Elkridge, MD to Washington DC

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Thursday, October 20

I was on the road by 9:00 AM headed towards Washington DC. I drove to Fairfax, VA, only about 25

miles away and spent a pleasant hour on the highway. I parked at a metro stop in Fairfax, boarded a train & proceeded to wait 45 minutes before it left. After two stops we were told to get off & change trains. They've been working on that section of line hence the delay. Returning to ground level at L'Enfant plaza required a very long escalator ride. It sure beats stairs but it would have given most of my needed steps all at once if it hadn't been working.

I arrived in DC just before noon and found myself  in a great food court at L'Enfant plaza. I love food courts but this one was a cut above any I've seen before. I counted nearly 25 different places to eat, as well as stores, dental office, a Doc in the Box, PT, etc. I chose to eat Middle Eastern food and had a tasty salad with falafels & hummus. It was great fun to sit among hundreds & hundreds of men & women dressed up for work in a city. I felt quite the country rube as I was dressed in shorts & tee shirt anticipating a day outside in mid 80's weather.

Food court

Lunch in the food court

Learning to "roll"

I'd scheduled a tour of the monuments by Segway. It was a great experience and a lot of fun. There were 10 of us in the group and with the wide sidewalks & paths we had no trouble getting around. It took about 20 minutes to feel comfortable rolling. Too bad they're so expensive & near useless in real life because the technology is awesome.

Modern Art museum

Part of Viet Nam memorial

I was actually part of this tour. Here is the proof.

The two girls in the background were from Finland. Their English was quite good & they also spoke Swedish. The weather was in the low 80's & more humid than at home, but not too bad. The tour lasted almost three hours. The next day my calf muscles still hurt from rolling on my Segway!

After the tour I rented a bike from a bike share stand (like I did in Paris a few years ago) and rode around for about an hour. Cycling remains my favorite way to get around a city. I rode till about 6:30 by which time it was getting quite dark. By the way, Segway tours & bike tours also are offered in the evening so one can enjoy the illuminated monuments.

 These photos were taken on my bike ride as the sun was going down.