I booked Day tour to Washington DC from New York. I used the tour company https://touramericanyc.com/. The duration of the day tour was around 14 hours and you will explore some of the most prominent monuments and buildings during the tour. The tour started around 630 am from Times Square. The ride to Washington takes about 3.5 hours and we stopped for 25 minutes break at Delaware Biden Welcome Center during the trip. Our guide was very helpful and he talked about the history of America during the bus ride.
Arlington Cemetery
Our first stop was Arlington Cemetery during the trip. The queue was long for the security checks. Soldiers killed during combats are buried in Arlington Cemetery after Civil War. They have some specific rules to bury the soldier at the cemetery and it is a way of respecting the Soldiers. The cemetery area is huge and sometimes people can hear gun sound of burials happening on that day. The place is featured in some noteworthy Hollywood movies. We also visited John F Kennedy grave and some other graves of prominent US politicians during the trip. After visiting the cemetery we stopped for a brief time at Marine Corps war memorial.
National Mall & Reflecting Pool
We had a long stop near National mall because National mall area consists of lots of memorials and also the reflecting pool. National mall is lined by walking path and trees. You will get great view of Washington monument and Lincoln memorial from the pool. We visited Vietnam and Korean War memorial during the trip. Lincoln memorial is situated inside a Parthenon inspired building. The statue is huge but inside the building it was very crowded. I find it very difficult to take a clear picture during my visit. Vietnam memorial features engraved name of war veterans who fought and lost their life in Vietnam war. There is a beautiful statue of bunch of Korean soldiers at the Korean memorial.
White House
Our next stop was world famous White house, which is the official residence of the President of the United States. We visited the West wing of the White House. You can also visit the south side of the white house. The place was full of people protesting about different social agendas. It was tough to take a good photo because of the huge crowd. The place was heavily guarded with security both inside and outside of the Building.
Capitol Building
Most of the architecture of the monuments situated in Washington are inspired by Greek Architecture. Our second last stop during the trip was Capitol Building. Capitol building is often called Capitol hill and it is the most noticeable landmark in Washington after Washington monument. Capitol hill is the home of US senate and house of representatives. The building was going through renovation process during our day tour.
Union Square
We finished our trip at Union square station. Union square station is a historic transportation hub and important landmark of Washington. The station features shops & restaurants. We visited all the monuments within 6 hours and took a lunch break at Union square station. We started our return journey around 4.30 pm. We had a stopover at Biden Welcome center before reaching New York at around 9pm. The tour was little bit rushed and I was little disappointed because we didn’t visit park near Washington monument. Overall I was able to explore so many different places in a single day. If you want to properly visit all the places you might need at least 3 days for your trip to Washington. The price of the trip was USD 145. Overall the trip is excellent if you are visiting New York for a short duration.
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