We will be driving to Washington DC from Philadelphia - starting out about 1pm. We're staying at the Americana in Arlington. We would like to spend the next day touring Arlington Cemetery, the monuments and perhaps one museum. I'd like advice on public transport for that day unless it's easy to use the car and park everywhere. The second day we thought we would drive to Mount Vernon in the morning and go to Alexandria for the afternoon. Would driving be best for that day? We also want to see the monuments by night - is driving/parking possible or are we best to take a tour? Are we missing something that we will regret later? The next day we move on, driving to Gettysburg - on to Pennsylvania. Washington is the first step in a 3 week driving holiday up to New England. We're coming from Australia and have never been to this part of the USA.

Hmm, it looks like the closest Metro station to your hotel is Crystal City. From there you can take the Blue Line train just two stops up to Arlington Nat'l Cemetery. The Blue Line can also take you into the city to see the various Smithsonian Museums and the monuments, from the Smithsonian stop, I think (some locals can probably chime in with their further detail on this). This is all assuming that you are comfortable with some walking; the Mall is somewhat large, and the monuments are quite spread out. I do recommend seeing them at night; a very nifty and very different experience than seeing them in the day. ^

Your plan sounds pretty good. Just be prepared to do some walking as things are pretty spread out.

The Americana is indeed in Crystal City (which is really just a part of Arlington) and it's just a couple of blocks from the Metro (subway) station. Note that Crystal City is a bit confusing at first because all the buildings look alike, but if you can find the big Marriott Hotel (there's also a small Marriott a block away - very confusing) you'll find the Metro station because it's right behind it.

Do not drive into DC; traffic can be bad, the roads are very confusing, and parking is difficult to find. The Metro Blue line will take you to Arlington Cemetery (Arlington Cemetery stop) and the monuments (Foggy Bottom stop). For the museums you can again take the Blue line (Smithsonian stop) or take the Yellow line (shorter ride, L'Enfant Plaza stop) and walk a couple of blocks.

You might try the monuments at night your first night as you will be getting in late in the afternoon. You do not need to take a tour, just hop on the Metro, as the National Mall area is quite safe after dark.

Driving to Alexandria and Mt. Vernon is no problem. Alexandria is also your closest place for a selection of good restauraunts (though there are a few in Crystal City).

Make sure to hit Gettysburg on a weekday, and hopefully not in the summer, as it gets very crowded. After seeing the cyclorama, you can buy a CD self-guided tour and then just drive around the battleground at your own pace.

Welcome to the East Coast!!

Your plan is sound, the metro is fine for your Day 1 itinerary but definitely use the car for Mount Vernon the next day. You've packed quite a lot (and there is a bit of walking involved) but you should get through most of it. There are a lot of museums to choose from, so you might want to narrow that down before you start your day.

As far as seeing the monuments at night - when exactly are you visiting? Summers has DC teeming with tourists and its hot, sticky and very crowded.
Traffic can be a bear, particularly during the daytime (btw - be careful of which route you take around the beltway - 495 - when you leave to head North, the Wilson Bridge is under construction, but the Legion Bridge can be heavily bogged down in traffic as well - I use the Legion Bridge most times as a preferred route). If you want to go into the city at night - after 8pm or so, use the car. Have your route mapped out in advance (the drivers here aren't very patient sometimes, but we're also used to tourists stopping in the middle of the road to gawk at a site of some sort or other). You'll see most of the monuments from the road - include the capitol, white house (hard to see with the roads blocked), lincoln, washington and jefferson memorials. I would park around 17th and constitution, 17th usually has open spots and walk over to the WWII memorial and from there to the vietname memorial, korean memorial and take a look at lincoln close up if you're interested. You can walk in the other direction towards washington monument, also. The area is fairly safe as noted above (but use the regular precautions). You can sometimes find a spot over near the Jefferson memorial, but that is more difficult and none of it is particularly close (look across the road near the water, I don't know what that side road is called but you'll see the row or parked cars) - it's one of those places where I usually just drop my visitors and then pick them up after they've had a little time there. Also take a look at the various smithsonian museum buildings, they come in many shapes and sizes.

Enjoy your trip ...

ps Where else are you planning to visit as you head North?

I agree that taking the car into the city after rush hour isn't a bad idea, but the roads can be a bit confusing getting back out of town if you're not used to them.

If you decide to stick with Metro, I might suggest a circular trip with an arrival at Smithsonian Metro stop and then a departure from Foggy Bottom back to Crystal City. It will take a few extra minutes to get to Smithsonian, but the view as you leave the station in the middle of the Mall is fantastic, with the Capitol in one direction and the Washington Monument in the other.

Then you can walk down towards the Washington Monument and get a close-up view of same, walk through the WWII memorial, and visit the Vietnam and Korean Memorials as you reach the area of the Lincoln Memorial.

Then it's a fairly short walk (Maybe 5-6 blocks) to the Foggy Bottom station for the return "home".

How terrific to have locals to help out!

I think we will use the metro within Washington DC - we are used to driving on the other side of the road and it sounds like DC could be a tad stressful to drive in. I'll look up the metro sites suggested and plan the itinerary. Apparently the hotel has a shuttle that will take us/pick us up to the metro and also to the Fashion Center Mall at Pentagon City. As to when we are visiting - it is very late September. We could take the Arlington Cemetery Tourmobile first up in the morning of day 1, and then hop on the metro to the Smithsonian.

Day 2 we will drive to Mount Vernon and then drive to Alexandria for a while in the afternoon. I'd like to do the Moonlight Trolley tour of the monuments on this evening - however, it is 2 1/2 hours long - my concern is that the restrooms along the way might be closed. Unfortunately this is important so advice would be welcome.

