Returned today after a straight long drive from Newark today - via NJ turnpike, taking the I95 through Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh and a host of freeways, counties and parishes on the way. Being christmas, it was a day when seeing a cop on the interstate was a rarity and most surprisingly, seeing scores of closed departmental stores and food shops. But the trip, a tight 4 day tour of Washington,DC and NYC was truly amazing...We started off around 2PM from Columbia on the 21st. Our car (a Hyundai Santa Fe) had Vishal and his family, me and Furqan in it. There were two more vehicles - both 7 seater SUVs - going on the trip.
While filling in fuel for the trip at Kangaroo. we had already sensed what was coming - the entire Two-Notch was jam-packed with traffic and we knew we would not make it to Washington before 11 or 12. Anyhow, we started off - Furqan was driving and I was navigating him. He was to drive 200 miles, till we were near the North Carolina-Virginia border. The road was very busy and we passed through many exits with very funny and unusual names of counties and rivers etc: a town is called Local Traffic. Then there were the Great Pee Dee River, followed after some time by the Little Pee Dee River - both in our own South Carolina. Each state has its own traffic laws and we could distinctly feel the traffic getting a lot tamer as we entered Virginia (with a posted speed limit of 65 mph and enforced by aircraft). We stopped at a gas filling station after about 250-260 miles - somewhere in Virginia. Virginia is loaded with historical places - Mt Vernon, Washington's birth place and home to his estates, came on the way. Other names that people across the world know as the CIA's base - Langley - was also mentioned somewhere as we entered Washington. We reached the outer areas of Washington (close to the Pentagon ) around 9.15PM - a great feat considering we had left Two-Notch at around 2.30PM. It was very cold outside -which we could sense at the gas filling station. We decided to take our dinner at an exit after getting out of Washington and Baltimore. At night, it becomes very difficult to delineate any city in that area - we left Washington and , through a tunnel entered Maryland - saw hoardings that flashed some hallowed names such as University of Maryland at Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, etc., then through the Delaware Memorial Bridge to the name that was to become familiar throughout the journey, the spinal cord of the state of NJ - the New Jersey Turnpike - came along. We got out at an exit - Exit 74 - for our dinner. Furqan wanted to go to Pizza Hut but we had to settle for a place that had a chinese joint (called China Haste), a Sub Way, and a few other places. Vishal and I chose the chinese place to try out some chinese food - it turned out quite good - lobster fried rice and schzuan chicken. Nitu was on fast and Suchet and Furqan had tuna sub. The journey from our Washington hotel to the NJ Turnpike junction where we were to drop off Vishal was about 140 miles and it was about 11/11.30PM when we dropped them off. Then the most interesting thing was to happen for me and Furqan - getting lost in the capital of the United States. We drove off from the Turnpike point towards our destination - Comfort Inn, 6111, Arlington Blvd and were to take Exit 27- Silver Spring on I495S. We were told by Atul (Vishal's bro-in-law, who had come to pick him up at the Turnpike) to stick to the right as we neared the Silver Spring exit else we'd end up back in Richmond,Va. By the time we had reached that exit, it was about 1.30AM - we got a call from Puneet saying the rest of the gang had reached Comfort Inn and we told them we'd be joining them soon. That call was enough for us to miss the exit - Furqan, quite tired and sleepy due to driving 380 miles , got distracted by that call and as it happens on the free-ways, a small distraction could make you miss an exit. We thought to take the usual recourse - to take the next exit on the Richmond direction. However, we were to discover that its not the usual road system that we see in other American cities that we see in the DC area. The Interstate interchanges or feeder roads such as I395, I495, etc are like our Indian ring roads - they are circular roads on the periphery of the DC area, connecting DC to other Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania suburban towns. So we soon saw ourselves hurtling towards Langley and Richmond. We took the next exit and soon were moving towards the Dulles Internation Airport. The roads suddenly became one way and we were heading for a toll. We paid 75 cents and tried to move out - found ourselves moving towards some restricted administrative building and did a U turn on the one-way road to get out of it!!! Had it been an earthly hour, we would have been ticketed for sure. We suddenly saw an I-395N sign - by then we were already disoriented - and we thought we'd soon meet the exit we were looking for. At one point, we had landed next to Tysons Corner and later on we were to realize how close we were to our hotel from there! The place was really cool - there were huge corporate skyscrapers belonging to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte and the like. We however got out and then following our instincts which were all screwed up by then, took another road that took us to the Arlington Cemetary, to a huge wooded park (I was thinking about Chandra Levy as we moved around in that park - it was like driving through any national park)...As we continued moving, we however started seeing a more lighted, structured area approaching us - very beautiful