our map BUT.  Jack asked someone and was told to walk up 10th street and the Museum of National History would be in front of us.  We walked one block up, one block over and there it was but of course we had to walk to the middle of the building that was like walking another block.

    

Our tour started at 8AM from Union Station so we had to wake up at 6 AM to catch a shuttle at 6:50 AM going to the station.  The shuttle was late and didn’t leave until 7:10 AM and it took at least 45 minutes to get there and I still had to find out where the Grey Line Office was to exchange my coupon for tickets and find our bus before 8 AM; you do the math.  We arrived at the Union Station at 7:55 AM and guess what, our tour bus was right next to us and the Grey Line office was right next to that.  What luck....The way things had been going, I was really concerned that something would go wrong with getting my tickets but I got them and on the bus in three minutes.  The driver’s name was Bob and he gave us the bus number and his cell phone number if we got lost or something.  He was really nice, a good driver and had been giving tours for 35 years.  Our first stop was at the U.S. Capitol Building.   We had to walk around the Capitol building to the front entrance where we took our tour.  Right inside the entrance hall is a plaster model of the Statue of Freedom that was used for the bronze Statue atop the Capitol Dome.  When the Capitol was built on our new land, President George Washington wanted the new nation’s capital city to express aspiration, grandeur and permanence and knew a domed building would convey this.  The Statue of Freedom atop the dome was its crowning glory.  Made of bronze, the female figure holds a sheathed sword, the shield of the United States, and a wreath.  Her feathered helmet references the costume of Native Americans.  It stands 19-1/2 feet tall and weighs approx. 13,000 pounds.  We watched a 13 minute film about the vital role of Congress then led to the second floor into the Emancipation Hall or the Rotunda.  The Rotunda is under the Dome, 180 feet high.  The Dome is being restored and there is a large donut-shaped safety net suspended from the stained glass ceiling.  This is also where many past Presidents have been laid in rest for viewing.  This room contains large paintings of the American Revolution and exploration and settlement of the United States.  There are also several statues around the hall.  Besides the Rotunda, the Capitol has been expanded to house the Senate on the left wing and the House of Representatives on the right wing.  It is an impressive building.  We were then led through the Old Supreme Court Chamber with its dark wood paneling.  We then walked into the National Statuary Hall.  Congress invited each state to contribute two statues of its most notable citizens to place around the room.  Today there are over 100 statues displayed here, in the Rotunda and corridors throughout the building.  The latest statue is of Rosa Parks.  We then walked down to the hall where large pillars support the Rotunda floor.  A star in the center of the room is said to be above a vault where President George Washington was to be laid but never was.  This was the end of our tour. 

 

Once outside the view across The Mall to the Washington Monument is breathtaking.  In front of the Capitol is a large statue called the Peace Monument also called the Naval Monument.  It was erected to commemorate the naval deaths at sea during the Civil War.  At the top of this 44-foot monument a woman known as Grief (America) weeps on the shoulder of History.  Below them is Victory with an infant Mars and Neptune at her feet.  She is holding a laurel wreath and an oak branch.  In front of the reflecting pool stands the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial.  The memorial is forty-four feet high and over 250 feet long and the largest statuary group in Washington and the figure of General Grant on his horse is among the largest equestrian statues in the world.  There is also a group of cavalry soldiers on the north end and a group of artillery soldiers on the south. 

 

For the next part of our tour, we just drove passed places like the FBI building, the Federal Triangle, the House and Senate Office Buildings, the National Gallery of Art, the National Archives, the Washington Monument and a very large building with gold leaf on wrought iron doors, handles and lanterns at the entrance.  We asked a guard what it was and he told us it was the EPA building; impressive.  We passed several other buildings that I don’t remember and one hotel close to the White House that costs $5,000 a night. 

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Our last stop was at the American History Museum but we had gone through this yesterday so we walked up the street, got an ice cream, walked through the museum and out to The Mall.  We walked into the middle of the grass area and took a picture of one end of the US Capitol and the other end of the Washington Monument.  We sat outside by the pool in front of the museum waiting for the bus

 

Once back on the bus we returned to Union Station but we didn’t see our return shuttle bus.  We asked where that bus was and after making a phone call, our driver, Bob, said he would take us back.  After driving through town we ended up at the bus station and Bob said his day was over and left.  What?????  We sat there in a running bus for over ten minutes before another one showed up to take us back to the campground.  What a day, good and questionable and we were bushed....

