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Day 3 evening — at Seth's Well, it's been a busy couple of days! Yesterday, we got off the MARC train, from Baltimore, at New Carrolton, which is the end of the Orange line of the DC Metro Rail system.
We found our way to the Metro Rail side of the tracks. There was some confusion deciphering how the ticket machine worked, but a very nice Metro worker showed us how. Then the question was: what to do with the ticket. There were several chutes, with little gates, to go through. There were three foot high metal walls, about nine or ten inches wide, that formed the chutes. People were sliding their tickets in a slot in from little walls and then the ticket would pop up on top and the gate would open.
Well, Madelane had her hands full of bags and when she put her ticket in the gate, the gate on the left opened but she tried to go through the gate of the right which was still closed. Somehow she made it through. We were headed to the other end of the Orange line at West Falls Church, in Virginia.
We arrived without any more excitement. I was a little disappointed, though. The map of the rail system showed it going by a number of landmarks as it passed through Washington, DC. What I didn't realize was that this was a subway. Oh, well. We arrived at West Falls Church and fellow wheathead Seth was waiting for us. We went back to his place and talked and then wound down into a nice, well needed, nap. Seth drove us into DC for dinner. This was my first time in DC and the light was perfect. The sun was getting low and there was a beautiful warm coloration on all the wonderful stonework. The Washington Monument was much more impressive then any of the many pictures I've seen. Hell, it was all more impressive than any of the pictures that I've seen.
We had dinner at a small Italian restaurant not far from the Capitol building. Good food, good company, and reasonable prices.
It was dark when we finished and we drove around the Mall. It was a beautiful and warm evening. DC is amazing. And we were only driving around. We got back to Seth's and Seth took off for a trip with his 89 year old grandfather to Florida. He left us with a house key and his room mate and said good-bye. Not nearly enough time to visit. Thanks to Seth for his generosity! This morning we caught the shuttle that runs from the apartment to the Metro Rail station and took the subway out, with one transfer, to the Navy Yard, which is on only two stops south on the Green Line.
The Metro Rail system is the only way to get around in DC. Why anyone would take a car is beyond me. We came out of the dark subway into the bright, warm sun and found the bus that would take us to the Navy Yard waiting for us.
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