baroque buildings, lovely streets...I soon spotted the US Capitol to our right!! We had spiralled from the outer roads to the inner DC area and we soon found ourselves driving on Pennsylvania Ave and Constitution Ave. I spotted the National Mall strip with the Washington Monument looming...the watch was screaming 3-30AM already as we were driving very carefully in that area, and both of us had lost any trace of sleep by then. After some talking to a cop at a gas station in the downtown DC area, we took the I395S and as told, decided to stick to that road. The road was not straight - it had a few roundabouts and we saw ourselves somewhere in Massachusetts Ave. It was 4.30 by then and we almost gave up and were quite panicky. Furqan had decided to camp somewhere there for the night instead of continuing struggling to find our way. We parked at a shopping area on the Massachusetts Avenue, next to an Exxon Service Center and called up Vishal/Atul. After a few missed calls, Atul picked up and it took some time for him to realize the situation. He couldn't see how we could get out of that area since it was some place in North-west DC and we were supposed to take some turns and lanes to reach our hotel. So we dropped the call and decided to take the Massachusetts Avenue right till the end and see where it went.. We finally reached a road sign that said I495 N and I495 S and then I called up Atul again. This time, knowing we were back on I 495, guided us - we took I495S, took exit 46A and reached Tysons Corner, then Atul guided us minute by minute and we got onto 50E that went straight to Comfort Inn. It was 5.30AM by then and we were tired and crashed on the bed.
We were to get up in an hours time, since the shuttle from the hotel to the nearest metro station (Ballston-MU) left at 9AM and then 10AM. With a sleep of just about an hour, we were up again, and after taking a shower and then breakfast, took the shuttle to Ballston-MU station. By the way, it was very very chilly and windy too.The group took a lot of snaps there itself - it was a beautiful place - looked very upmarket and refined. After taking the day tickets, we went downstairs to catch the Orange Line to Federal Triangle. The Federal Triangle station was truly amazing. It opened right into the courtyard of the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, the second largest federal building after the Pentagon and what a building, truly. It is right on the Pennsylvania Avenue. After another round of photographs, we came out of the place and headed out on the Pennsylvania Ave towards the White House, our next destination. While on the street, I could easily sense that I was in the prettiest American city - even as I think of NYC now, the Time Square, the Manhattan area, I simply cannot find any other American city prettier than Washington - only the major European capitals could be rated equal or higher than DC. While walking down, a lot of our guys were taking snaps - posing next to statues and buildings. We were moving towards the Constitution Avenue and the National Mall strip - first we made our way into the White House Visiting Center that is housed inside the Department of Commerce building. There the entire place has White House memorabilia and movies on the history of the building running continuously. One exhibit was on the First Ladies and their cats, etc..We then came out and got out into the morning chill. God, whenever I think of those cities now, I can't get the chill out of the picture - it was so damn cold! We soon could see the huge obelisk, the Washington Monument and we slowly reached the hallowed gates of the White House..the entire place was crawling with Europeans, Chinese, Indians all taking pictures, posing infront of the gates to get the best view of the White House. Opposite the White House was a big Christmas Tree. Then there was a big slopy lawn that had the Washington Monument. It was quite late for us for the tickets up the Monument. Close to this area, on the green lawns, was a covered place where some people were playing Lennon-Yoko's Give Peace a Chance....We then walked by the Washington Monument after scores of photographs on the way. Around this time, our group also split too into people who were interested in going to the Capitol first and others who were walking towards the Smithsonian Institutions. We were earlier thinking of going to the Arlington Cemetary area or the Lincoln Memorial first, but then got our way into the Smithsonian buildings. Of all buildings, we could choose the Natural History Museum. The other buildings on that walk included the "Castle" - the beautiful red-stone cathedral like headquarters of the Smithsonian Institutions, the Freer Gallery, Air and Space museum, etc. One day seemed so less for everything, really. However, we managed to have a good trip inside the Natural History Museum. We were all quite famished too by then and the moment we got out, we pounced on the nearest hotdog place. I grabbed a Polish sausage hotdog and a usual hotdog. It was so cold that I had to huddle and eat them. We then moved towards the Capitol. Most of our time was spent on photography and therefore by the time we got to the Capitol, it was already about 4.30PM. We spent another hour on the reflecting pool infront of the Capitol, and then took the stairs. We I think didn't spare any statue on the way where we didn't take pics. After leaving the place, we walked down to the Lincoln Memorial - which was many blocks away - then to the World War II memorial and then back to the station. The plan for the next day was the Smithsonian National Zoo till about 1PM and then leaving for New York later..
