Sadly, we are now on the train after a fantastic but short visit to Washington DC.  This is a truly amazing city and we were fortunate to see as much as we did in such a short period of time. Food here is fabulous.  Not the stereotypical junk food you expect in the US.  We found great restaurants, fresh food (and greens) and at ridiculously cheap prices.

We (Tony) made some great choices, and top of the list was getting a train in and out.  This cut travelling time down enormously ie not having to get to an airport, go through massive security and then wait in anticipation, for  connections.  Within 10-15 minutes of leaving our accommodation both in NYC and in Washington we were in both Penn and Union stations ready for departure – and the trains run on time! As some would know I have not been a big fan of train travel but this trip was easy primarily because we only took what we needed for a couple of days and left the rest in the apartment.  Handling large amounts of luggage is a different matter. A couple of photos of Union Station  come in the next blog – it is a fantastic station in its own right and while not as large as Grand Central Station in NY, is still quite beautiful.

The other great decision we made was to hire a driver to see the monuments.  This might sound excessive but it was a practical way of getting to where we wanted to go in the shortest amount of time.  All of the tour buses go everywhere – whether you want to or not.  And then you have to battle crowds of people getting in and out of the major tourist spots.  Our drive was comfortable and we saw what we wanted to see, and in our time!

Big pluses.