Monumento a Washington: cosa c’è intorno, come arrivare e quando andare · 2026

NANataliia Alekseevavovkina_docha · 15 dic 2018Leggi

How is your America? This is the most frequent question I received upon arriving in Russia. I found out about the Work and Travel program in the summer of 2016. In October 2017, I decided that I had to go, passed the interview, and in November, I signed the contract. Teaming up with an acquaintance, we decided to go to Virginia Beach. Everything was going smoothly; the only thing that scared me was the interview at the embassy. But it seems these are all games of our mind, because as soon as I entered the embassy building, my anxiety evaporated. Just a minute of conversation with the consul and guess what, that's right, my visa was APPROVED. Then came the early completion of my internship and passing exams. Everything... We are in New York... I am standing on American soil, one thought in my head: is this really true? America, which just two years ago was so far away, is now close. The first thing we did in New York was get acquainted with the subway; we didn't like it... We reached the place where buses to our city depart. It was a mistake that we didn't take care of tickets, and only tickets for 9 a.m. the next day were left. Well, what can I say, we practically spent the night on the streets of New York, wandered around Time Square, and met the sunrise sitting on the station stairs. Six hours on the bus passed unnoticed. I admired the view from the window, mentally finding differences from the Russian landscape. We didn't like our apartment, so we decided to move. It was a great decision because our second apartment gave us interesting stories and good friends. I liked working at the hotel, mostly because of the team. Every morning, the houseman Muhammad would say to me, "If you need something, do not ask me, OK?", and my mood would be on top. And the supervisor Kisha's question, "How ya doin'?", confused me at first—what even is that, "how ya doin'?" But then it became an essential part of my day. Joe, who was very friendly to me, always said, "Hey, sweety." Once, with the guys from work, we hosted a Slovak, Thai, and Russian food night. We talked about ideas, impressions, and plans for the future. At my second job, I did henna tattoos. I worked with an 18-year-old American girl named Aliya; thanks to her, I learned what American teenagers live for. At this job, I constantly talked with Americans; upon learning where I was from, they would say in surprise, "Wow, Russia is pretty far from here." I never encountered any negativity towards me; on the contrary, everyone asked me about Russia, about the differences and similarities with America. America gave me a lot of new knowledge and impressions, opened my eyes to the world, I made many friends from different countries, and found a friend who became like a sister to me. And now, quickly, without thinking... The capital of the USA?! Yeeess, dude, right, it's Washington. This city was a must-visit for me; I can't imagine what it's like to be in the USA and not see the White House? I was simply delighted with the city's architecture, memorials, and museums, which, by the way, are free! It's better to make a list of places you want to visit in advance, the main thing is to calculate your strength (because in our whole day in Washington, we visited only half the places on our list). They are all impressive, but the ones that stuck in my soul the most were: 1. Lincoln Memorial. A little Transformers fan was just cheering inside me. Remember the moment when Megatron knocks Lincoln over and sits on his chair? May Grandpa Lincoln forgive me, but standing there, I imagined this scene and couldn't believe that I was actually looking at this miracle with my own eyes! 2. Washington Monument. 3. National Museum of Natural History. 4. The Capitol—a majestic building where ideas for governing the country are generated. And we could say we participated in a historical event: on the balcony of the Capitol building, a young politician (we guessed), kneeling down, proposed to his beloved, and

