What to see in one day in Washington, DC

I never wanted to go to Washington. In the end, it turned out that this is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to.

Фото: Depositphotos

I arrived there for work, but in the first days I was inappropriate for a holiday mood, writes Anastasia Osyans for Journal.tinkoff.ru. Washington reminded me of a resort where, by some misunderstanding, there is no sea. It is a quiet and green city, in which there are few cars, a lot of low cinematic buildings, and in general you feel calm, like in retirement.

Washington does not impress the capital: it is very compact. I arrived at the hotel from the airport at 5 in the evenings, and by 10 I had already walked around the entire center. If you will also travel to Washington and want to see the maximum of attractions, take a walk along my route on 10 km. It starts at the White House and ends in the historic district of Georgetown. On the way, you will see the media museum, the Capitol, the museum of aeronautics and astronautics, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

How to get from the airport to the center. Most flights from Russia arrive at Dulles Airport. To go to the center before the start of the route will have to change: first by bus, then by metro.

Shuttle from the airport is called Silver Line Express. Tickets are sold in the terminal at the Arrival Door 4 counter. The fare is $ 5, cash or credit card. The bus goes to the subway station Wiehle-Reston East, the road takes 15 minutes. Specify the bus schedule on the airport website.

• Washington Metro Map
• Metro site

On the subway you need to go to the station McPherson Square. From it to the White House 5 minutes on foot. The fare is $ 3,85.

Route

The White house - This is the residence of the President of the United States. For the first time, my friends and I were there in the afternoon when two Americans held sluggish demonstrations: against abortion and in support of Jesus. The second time we drove there at night on scooters, when in the pouring rain the White House was guarded by a bored policeman. In total, we spent a couple of minutes at the residence: we quickly looked around and took a photo on duty.

In the media museum, or Newzume, exhibited famous photographs of journalists, historical editorials of newspapers and items from the scene. For example, pieces of the fuselage of the aircraft, which 11 of September was seized by terrorists, or dusty broken phones of the victims. A sign next to it says that cell phones rang under the rubble all day: people searched for missing relatives.

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In total, the museum has six floors, the last of which is an observation deck overlooking the Capitol. Many are thematic halls: for example, there is the First Amendment Hall (the First Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits Congress from restricting freedom of speech, religion or assembly) and the Berlin Wall Hall.

White House. Photo: Depositphotos

Newzium is one of the few museums in the center of Washington with a paid entrance. At the ticket office ticket costs $ 25, https://www.izakayasushilounge.com - $ 21,21. It is valid for two days.

В Capitol meets US Congress - the legislature of America. It can be freely visited by Americans and foreigners. Visitors are shown a beautiful round hall with columns, a hall under a dome 55 meters high and the National Sculpture Hall. All tours are free. You can not carry water, food, bags with more 45 cm and other things.

You do not need an ID to enter, but it is better to book a ticket on the website in advance. This can be done 90 days before the planned visit. Sometimes in the Capitol there are tickets for which you can go on the same day, but in the summer they may not be enough: there are too many people who want it.

• How to get to the Capitol
• Capitol Map
• Tours to the Capitol

If you want to look at Congress meeting, you need a separate identity. Foreigners can only get it in the visitor center, on the website it will not work. If there are no meetings, you can simply look at the hall.

Even if you are not going inside, at the Capitol it is curious to just walk. Fireflies fly over the lawns, and at the entrance from the west side there is a picturesque view of the National Avenue. This is a pedestrian street 3 km long, which begins on Capitol Hill. The main Washington monuments are located on it - I will tell about them further.

Museum of Aeronautics and Astronautics - This is the most popular museum in Washington according to the version of Tripedvizor users. In his collection of 30 thousands of aviation and 9 thousands of space objects: airplanes, rockets and various equipment. Among them is the Apollo-11 command module, in which the Americans landed on the moon, and the first plane in the US, the 1903 Wright Flyer. Entrance to the museum is free.

Museum of aeronautics and astronautics. Photo: Depositphotos

In addition to the permanent exhibition in the museum there is an IMAX cinema. The cinema shows documentaries like Apollo 11: First Steps Edition and children's Toy Story 4. An adult ticket on the site costs $ 9, another $ 1,5 will be taken as a commission and $ 2 - for the order. I did not understand what exactly they are taking two dollars for. Perhaps at the ticket office is cheaper.

• The schedule of films can be viewed on the museum website.

Even in the museum there is a planetarium of Einstein. Entry costs $ 9 plus the same commission as when buying movie tickets. schedule indicated on the site. There is also a brochure, which the administration advises to read before going to the planetarium, to make it clearer. There are many amusing facts in it. For example, I learned that there may be 40 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 stars in the universe.

