Re: Washington, DC Area
- From: mm <NOPSAMmm2005@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:16:49 +0000 (UTC)
On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:42:20 +0000 (UTC), Yisroel Markov
<ey.markov@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So enough about the world's and the country's problems. Before we
elect Obama or McCain, I intend to take my family on a vacation to
Washington, DC.
A friend I wrote to writes me:
Sorry for the delay in getting back. There aren't that many kosher
food restaurants. There is Eli's downtown, near the Metro (also the
DCJCC restaurant). There is Max's in Wheaton/Silver Spring, also
pretty near a Metro station. The Kosher Mart and Royal Dragon in
Rockville are not near Metro. The Pomegranate Bistro in Potomac is
also not near a Metro station. This does not count dairy places. I
would contact Rabbi Krantz at the Silver Spring Jewish Center in
Wheaton/Silver Spring. He would be the best person to ask. He even
runs the Hebrew Sheltering Home. I know they put up visiting rabbis
who are passing through town there.
Question: first, am I nuts to plan this for the last two weeks of
August? Is the weather really as bad then as the books say?
My own opinion, it will probably be quite hot, and humid, but unless
you can predict some future year when you will be able to come in
other than July or August, you should surely come. DC is something
every American should see, and with your kids sounds really good.
Everything is airconditioned, except for walking, but a walk on the
mall, or down to the Capitol is still worth it. On one occasion, my
visiting friend and I were going to go to the shul in Georgetown for
mincha, but we ran late (he usually runs late) and davened on the far
left corner, door level with the entrance to the Lincoln Memorial,
watching the sun set over the Potomac. I know there have been plenty
of years that Jews were rather free in many countries of the world,
but it still struck me as very free and very American.
If Congress is in session, and maybe it won't be, you can look in the
Washington Post and see what hour each house starts, and what
committees are holding hearings, whether they are public, and what the
topic is. There may be more security now to get in, but I'm pretty
sure just as much is public as ever was. Back in 1975 I went to a
hearing on something, and testifying for the oil company or
association was Joe Slick. I kid you not.
I guess the Supreme Court is never in session until the first Monday
in October, but when they are, you can hear oral arguments there too.
You never know about the weather. It's often hot in Baltimore now, but
it's been very nice for the last week or two.
I went to the Holocaust museum on a tour, but was so tired afterwards,
I went to sleep at 8PM, even though I'd had a good night's sleep the
night before.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing I would like to see, but you have
to get free tickets in advance or early that day. Maybe now you can
get them on the web, but if you want to see it, you have to work at
it.
Another time I was walking down the mall and came across Al Gore
giving an award to the winner of the best solar powered car, or
something like that. I"m sure there was a photographer, but no other
fanfare, just contestants, a few cars, Al Gore and whoever was walking
by.
Don't waste your time on a tour of the White House. Even before the
added security, I found it to be a big disappointment. They only
showed you about 4 or 5 rooms, where they have receptions and maybe
one is used for ceremonies or press conferences when there is a door
behind the speaker and a hall headed straight back. But when the
rooms are empty, they're boring. But walking by outside is well
worth it. Don't carry a gun.
The Smithsonian is open to 5 or 6 and free. Most of the museums on
the mall and a couple elsewhere are part of the Smithsonian. The air
and space museum is always a big hit, no tickets required.
Gems not talked about, the lobby of the National Geographic Society,
maybe 15 blocks north of the mall, you can probably drive and park for
a couple hours at a meter, and the lobby takes more than an hour
(unless something has changed.)
You can also park at the Jefferson Memorial for enough time to see it
and look at the tidal basin. There was a great statue at the far end
of Potomac Park there, but they're moving it somewhere else. Oh yeah,
you won't be there until August. It will probably be gone.
Don't waste your time on the Pentagon. I went there once when I was
staying in Virginia, mostly because they have plenty of free parking.
On the tour they'd walk you down a long hall and show you a portrait
and say, This is the Secretary of the Navy. Then another long hall,
and This is the Secretary of the Army. Maybe the worst tourist place
I've ever been to in my life, and I've liked all but about 5 of at
least 2 or 300.
Arlington Cemetery is ok, and the Custis Lee mansion at the top of the
hill there is ok.
There is a Jewish military museum, or historical museum, but it's not
great.
On a Sunday driving is not bad, certainly not as bad as Boston on a
weekday!!, and you can drive past loads of embassies. Most of them
just west of Connecticut avenue. And past the State department. The
Israeli Embassy is near UDC or CCDC iirc and worth seeing from the
outside (though it's nothing so special) but you probably can't get in
unless you can come up with a reason to be there, and get yourself
cleared 3 or 4 days in advance. I went as part of a city tour
sponsored by some Jewish group.
Second, where can a large observant family stay? What are the Jewish
areas around Washington where one can be reasonably close to shuls and
food establishments, so that the wives can have a semblance of a
vacation, too?
