Washington DC - Blogabond

To make my travels around the country easier and cheaper, I purchased an AMTRAK card, which gave me unlimited train travel on the national rail network. These trains are very comfortable but are also incredibly slow and never arrive on time. Fortunately I had some books and my MP3 player to keep me entertained during my long journeys.

The train to Washington DC passed through Baltimore, a rather dire East Coast city which I would visit only if I wanted a ‘real’, gritty experience. Instead I continued on to DC where I stayed for three days. During my time there I saw some of the ‘essential’ stuff like the White House, the Mall and the Capitol where I took a guided tour. I was surprised at how close one can get to the White House building – the fence is only some 50 metres away and you can see through the windows of the house.

On the second day I had a very unlikely encounter in the hostel corridor with my old room-mate James from my time at boarding school in Sweden. He lives in London and although we see each other every now and again, none of us knew that the other was to be in the US. We went to see a 3D film at the Space Museum together – an experience almost as surreal as bumping into each other at the hostel.

On my last day I rented a bike and rode around the city, visiting Arlington Cemetary where JFK lies buried, and also upscale Georgetown.

written by

niklasbergstrand on January 16, 2009 from Washington, United States

from the travel blog: Niklas in America

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