Originally posted by Piecar: Yeah...That solves the shithole that is Washington. Three hours in the Smithsonian. Good observation.
I think you're trying to be sarcastic, but I have trouble understanding why you think D.C. is such a crappy destination. Yes, many of the city's neighborhoods are very dangerous, but nobody is forcing you to go to them while you're there. D.C. and environs has so many wonderful places for the budget traveller to enjoy at no cost: the White House, Arlington National Cemetery, all the memorials in the beautiful National Mall, the National Archives, amusement parks (well, they cost money, but they're fun), and I could go on and on. And three hours at the Simthsonians? I could easily devote three days to the 19 of them! (Though maybe not now, since my personal favorite, the National Museum of American History, just closed and will not re-open until the Summer of 2008). Not to mention that each one is free. The city is also very well-known for its selection of restaurants. And all this coupled with an excellent public transportation system, something not many other North American cities of its size can brag of.
I'm sorry if I sound like a tourism official (I probably do), but really, I'm just not feeling you on this one bro'
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Posts: 299 | Location: Hermantown, MN, USA | Registered: 26 May 2005
Fair enough. Don't feel me. Washington is a hole, in my opinion. Perhaps I don't ascribe the reverence to the place that you do....I ain't American. The seat of your government squats on top of squalor which is like two blocks off the Government area. The Smithsonian is certainly worthy, while you are captured in Washington's Holism. But Washington is a hole...In My Opinion.
Was I sarcastic before? You bet.
Doesn't mean we gotta fight.
D
Posts: 3698 | Location: canada | Registered: 11 September 2003
Not that this discussion needs more fuel, but it reminds me of my first visit on Toronto on a cross-continent driving trip many years ago. We stayed in a weird part of town and after checking into a motel discovered the parking lot was noisy all night as the meeting place of young male prostitutes and their clients. I could not have had a worse first impression of Toronto.
I've been back several times since and quickly realized that the real Toronto is probably the cleanest and nicest big city in North America. I really love it, but at first I couldn't believe the nightmare I drove in to.
People can criticize DC for keeping the touristy and the expensive parts of town spotless while impoverished neighborhoods are on their borders, but the parts of DC that most visitors are likely to see are damn nice. The monuments and museums are clean and pleasing to the eye and neighborhoods like Adams Morgan and Georgetown have great and totally safe nightlife.
If someone said Atlantic City was a hole, I would agree, but I was in DC not long ago and it was even nicer than I had remembered it from my previous trips.
To corroborate Piecar's account. I too was there about 20 years ago. Hopefully a lot has changed. However when I was there, the place was filthy. The mall was full of garbage (which included among other things tires, hefty bags of garbage, and the usual assortment of fast food by products). Every fountain that I saw had some form of trash in it. I was offered a wide array of drugs while in front of the capitol and judiciary, and I witness 'protesters' being removed from the Lincoln memorial for pointing out that Lincoln preferred to relocate the slaves to Haiti. The police and officials found it more important to enforce reverence than basic litter and drug laws.
It was by far the dirtiest, most poorly kept nation capitol I ever visited.
Posts: 2707 | Location: US | Registered: 21 June 2004
Okay, just a thought: Maybe we ought to amend this thread to inquire: Most overrated place you've been in the last 5 years?
I was in D.C. in May of '05 for a long weekend and had a great time. I'd never explored the Adams Morgan area, the neighborhoods around both Embassy Row and the Ford Theater. Absolutely gorgeous.
The Smithsonian Museums always blow me away. And, I did some significant walking and definitely could not say that it was dirty or unkempt.
Places change.
And, I dearly hope that Egypt does. Was there in early '04 and what a narly, filthy place. However, I've since learned that if you're on an organized tour the street touts stay away. (Trust me, if you're a couple of Western chicks traveling around on your own...those guys absolutely mow you down all day long) And, on a tour, you wouldn't be exposed to those asinine taxi guys, etc.
That's interesting about DC. I never knew it was that bad, but it's definitely nothing like that now.
In case anyone has any lingering bad memories of New York City, those same 15 or 20 years have been very kind to the entire island of Manhattan as well. The porn and pusher haven of 42nd Street has been completely paved over with clean and glitzy businesses aimed at families. All of Times Square is totally safe and very Disneyland-like. Locals avoid it, but it's infinitely better than it once was.
The first time I moved to New York in 1990 people advised against even walking around in the East Village and it really felt dangerous going East of 2nd Avenue. These days I can't even afford to live in deepest Alphabet City (the eastern part of the East Village) as much as I'd like to. It's not spotless today, but it's very safe and ridiculously expensive for even tiny apartments.
Wait a second.....This is turning into the "I'm An Apologist For Places You Didn't Like" thread. Let's not do it. No trying to change people's opinions!
Another place that I think is overrated? The BEACH. What is everyone's fascination with the beach? I can't sit on one for fifteen minutes before I'm trying to think of something better to do with my time. And I mean EVERY beach.
Posts: 3698 | Location: canada | Registered: 11 September 2003
The stagecoach is ALWAYS running late. The sheriff has it out for me and I can't figure out why. And every time I walk into the saloon someone breaks a chair and/or a whiskey bottle over my head! I can't imagine why people still go there.
Another place that I think is overrated? The BEACH. What is everyone's fascination with the beach? I can't sit on one for fifteen minutes before I'm trying to think of something better to do with my time. And I mean EVERY beach.
Oh, I so agree with that - I avoid beaches like the plague. They're pretty and all that, but I get bored after the initial scenic high.
It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to. ~J.R.R. Tolkien
Posts: 537 | Location: Ohio | Registered: 27 December 2006
OK, no attacks, but the Louvre. Don't get me wrong, I love art, I am an artist myself, but if I had to look at one more dark, depressing painting about how a religious figure was killed I would have killed myself.
Junebug, I am with you. I went to the Louvre with a buddy one time. By this time I had seen so many paintings of John the Bpatists head on a plate that I had had my fill. I suggested we split up in the Louvre, I ran through the main, big canvas hall, and down into the stature area, then left the Louvre and spent the rest of the afternoon on the Champs Elysee. Came back four hours later and found my buddy and pretended I had been there the whole time. Yep....Religious iconography can get pretty fucking boring. You are safe here.
Posts: 3698 | Location: canada | Registered: 11 September 2003
