Going to D.C. and New York in three weeks.....

[IUHoosiergirl88]

Depending on what you're into, where you're staying, and what your budget is, here's a nice list of stuff to do in DC. I've lived here for 3 years now and STILL not hit everything, so just take your time and enjoy. Some of this will also depend on weather. I put the neighborhoods next to restaurants/bars so it makes it easier to find

Sightseeing
-Washington Monument, WW2 memorial, Tidal Basin (Jefferson, FDR + MLK memorials), Lincoln, Korean War memorial, Vietnam Wall. Lincoln at night is one of my favorite places in the city
-National Cathedral
-Iwo Jima and Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington
-Go up the Washington Monument if tickets are available
-Natural History Museum, American History but only for the flag. Most of the AH museum is under reno right now and thus rather disappointing. Air and Space is meh, the good stuff is out at the Udvar Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
-Holocaust Museum
-Newseum. You have to pay for this, but it's well worth it and will take you a solid 3-4 hours to get through. The 9/11 portion will make you cry.
-National Portrait Gallery in Penn Quarter. Houses the only complete collection of presidential portraits outside of the White House and has a killer atrium.
-Mount Vernon if you have a rental car and the weather is nice
-Gravelly Point (just off of the GW Parkway) if you have a rental car and the weather is nice
-Old Town Alexandria
-Eastern Market

Food/Bars
-Zaytinya (Penn Quarter) for Mediterranean tapas and the best pita bread you'll ever have
-POV at the W Hotel (White House) AT NIGHT for expensive cocktails but the best view in the city
-Off the Record at the Hays Adams (more expensive cocktails)
-Ethiopian: Ethiopic. Mexican: District Taco (13th & F) or Oyamel (Penn Quarter). Spanish: Jaleo (Chinatown). Indian: Rasika (Penn Quarter). Thai: Little Serow (Dupont) or Doi Moi (Logan Circle). Southern food: Vidalia (Dupont). Steaks: Rays the Steaks (Arlington, VA). Burgers: Shake Shack (Chinatown, Dupont), Rays Hellburger (Arlington, VA). Pizza: Pizza Paradiso (several locations). Retro food: Ted's Bulletin (epic homemade poptarts, Capitol Hill). American food: Clyde's (Georgetown), Old Ebbitt Grill (White House), The Hamilton (White House). BBQ: Hill Country (Penn Quarter).
-If you like beer, you must hit Churchkey (Logan Circle). If you like bourbon/whiskey, you must hit Jack Rose (Adams Morgan sort of).
-Other good bars: 1905 (U Street), The Brixton (U Street), The Gibson (U Street), Marvin (U Street), H Street Country Club (has a small DC-themed mini golf course upstairs, H Street), The Big Hunt (dive bar, Dupont), Meridian Pint (Columbia Heights), Hawk and Dove (Capitol Hill), Millie and Al's (dive bar, Adams Morgan)...the list goes on and on.

Avoid at all costs: Ben's Chili Bowl pre-3 AM, standing on the left side of the metro escalators, DC taxicabs.

Walk left, stand right, and welcome to DC

[naraht]

Originally Posted by IUHoosiergirl88

Avoid at all costs: Ben's Chili Bowl pre-3 AM, standing on the left side of the metro escalators, DC taxicabs.

Walk left, stand right, and welcome to DC

During rush hour, generally closer to run left, walk right, but at least they understand if you are standing right.

If you stand left during rush hour you will get you run over and then Harry Reid, John Boehner, and nuns will spit on your corpse. (Of course the nuns were probably the ones who trampled you. )

Oddly enough another recommended place to "visit" is the trip *over* the Potomac on the subway between L'enfant (pronounced Launfaunt with *both* n's slightly nasalized) Plaza station and Pentagon station on the yellow line.

On that subject, the escalator at Wheaton Station (in Maryland on the east side of the Red Line) is the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere. Not that much worth seeing near the station, but if you are looking for off the beaten track, it is sort of interesting and inside the fare gates (and as long as you don't go through the fare gates you aren't charged).

Note, the maps that they have of the system in the cars and at the stations are *nowhere* *near being to scale. The stations downtown are blocks apart, the ones out in the suburbs a mile or more.

And the doors on the Metro trains are *nothing* like elevator doors. They don't spring back open if you put an arm in. If you are *lucky*, the train operators will reopen the doors so you can get your arm out, if unlucky, you've broken the doors and the train will have to offload everyone. (at that point the nuns in the above paragraph will come after you!

[IUHoosiergirl88]

Originally Posted by naraht

If you stand left during rush hour you will get you run over and then Harry Reid, John Boehner, and nuns will spit on your corpse. (Of course the nuns were probably the ones who trampled you. )

I have been known to loudly clear my throat, sigh, or glare at people who stand on the left if I'm only moderately in a hurry. If there's a train coming and I need to make it lest I wait for 15 minutes...I will loudly tell you to please move to the right.

Originally Posted by naraht

And the doors on the Metro trains are *nothing* like elevator doors. They don't spring back open if you put an arm in. If you are *lucky*, the train operators will reopen the doors so you can get your arm out, if unlucky, you've broken the doors and the train will have to offload everyone. (at that point the nuns in the above paragraph will come after you!

THIS.

[GammaGirl1908]

Originally Posted by naraht

the doors on the Metro trains are *nothing* like elevator doors. They don't spring back open if you put an arm in. If you are *lucky*, the train operators will reopen the doors so you can get your arm out

I have seen more than one person try to cram onto a very full Metro car, and have the doors close between him and his backpack with the backpack outside the car. Just wait for the next car.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by GammaGirl1908

I have seen more than one person try to cram onto a very full Metro car, and have the doors close between him and his backpack with the backpack outside the car. Just wait for the next car.

This happened to me when I was boarding a car on the Tube in London while I was studying overseas. I felt like such an idiot. Lesson learned, though.