ЭБЭмиль Бурковbyrakk · 15 dic 2017Leggi

Before heading West, we had a few days to spend as we pleased. We decided not to stay in New York, and in a couple of moments, we booked a bus tour. The tour route was as follows: Philadelphia – Washington D.C. – Niagara Falls. Along the way, we also stopped at Watkins Glen State Park, a glass museum, and visited the Canadian border. Initially, everything went off-plan. The bus from Cape Cod to New York turned out to be a completely different one and arrived at the wrong place. Instead, we ended up in a neighboring state. We had a couple of hours before the bus departure, and we were in the middle of nowhere, having absolutely no idea what to do. It was very early in the morning, and there was no one to ask. Google suggested we were near some subway station. We didn't know what kind of subway it was or where it went. We decided to just go there and ask the station staff. EZ ride Fortunately, we could catch a train directly to Brooklyn from there, and from there, we could somehow get to our bus. After figuring out the directions, we boarded the train and headed to New York. By the time we reached Brooklyn, we realized what a mess we were in. Time was tight, and we were already missing our tour. We had to call and text our guide: "Sorry, we'll be a little late, please wait for us." When we boarded the next train directly to the bus station, the guide started calling and texting incessantly. Eventually, when we reached the departure point, the bus was already gone. And again, we were incredibly lucky. My travel companion managed to find a Chinese bus a couple of meters away that was heading to Philadelphia. This was our chance! Paying about 12 bucks, we jumped on the bus and texted the guide that we would catch up with them there. We did manage to catch up with them, and by running from one bus to another, we saved the situation. We didn't really get to see Philadelphia, as they were already preparing to move on by the time we arrived. But the rest of the tour went without incident. Philadelphia: hello, goodbye I really liked the capital of the USA. Everything was perfectly clean and well-maintained, the buildings stood out for their architecture, and we saw FBI cars on the streets :) This time without delays, be more careful in the future I would have liked to stay in Washington longer. Despite the fact that we managed to see the White House, the "Pencil" (Washington Monument), the Pentagon, and the Lincoln Memorial, it wasn't enough for me. My soul craved adventure and exploration. I need to return someday and finish what I started. The Pencil looked even better from afar than up close Old man Lincoln Our next stop was Niagara Falls. The views from above were breathtaking. This waterfall is truly beautiful! It's worth seeing in real life; photos can't convey the experience. By the way, at night, the lighting turns on, and it looks completely different! Day view. I won't spoil the night one :) The tour also included a short film about the history of Niagara Falls (quite interesting), and we also took a boat ride right up to it. I don't know how my phone didn't get swept away by the water, but we were soaked to the bone. Even the raincoat given to everyone at the entrance didn't help. So, for decent photos from below, bring waterproof protection for your camera. Despite the fact that the tour was quite short, it was nice to feel the atmosphere of an endless road trip. You could turn on music, sit and look out the window, reflecting on the diversity of places in America. Not far from Niagara Watkins Glen State Park After the tour, we returned to New York happy, and the next day we headed to the airport. After arriving, we were supposed to pick up a rental car, meet some girls from our group, and set off to conquer the West Coast.

