....the 'Big Bus' tour in Washington, DC. Nothing they say is like it is. They say they have signs all over the place for pick up points. Never saw a sign when we were there. We were let off at the Vietnam Memorial (a designated stopping point) . When we went to board the bus again, the driver just pointed to the next stop and went on. We had to walk 1/2 mile to the next bus stop (marked for the Metro, no sign for Big Bus. They say the buses run 15-20 minutes apart. We waited over 45 minutes for a bus. When it stopped, the driver said he was due to be off and acted like he was doing a favor picking us up. We got two rides out of them for a $135 per couple (4 of us). One from Arlington to the Vietnam memorial and from the WWII memorial to the drop off where we could walk to L'Enfant plaza to catch the Metro back to our hotel in College Park, MD. We spent most of our time chasing buses on foot, as if we hadn't walked enough already.
The Metro is about the only thing in Washingon that works as advertised. It's a little confusing when you have to switch lines, but the people (Metro and others) were very helpful.
EVERYTHING was being renovated or under some type of construction. Fully half of the Air and Space museum was under renovation and inaccessible.
We went to Antietam and 99% of the artifacts had been taken out of the museum due to a water leak. There were traffic cones, stakes and barriers up everywhere, wo all of my scenic shots had some type of modern irritation in them.
Little Round Top was closed at Gettysburg due to some sort of 'renovation'. What kind of 'renovation' you have to do to a hilltop, I don't know. I was hoping to see the 'Devil's Den' on the bus tour, but you have to drive yourself if you want ot see it. It was pointed out as being 'over that way' through fogged-up bus windows (It was raining).
I won't go into detail about the **** that happened at our house while we were gone, but my SIL smoked up the house and couldn't silence the alarm, got hold of us and we had to go through the security company. On the way home, we got word that the sewer was backed up out of our showers into the house. We called our son to get a plumber, but in the meantime I deduced that it was a system problem. We called the county, they sent a truck out and in a few minutes, SLUURR-R-RP! everything went down the drain. So except for some floor damage, it was OK.
This is becoming know among us four as the 'Vacation From Hell'.
PS I attached a thumbnail of the view from the Antietam observation deck complete with orange barriers.
The Metro is about the only thing in Washingon that works as advertised. It's a little confusing when you have to switch lines, but the people (Metro and others) were very helpful.
EVERYTHING was being renovated or under some type of construction. Fully half of the Air and Space museum was under renovation and inaccessible.
We went to Antietam and 99% of the artifacts had been taken out of the museum due to a water leak. There were traffic cones, stakes and barriers up everywhere, wo all of my scenic shots had some type of modern irritation in them.
Little Round Top was closed at Gettysburg due to some sort of 'renovation'. What kind of 'renovation' you have to do to a hilltop, I don't know. I was hoping to see the 'Devil's Den' on the bus tour, but you have to drive yourself if you want ot see it. It was pointed out as being 'over that way' through fogged-up bus windows (It was raining).
I won't go into detail about the **** that happened at our house while we were gone, but my SIL smoked up the house and couldn't silence the alarm, got hold of us and we had to go through the security company. On the way home, we got word that the sewer was backed up out of our showers into the house. We called our son to get a plumber, but in the meantime I deduced that it was a system problem. We called the county, they sent a truck out and in a few minutes, SLUURR-R-RP! everything went down the drain. So except for some floor damage, it was OK.
This is becoming know among us four as the 'Vacation From Hell'.
PS I attached a thumbnail of the view from the Antietam observation deck complete with orange barriers.
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