Yes, wives. No, nothing funky, it's just that there are two families
involved. Together with our friends, we will number four adults and
ten children (ages two to fifteen). When we visited Niagara Falls a
few years ago, we used to rent three adjacent motel rooms or two large
suites, but there were fewer of us then.
Ther;e has to be a way to do that, with 4 rooms or something, but I
don't know the motels in DC. I did have occasion just last week to
look for a motel for Vendyl Jones, who was speaking in Va. and staying
in Baltimore, and one motel near my house and his hostess's house, the
Ramada on Reisterstown Rd. got terrible ratings on the google motel
ratings (which one comes across after searching for a motel on
google.) but it was very nice. Nothing wrong with it. None of the
things they complained about, mostly between 1 and 4 years ago, seemed
to be true. The center area had a manicured lawn, a beautiful pool (I
think it was only open from 10 to 8, and I wasn't there then, but I
think it possible that no one would be using the pool for much of the
time it is open. But you can go swimming somewhere else. There's too
much to see in DC.) The room had two big beds, tv, wireless, fridge,
microwave, hair dryer, iron, alarm clock, and cost (I'm sure it is
more in DC) 84 dollars for one person.
I think they're might be something wrong with the people who rate
motels. Like they couldn't afford to stay at the Hilton across the
street, or it was full, and so they used a magnifying glass to look
for any little piece of rust or dirt in the bathtub/shower. The Hilton
was over 200 for one person.
(Cindy, you probably remember
our Rochester visit.) This time I'm thinking it might make sense to
rent a house for two weeks. How would one go about it in this area?
Oh, two weeks. I missed that. Renting a house sounds good. How would
one? Good question. Does the WAshington Post put its classified ads
online? I'm sure there's some place in Boston where they sell it,
maybe every big supermarket. (they sell the NYTimes and the
Washington Post in a lot of the supermarkets around here, daily and
weekend.) Do papers still have classified ads!!! Do they have them
in their 500 mile away editions?
Craigslist ? Luach.com ?
I'm looking to find an apartment to share in or near Tel Aviv for 2
months or more spanning next Purim and Pesach. I'm willing to move
out on 1 day's notice or less if they get a better roommate. How do I
find that.
The washington post has an apartment finder online, which may
represent its classified, but it was hard to use and you have to
enter a keyword and I gave up. I liked the newspaper better.
This doesn't have what you want, but it's worth
noting:http://sabbaticalhomes.com/Home_Exchange_Listings.aspx?city=Silver+Spring&location=United+States+of+America&country=US
that it has a very nice 4BR home in Silver Spring/Kemp Mill starting
august first, until next July 1, unfortunately. I doubt they will
rent for two weeks unless maybe... It says minimum term 3 months. They
say that now, but what will they say at the end of July? Jewish guy,
maybe he'll trust you to clean up properly for the next tenant. This
is a webpage for house trading. Hmmm the third one too for the same
time period "Furnished Colonial Near Metro (Train Station) in Children
Friendly Community". This one says minumum stay 10 months. So close
and yet so far. Neither gave the rent.
There were lots of hits on rent house 'silver spring' and I'm
sure they all have some houses, but I think many might be like
'used cars' Israel . Several hits, but most had NO cars for sale in
Israel. I looked last February, and one page did have a "car of
the day", a nice looking car with 2 girls and a guy in the picture,
and they looked Israeli and the background looked like Israel. When
I looked a week ago, I came across the same site and it had "car of
the day" and it was the same car, the same photo, and the same
people. I'm sure they sold the car months ago.
You know you can usually get a weekly rate at a motel or hotel,
whether they mention it or not. Or a two-weekly rate. They'll like
that even more.
When I was in college we went to visit my brother in NYC for 8 days.
The first morning, the first thing my mother did was ask the hotel we
were in in midtown for a weekly rate, for the following 7 days. When
they said no, we spent an hour walking to hotels around there. I
think this was the last week of December in 1964, and that's a busy
week, but we ended up at the hotel right across 52nd street from the
one we were in, at 50 dollars for 7 nights. I think the daily rate
would have been about 70 or 80.
If they don't rent a motel room, they make nothing on it. The marginal
cost is only the linen. The later it is the more they're ready to
deal.
When my uncle would travel, he owned a business and would ask if they
had a businessman's discount. Even if they said yes, he'd ask if they
had a senior citizen discount, and sometimes he got one on top of the
ohter. Now senior citizens get a discount on the theory that they are
out of work, so how is he entitled to a businessman's discount?
Because none of it matters. It's just code for Can you lower the
price? Someone's saving face, I guess, but I'm not sure who.
Thanks!
Yisroel "Godwrestler Warriorson" Markov - Boston, MA
P&M
MM
I don't want to spend as much time on the net as I once did, or in newsgroups. In the past I responded to almost any reply to me, because I thought silence meant assent to some people. But it shouldn't.
So once I make my points, I may not reply again. Especially if no new arguments are made on the other side. Please don't take that to mean you have convinced me or anyone.
.
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- From: Yisroel Markov
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