Washington Bound!

I love visiting my uncle and cousins in Washington D.C. Not only because I don't get to see them as much as I'd like but because the city is such a wonder to me. Everything about it is so new and open to me, so welcoming. Okay, maybe that's just in the tourist area, but still, I felt invited there. Speaking of tourists, there is such an influx of tourists there that at times it's hard to tell the natives from the invaders. They pool around the famous buildings and open areas like ants at a picnic, each pushing and pulling their way to the next stone attraction before the sun goes down or anybody else gets there. I didn't mind them that much, really, I was with my cousin and we just flew through them to get to our own attraction, of which my favorite was The Newseum. It's located near the Capital building and right beside the Canadian Embassy. It was truly the most informative and the most surprising. Who knew that News could be so interesting or had such a profound history. And, I know how foolish that sounds, the news has been around for as long as we'ved had people on this earth but, still, it blew me away to see so many periodicals of newsworthy items on display in there. They had pages of newspapers from The Civil War depicting how the battle was going that week, they had an early printing press, a Klansman robe, including what was left of the car that the very first journalist was sitting in when he was assassinated. Not to mention a plethora of articles on Katrina. The place was an amusement park of information! I would definitely go back. At the very top of the building was a long promenade that gave you an almost 180 degree look at the streets below. From up there I could see the museums across the way and if I looked all the way down the street I could see The Capital Building. It made for such a stunning vista. The other museum I really liked was the Native American Museum. It was such a beautiful, curvaceous piece of work that housed a grand fountain on the outside. The inside was nothing to sneeze at either. It was another wellspring of information that completely took me by surprise. I can't wait to go back again. For, as with all things on vacation, there was so much to see and sadly, so little time to see it in. Maybe I'll see the zoo next time,or explore the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, either by kayak or canoe, or maybe I'll eat at one of the many food trucks that litter the city. Whatever I decide to do I know that my next time in the city will be just as good, if not better than the last.

All Aboard!

A little while back I went on a trip to Washington D.C.with my mother. We went to see some family members whom we hadn't seen in a very long while and, as with all of my other trips, and any trip I venture on, I took my camera. My preferable way of traveling is by train. Call me old fashion, or just plain romantic,but I love traveling by train. It's so much more comfortable, and leisurely than any other mode of transportation. C'mon, think back to the last time you traveled: do you remember feeling enough leg room to spread your feet out and stretch your toes without pissing off the person in front of you when your legs hit the underside of their seat? How about standing up? When was the last time that you got the opportunity to wander from plane to plane or bus to bus on any of your travels? And not to mention the view. What do you really see up there? Even the bus only gives you a driver's view of what's going on outside your window. Now, While I truly enjoy the view of the earth from the sky, there is just nothing like the scene outside your window that lingers along beside you on a train. It's like the country your in has finally gotten a chance to meet you and it doesn't want to miss the opportunity to wave and say hi! This is it's chance and it's going to take it. There is also no rushing on trains- to some extent. Although the train may be speeding along, you and your luggage are still going to get to your destination at least ten hours well past your compatriots in the air. But, you don't mind. You've come to fully accept this. It's all part of the train experience, the train mystique. I saw some great vistas on this trip. They ranged from lakes, oceans, to mountains and valley's. It was definitely a side of this land that I'd never seen before, even when I took this same trip years before. I didn't remember seeing the things I saw this time around. The voyage itself was also very different the first time, as well. For one thing, We had to take a bus from Montreal at some un-Godly hour of the morning to St Albans New York. Once there, my mother and I, and a scattering of other passengers, had to walk through some patches of bushes to a tiny, near minuscule, shack in the middle of nowhere. It was so tiny the only thing that fit inside was a ticket counter and a patch of space on the floor big enough for only, maybe, six people to pace around on.Then, to get on the train we had to step off of the postage stamp platform and walk the five or six feet across a swath of rocks and pebbles to a massive waiting train, on which we had to step up to to get on. Great adventure for me, not so much fun for my mother with arthritic knees. But, none of that on this trip. This time the train left from the Montreal Gare Central station, downtown.It was so much easier for my mother this way. Barely any up and down to go through. Okay, so on the train you have to buy your own food. Have you tasted airline food? Wouldn't you want to buy something better if you had the choice? Granted, it was a tad expensive, and if you are going on AmTrak you are already spending your American loot but, it was totally worth it, if not for the cold beer then for the walk from your seat to the dining car alone. To some extent, I've become very spoiled by this way of traveling. Barring the times when I couldn't afford to pay out the high price for a very long and winding train ride in the short time that was allotted to me during my break or vacation, this has always, and will always be my first choice of getting anywhere outside of my city, my province, or my country. God, help me if I have to go to overseas. Seriously, they can build a Chunnel from London to Paris but they can't build one across the Atlantic?! Where's their ambition?!