Washington DC

We arrived in Washington, only the slightest bit disgruntled, and quickly found our way to the shuttle depot where we had booked a ride into town. Quick chat at the desk and 'yes there is a shuttle leaving now. If you hurry you can make it.' Which we did after telling our driver where we were going. Once the bus was filled we headed off into town, not too far as it happened. After making several stops we finally pulled up in front of the Marriott hotel. After checking with the driver yet again, that this was the right place, and being assured it was, we slipped the guy his tip and waved him goodbye. 

"Golly," we thought, "this is nice and central."

We dragged our luggage into the foyer and thought "Golly, this is flash," especially considering what we paid. I went up to the desk to check in.

"Um no, there's no one here under that name. Are you sure you have the right Marriott?" 

Apparently there is at least four Marriott hotels in Washington DC and despite the fact that we had asked the driver if this was Wardman Park Marriott he either misheard or simply couldn't be bothered to take us any further. Yikes, well what do we do?

I sweet talked the man behind the counter some more and made a brave effort not to burst into tears. While he didn't respond with reluctance exactly, I could hardly say he responded with alacrity either. I'm guessing, this is the tipping thing again. The "I wonder if there'll be anything in it for me" attitude.We found this attitude to customer service just about everywhere we went. These people could learn some lessons from even the most humble motel operators in New Zealand.

Anyway, he must have had quite a kind heart and felt sorry for this motley group of bumpkins, so rang around and found the shuttle company number for me and handed me the phone. After being shunted from one person to the other their final solution was - "Get a cab!"

Having pre-booked and PAID to be delivered to our hotel was to avoid this exact sort of stress in the first place. My fury threatened to leak out my eyes. 

Trying not to let my voice quaver, I ordered a cab.

We were duly delivered to the correct place and we paid the cabby his $15 (American) plus tip! Still, it turned out our real hotel was not too bad at all. It didn't quite have the swank of the first, being somewhat more dated, but certainly more than adequate for our needs. We were quite 'gruntled'.

Faded splendour.
Wardman Park Hotel.  Slightly outmoded
but must have been grand in its time.

Sunrise from our window.

A few minutes later.

Lovely gardens where we sat and

watched the squirrels frolic.

With all the kerfuffle we really only had enough time left in the day to explore our immediate vicinity. Just down the hill from our hotel was a small shopping centre with several small resaurants and a subway entrance. We went in search of basic sustenance (wine and crackers) calling into a liquor store where we bought glasses and a lovely soft cheese. The pharmacy on the corner sold everything! Halloween products featured prominently as Halloween was only a few days away. What astounded us about the pharmacies that we went into was the huge range of stuff you could buy there, more like a supermarket, including cigarettes incongruously placed next to the rather small dispensary. We managed to buy necessities like extra coffee and milk along with crackers, so we were satisfied.

Later on we tracked Tom down in the bustling hotel bar where he was chatting to another visitor. We decided it was as good a place as any to have a meal, although it was unmemorable.

Our first impressions of Washington was that it was a beautiful, tree filled city, with lovely stone bridges and buildings, and although it was dry, the gardens were well tended and green. It was early fall and the trees were just putting on their autumn frocks and looking quite spectacular.