The next day we head to Gettysburg for the morning then to Intercourse PA for 2 nights. We then have a night along the way to Woodstock, Vermont (2 nights), Stowe, Vermont (2 nights), Franconia NH (1 night), Jackson NH (2 nights), Freeport Maine (2 nights), Boston (4 nights).

Cheers, Rose

Interesting combination of locales you'll be visiting ... as far as bathrooms go - I don't know what they are called down under, but most of the sites you'd visit have portable bathrooms (the little white plastic boxes) available - bring your own supplies and don't sit is the best advice I could offer there. On this note, I will also give you a bit of advice (dc locals - correct me if I'm wrong on this because it's been a big deal) -- if you ask in a metro station, they will open the door for you, you won't get entry without the request.

Also - once you are firm on your plans as far as date & time when you'll be arriving in DC and its closer to that date (along with info on your party size), post the information either in this thread or a new one ... it could be that there is a local or visitor that might be available to meet up to say hello and do that driving for you around the monuments.

I totally understand the reluctance to too deep into the city. I made a "keep left" sign for my rental in NZ, with some reminders about the right turn being the long turn since I wasn't accustomed to driving on 'that' side of the road. I still made one big "oops", quickly corrected with thankfully no cars in my way, right after I took this last rental car out.

Enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the advice on the porta-loos! We're much relieved!!

We'll also take your advice and put a post on a couple of weeks before we arrive to see if anyone fancies meeting up with a couple of old Aussies (well I was born in Texas but have been in Australia since the age of 14) to show us the monuments by night. I also just found a site for free guided walks to see the monuments and the last one begins at 6pm. Considering it will be the end of September that might be getting dark so that might be a very good option. www.dcbyfoot.com

As for the locales we'll be visiting - my great great grandfather came over from Germany to Pennsylvania to the area we're going to and as for the rest, we're driving (Australians love to drive - we have lots of space to do it in) to see the autumn leaves and enjoy a glimpse of New England and the history of Boston.

You can use the Metro and do the Mall at night. Best to alight from Metro at the Capitol South Station. Start from the Capitol building and work your way west. For taking photos, I recommend to bring a tripot. Don't miss the WW II Memorial, its fantastic at night!
When you are done, you probably have to back track to the Smithsonian Station and take the Metro to Crystal City. Be sure to check time for last train.

From the Lincoln Memorial it would be much quicker to walk up to Foggy Bottom stop.

Just a comment to add here that the above itinerary would involve at least 3 miles of walking if you go all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. That's quite a hike in DC summer heat.

There are also some type of obscure regulations about tripods for cameras in some DC monument/memorial locations, especially at the Capitol building and on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. They are not always permitted, not sure why...

I've lived in the DC area for 32 years, so I qualify as a local.

I think the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials are best experienced at night. You'll be safe, as the monuments are open until midnight, and quite a few tourists are at both sites until closing.

Another thought about visiting Washington--if you have a connection to a US address, contact the senators from that state and the congressman who represents that zip code (you can go on the www.house.gov website to find out who), call 202-224-3121 (the main Capitol switchboard) and ask for that congressman's office, and see if the staff there can't set you up with VIP tours of the Capitol Building and the White House (they call them VIP tours, but anybody can get on them). I think the White House tours have resumed after the hiatus after 9-11. Both places are incredible and ought to be seen. You also ought to try to get a tour of the Supreme Court building, as it is beautiful inside (the Supreme Court is opposite the east front of the Capitol). Just south of the Supreme Court is the main building of the Library of Congress--the main reading room in there is worth a visit too.

The great thing about DC is that all the major public attractions arrayed around the Mall have free admission. This includes all the Smithsonian museums, and the main hall of the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are stored and can be viewed through glass.

As far as eating, tourists ought to see the "Old Ebbitt Grill", on 15th Street between F and G, across the street from the Treasury Building, the Dubliner, at North Capitol Street and Massachusetts Avenue, NW, and Kelly's Irish Times, which is just west of the Dubliner. The latter two places are terrific Irish-style restaurant/pubs.

Enjoy.

Now that I see you still have time to plan, I'll put in my 2 cents. The Washington Post has an online Visitor's Guide that is very useful, for both long-range and short-range planning. At the moment, it is at http://tinyurl.com/ywgpfc or http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...l_visitorguide. If those links don't work, start at www.washingtonpost.com, click on "city guide" in the navigation bar, and then click on "visitors guide" - they have a "3 days in DC" article among other things.

And as a native of Washington DC (NOT Maryland, NOT Virginia, NOT "the DC area" - a little bit of local snobbism!) I'd say skip the White House. The Capitol, Library of Congress, National Archive, and Supreme Court and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials are all much more interesting... the White House tour itself is pretty blah, the rooms merely fancy rooms where important things happened once when they looked different. As locals, we never went there for a school trip. When I finally stopped in as an adult, I was bored out of my mind.

I am not Christian, but I have to say that the National Cathedral is glorious, and has wonderful architectural details, including modern stain glass windows (one with a moon rock, two honoring the labor union movement, etc.), and a recently refurbished organ. 2 problems - it is out of the way, so you'd probably want to catch a cab from the Tinleytown Red Line stop, and the guide materials available on-site are not as detailed as I'd like. But while it's not a usual 2-days-in-DC stop, if you have local friends who have a car and suggest it, it's not a crazy idea.

Finally, if you have any interest in Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his era, the FDR Memorial (between the Jefferson and Lincoln Monuments) is quite lovely - mostly outdoors, so not for a rainy day.