NBNatasha Belyaevasolnyshko_1994 · 30 nov 2015Leggi

Washington in five words: heat, art, free, silence, and running. That is exactly how I remember it. National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden All students coming to the States for the summer can be roughly divided into two categories. The first are those who earn money for crazy trips around the country; the second are those who slave away at three (I'm exaggerating) jobs without days off to take all their earnings home. My Czech friend Michael and I were somewhere in the middle. Neither here nor there. We worked 14 hours a day and dreamed of getting away somewhere, but it just didn't work out: either our days off didn't coincide, or the weather spoiled the fun, or we just wanted to sleep in. In August, realizing that if we waited any longer, our dreams would go down the drain, we decided to act. Where to go? "W" - Washington - it's close, interesting, and budget-friendly. Still the same National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden After going through dozens of possible "how to get there" options, we settled on E-Point. 60 dollars round trip – at 9:30 AM you are at your destination, at 10 PM you are back in the center of our native Bethany – perfect. The first thing we noticed upon arrival was how quiet it was all around. I was prepared to see colorful crowds of people rushing everywhere as soon as I got off the bus, but in the end, the only semblance of a crowd that caught my eye was a group of toddlers that an attendant was vainly trying to get to move in the right direction. People, where are you? Going to Washington for 1 day is a bit of a stretch. We rushed around the National Mall, trying, as they say, to grasp the ungraspable. The phrase of the day became "come on, faster, we still need to make it there." National Museum of Natural History, National Air and Space Museum (must see!), Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol, White House, National World War II Memorial – we ran through all of this as fast as we could. Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum At the National Museum of Natural History, I spent a long time reading the information on the billboards dedicated to the ocean and the origin of life on Earth - tired of waiting, Michael came up with a great thing: "Listen, do like the Chinese: take photos of everything, and you'll read it at home, come on!" I admit, for lack of another choice, I did just that later on. It's embarrassing, but what can you do. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Most of the time was spent at the National Gallery of Art. Expecting to run through it in an hour, once we got inside, we immediately realized that we would fail this mission, gave up on everything, and began to slowly move from hall to hall with our mouths open. Monet, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, and Warhol – could I have even dreamed of this? At five in the evening, we felt as if we had walked a hundred kilometers in the desert – we wanted to lie down on the grass somewhere and not move. And we also wanted to eat. By the way, about food. For a whole hour, we wandered around the National Mall, trying, as it turned out, absolutely in vain, to find at least one working stall with burgers and hot dogs. Five o'clock is the approximate closing time for all the Mall's attractions, and "food," as I realized, works on the same schedule. We sadly remembered how in the morning, to lighten the weight of our backpacks, we stuffed the leftovers of our packed lunch into ourselves – fools! Who knew. My advice to those who are going to visit Wash – go to the city for a couple of days. Without thinking. It's worth it. And plan in advance what exactly you want to see, because the number of museums collected within this place can drive you crazy. There is an outlet here for absolutely everyone, whether you are a creative soul or a fan of ancient history. And yes, no skyscrapers or shocking buildings – all Washington buildings are elegantly strict, as if to say, look, I'm neo-Got

VMValeriya Matyukhinalera.matyukhina · 31 gen 2015Leggi

That's exactly what we did. For a whole month, we were booking tickets and deciding what to visit in each city; in short, preparations were in full swing. It wasn't without a lump in our throats that we said goodbye to our Virginia Beach, to all the people we met and befriended, and headed to Washington (that's where our flight to San Francisco was departing from). We actually missed our bus from Norfolk (a city near Virginia Beach) because saying goodbye to the city or just wanting to hang out didn't let us get to sleep on time. As a result, after sleeping for an hour or two, we were woken up by a loud knock on the door from a Russian guy who had agreed to drive us to the bus station. Throwing our last unpacked things and some food into our suitcases, we bolted out of the house and took off. We arrived at the bus station five minutes late, but that was enough for the Greyhound bus, which rarely left on time, to pull away right from under our noses. After paying our "taxi driver" extra, we caught up with it in Hampton, the neighboring city. We spent two days in Washington, the capital of the USA. To our surprise, the weather was warmer, or maybe we were just lucky, because Virginia saw us off with rain despite such a southern climate all summer. What can I say about Washington? It might be a stretch, but if you compare it to Russia, Washington is like Saint Petersburg: a capital city, but with a less hectic atmosphere, beautiful architecture, and a more measured pace of life. And New York reminds me of Moscow with its scale, noise, fun, and traffic. If they say that a person prefers either Moscow or Saint Petersburg, I can say the same about Washington and New York. I liked the American capital more. We didn't make it to the museums (we ran out of time), although most of them are free in Washington. But we managed to walk around plenty, saw the Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the White House itself! And we just strolled through the cozy streets of the capital. By the evening of the second day, we headed to the train station with all our suitcases (and their number exceeded the number of people), stood there blankly in front of the terminal for a bit, but still managed to handle such a "difficult" task as buying a train ticket and went to the airport in Baltimore. We sat there hungry and freezing all night. All that was left of our food was an open jar of peanut butter and some tea bags. I went up to different cafes every time and asked for "some boiling water" with a pitiful look. In the same waiting area, there were scales to check if your suitcase was overweight. We couldn't think of anything better than to weigh ourselves instead :)