We were to get up in an hours time, since the shuttle from the hotel to the nearest metro station (Ballston-MU) left at 9AM and then 10AM. With a sleep of just about an hour, we were up again, and after taking a shower and then breakfast, took the shuttle to Ballston-MU station. By the way, it was very very chilly and windy too.The group took a lot of snaps there itself - it was a beautiful place - looked very upmarket and refined. After taking the day tickets, we went downstairs to catch the Orange Line to Federal Triangle. The Federal Triangle station was truly amazing. It opened right into the courtyard of the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, the second largest federal building after the Pentagon and what a building, truly. It is right on the Pennsylvania Avenue. After another round of photographs, we came out of the place and headed out on the Pennsylvania Ave towards the White House, our next destination. While on the street, I could easily sense that I was in the prettiest American city - even as I think of NYC now, the Time Square, the Manhattan area, I simply cannot find any other American city prettier than Washington - only the major European capitals could be rated equal or higher than DC. While walking down, a lot of our guys were taking snaps - posing next to statues and buildings. We were moving towards the Constitution Avenue and the National Mall strip - first we made our way into the White House Visiting Center that is housed inside the Department of Commerce building. There the entire place has White House memorabilia and movies on the history of the building running continuously. One exhibit was on the First Ladies and their cats, etc..We then came out and got out into the morning chill. God, whenever I think of those cities now, I can't get the chill out of the picture - it was so damn cold! We soon could see the huge obelisk, the Washington Monument and we slowly reached the hallowed gates of the White House..the entire place was crawling with Europeans, Chinese, Indians all taking pictures, posing infront of the gates to get the best view of the White House. Opposite the White House was a big Christmas Tree. Then there was a big slopy lawn that had the Washington Monument. It was quite late for us for the tickets up the Monument. Close to this area, on the green lawns, was a covered place where some people were playing Lennon-Yoko's Give Peace a Chance....We then walked by the Washington Monument after scores of photographs on the way. Around this time, our group also split too into people who were interested in going to the Capitol first and others who were walking towards the Smithsonian Institutions. We were earlier thinking of going to the Arlington Cemetary area or the Lincoln Memorial first, but then got our way into the Smithsonian buildings. Of all buildings, we could choose the Natural History Museum. The other buildings on that walk included the "Castle" - the beautiful red-stone cathedral like headquarters of the Smithsonian Institutions, the Freer Gallery, Air and Space museum, etc. One day seemed so less for everything, really. However, we managed to have a good trip inside the Natural History Museum. We were all quite famished too by then and the moment we got out, we pounced on the nearest hotdog place. I grabbed a Polish sausage hotdog and a usual hotdog. It was so cold that I had to huddle and eat them. We then moved towards the Capitol. Most of our time was spent on photography and therefore by the time we got to the Capitol, it was already about 4.30PM. We spent another hour on the reflecting pool infront of the Capitol, and then took the stairs. We I think didn't spare any statue on the way where we didn't take pics. After leaving the place, we walked down to the Lincoln Memorial - which was many blocks away - then to the World War II memorial and then back to the station. The plan for the next day was the Smithsonian National Zoo till about 1PM and then leaving for New York later..
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