My colleague and I took a ride in a museum in a flight simulator. This is a small cabin, where visitors are tightly tied up and put joysticks in their hands: one person shoots, the second controls the plane. At this time, the cabin is spinning around its axis. I shot in such a way that after 5 minutes we lost and everything ended twice as fast as it should have been. The ticket cost $ 10 per person, we bought it at the box office on the spot.

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Washington Monument - It is a giant granite obelisk with a height of 170 meters. At the monument, Americans play baseball, and tourists lie on the grass or just walk barefoot. At the top there is a viewing platform, where you can take the elevator. But until mid-August, 2019 will not be able to do this: the elevator is under reconstruction.

The museum of aeronautics and astronautics has many Soviet exhibits, such as the Soyuz and Apollo ships, the Soviet SS-20 rocket, and the spacesuit of Yuri Gagarin.

Фото: Depositphotos

Lincoln Memorial It was built in memory of the sixteenth President of America, who ruled the country during the years of the Civil War. Inside the 36 pillar memorial, they symbolize the states that united under Lincoln. For Americans, this is an important monument. It was Lincoln who abolished slavery in America - the monument symbolizes freedom and equality.

The memorial is open around the clock: there is not even a door in the hall with the monument. The entrance is free. If you stand facing the memorial, to the left of the stairs on the first floor there is a separate entrance. There is a small exhibition dedicated to the history of the monument, a toilet and an elevator to the second floor.

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Georgetown - a historic district in Washington. Until 1871, it was a separate city. One American told me that there are many old buildings of the colonial and federal period, that is, 18 — 19 centuries. These are low neat houses, along which you want to spend hours aimlessly walking. I imagined such when I read Gone With the Wind.

There are many well-known stores in Georgetown, such as Sefora, Banana-Repablik or Amazon-Bookstore. Prices are high. If you want to save, go to TJ maxx - this is a famous American outlet. They sell clothing and cosmetics with 50 discounts — 70%.

Фото: Depositphotos

Details

Scooters In Washington, everyone moves on electric scooters, such as Uber, Lyft, Bird, or Lime. They stand right outside. To reserve a device, you need to download the application, attach a card and choose a scooter. At the end of the trip, the money will automatically be deducted from the card. On average, a minute costs $ 0,2 — 0,8.

Scooter - a pleasant and cheap way to get around the city. The trip to the mail cost me $ 1,6 - I drove about 3 km. Another time, we drove around the city for an hour and a half, and I paid $ 15. A friend of mine found the Uber promo code on $ 5: it was written directly on the scooter. As a result, the one-hour trip cost him $ 5.

Finding a scooter can be difficult. Sometimes, within a radius of five kilometers, there was not a single charged device around me. Another time I walked around one scooter in circles for half an hour, but I couldn’t find it - it is more painful than Pokemon-go. But before the flight to Russia under the windows of the hotel stood six scooters.

In applications, the city is divided into two zones. Usually green or blue highlighted the one where you can leave a scooter. This is a big part of the center. In the second zone, highlighted in red, are hard-to-reach places from which the rental companies cannot quickly pick up the scooter. For example, this is the embankment next to the Lincoln monument. If you leave the scooter outside the parking zone, an extra $ 35 can be written off the card.

I advise you to check in advance where you can not leave a scooter. Once I reached the Capitol, where friends were waiting for me, and wanted to leave the device there: it was just discharged. But it turned out that the environs of the Capitol are not part of the Uber parking zone. I had to drag the scooter about a kilometer more in the heat + 36 ° C and then come back.

There are bike lanes on most streets in the center - we tried to drive along them. For example, on Pennsylvania Avenue, the track is located between two car lanes. It leads directly to the Capitol - very picturesque. But in Georgetown, it is inconvenient to drive: there are no bike paths, cars are tightly parked on the sides, and pavement is on the sidewalks.

Food. On average, dinner in Washington cost me $ 17. With this money you can eat a blue cheese burger, pasta or squid. Salad on average costs $ 10, a sandwich - $ 6, beer - $ 7, a glass of wine - $ 9.

Tasty and cheap food by the standards of Washington is in Pret-a-Mange. Salmon with a salad for $ 11, granola with berries for $ 4, quinoa and chicken for $ 12 are sold there. You can also buy food at Whole Foods. This is an expensive supermarket, but ready meals are still cheaper there than in a restaurant. The second is about $ 12.

The price in the menu is not final. Tax is added to the order amount - 10%. Even in America it is customary to tip, usually it is 15 — 30%. In some institutions they are included directly in the bill, in some they are left to the discretion of the client. Once we had dinner with a company from 10 people and we added 20% to the account of the order amount - $ 20.

Water in restaurants bring free. You can also dial it in fountainers - they are everywhere.

Washington Spending Per Day - $ 56

• Ticket to Newsium - $ 21,21.
• Scooter ride - $ 15.
• Lunch - $ 11.
• Travel from the airport - $ 8,85.

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