Day 14 - DC to NYC

I was up a bit earlier than usual this morning to get all packed up and ready to leave town. I caught a lift to work with Mark, and after I had popped into the embassy to collect my brand new (unwashed) passport Kate gave me a lift on to Union Station. I was actually catching a bus from the Greyhound station about five minutes walk away but I wanted to get some photos of the magnificent interior of Union Station before leaving town. (I had meant to do likewise of Philadelphia station yesterday but was caught up using the free Wi-Fi and forgot).

Union Station, Washington DC

So ended a very pleasant stay in Washington DC, passport fufu notwithstanding. It was great to catch up with Mark after all these years, and he and Kate were wonderful hosts. Plus I saw something other than The Mall and The Monuments that had been the focus of my previous two visits to this part of the world.

The bus trip to NYC was uneventful other than arriving about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, at 3:05pm. This at least allowed me, with all my baggage, to catch the #1 Metro line up to the hostel at W 103rd St before rush hour really kicked in. After check in I was able to use their free Wi-Fi to book passage for the final leg of my USA trip, NYC to Boston on Friday afternoon.

With these formalities out of the way I decided to make up for the forced four hours of inactivity aboard the bus by walking over to explore the top part of Central Park. I only really covered about the top seven blocks of the park, which is 51 blocks long, but it is amazing to see areas of woodland that could be hundreds of miles from anywhere - except that you still see and hear signs of the city. Even though it was by now late afternoon the hour or so of walking enabled me to work up a bit of a sweat before going out to buy dinner supplies from a supermarket.

I didn't really feel energised to go back downtown to explore NYC by night so I opted for a quiet night, since I anticipate doing plenty of walking tomorrow.