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     The Museum of National History  -  Museum of National History                 

Coming in from Constitution Avenue we walked into the ground floor, got an information map for $1 and went to the Atrium Café for lunch.  It was only 11:15 AM but we figured that we better eat now before the masses show up.  There were already two or three school tours here.  They have lockers so Jack put his backpack in one and we took the elevator to the second floor and started our tour.  This floor has Gems and Minerals, a live Butterfly Pavilion, Bones, Mummies and Live Insect Zoo.  I took pictures of the Hope Diamond and the world’s largest emerald.  We walked through Bones of Mammals and Mummies.  The middle of the building is open to view the Rotunda and the large elephant standing in it for a great picture.   On the first floor we walked around the Rotunda and into the Ocean Hall with fossils and large displays hanging from the ceiling.  The Human Origins displays the development of the Human through the centuries.  The next area is the Rex Room that I don’t remember seeing too many skeletons in.  Another large room has all kinds of Mammals; a real hunters paradise.  We finished everything and walked back to the entrance at Constitution Avenue but were stopped from going out the door because it was pouring rain and we were told there was an emergency weather alert of a tornado in the area.  The guards were telling everyone to go back and enjoy the museum until 1 PM when the alert is to be lifted.  So we decided to see what the IMAX was showing.  The show was called the “Wonders of the Underworld in 3D”.  We got our 3D glasses as we walked in.  The IMAX screen is 60 feet high by 90 feet wide.  The show was all about things invisible, too slow or too fast for the human eye to see and was spectacular.  The film lasted 45 minutes and by the time we came out, the rain had almost stopped. 

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   The Museum of American History -  Museum of American History             

We then walked next door to the Museum of American History.  Again we took the elevator to the third floor to start our tour.  An area called American Wars and Politics has a display of First Ladies dresses, pictures and information on the American Presidency, the Gunboat Philadelphia and a display on the Price of Freedom.  Down on the second floor called American Ideals is where they display a Documents Gallery, American Stories, the National Museum of African American History and the Star-Spangled Banner; the very large American Flag with 15 red and white stripes and 15 stars on a blue background.  Yes, this is the original flag.  On the first floor called Transportation and Technology, there was a theater showing Warner Brother shows, a food exhibition, a exhibit of America on the move with cars, buses, trailers and boats.  There were also exhibits for Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb, the invention of electricity, power machines and the story of money.   We even took a picture of us using a heat sensor; really weird.  There is a lot of reading materials and could take days to read through everything. 

 

When we left the museum it was raining again but the winds had died down and wasn’t all that bad.  We had to ask where the station was because all you can see are steps going underground.  Once in the station a train was sitting there and Jack got on not taking time to look at the schedule signs.  We were on the proper side of the platform so we were going the right way but when I looked at the signs, the GR line (green back to College Park) wasn’t due for another three minutes!  Well, Jack finally asked what train this was and was told it was the Yellow (YL) line.  This line only goes two more stops.  While looking at our map, a nice guy told us we had to get off at the next stop and showed us that the schedule showed the Green Line (GR) was arriving in one minute.  We boarded this one and continued on to College Park.  We walked over to the bus stop and our bus showed up five minutes later.  This time, the driver was much more pleasant and a good driver. 

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We then made a short stop at the White House Visitors Center and walked up the sidewalk and saw the National Christmas Tree.  To be honest this tree looks really bad and doesn’t even have a top anymore.  It was broken off by high winds when a topper too heavy was put on top.  A few more feet up the sidewalk is a place to VIEW the White House that must be at least three football fields away. 

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The Air and Space Museum   -  Air and Space Museum                         

We had two hours to look at everything and we just made it back in time.  The center hall has missiles, planes hanging from the ceiling, a space station, the Apollo Space Shuttle and the US and Soviet Space Station.  We walked through rooms with planes from World War II, military vehicles, sea-air operations, Wright Brothers plans, spy planes and rockets; way too many to mention.

 

The World War II Memorial  -  Air and Space Museum         

This place is impressive.  The Memorial honors 16 million Americans who served in uniform and the millions who supported the war effort at home.  There are twin Atlantic and Pacific pavilions at either end of a pool symbolizing a war fought across two oceans.  Reaching out from each pavilion are large pillars of the 56 U.S. states united in a common cause with the state name topped by a wreath symbolizing the nation’s industrial and agricultural strength.  In the middle facing the Lincoln Memorial is the Freedom Wall with 4,000 gold stars commemorating the more than 400,000 Americans who gave their lives in the war.  On the 17th Street entrance both sides display 12 bas-relief sculptures recall scenes of America at war.  The stone in front of the Memorial says: 

            “HERE IN THE PRESENCE OF WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN, ONE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

             FATHER AND THE OTHER THE NINETEENTH CENTURY PRESERVER OF OUR NATION, WE HONOR

             THOSE TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICANS WHO TOOK UP THE STRUGGLE DURING THE SECOND

             WORLD WAR AND MADE THE SACRIFICES TO PERPETUATE THE GIFT OUR FOREFATHERS

             ENTRUSTED TO US A NATION CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY AND JUSTICE.”

 

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial   -  Martin Luther King Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial consists of two large stones symbolizing his struggle for freedom with a carving of Dr. King on one with the inscription “Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope”.  From here I also had a nice view of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin. 

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Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial at the Tidal Basin   -  Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial

I then walked down to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.  President Roosevelt never wanted a statue like the others so they created a beautiful stone wall garden inscribed with his favorite sayings or statements.  There are waterfalls, a carving indicating the struggles by the American people and a life-size statue of Roosevelt and his dog.  The place is beautiful.