AN INDEPENDENT BEING COACHED IN AMERICAN HISTORY - PART THREE

 

GARETH DAVIS looks after all the editorial content at Travel Channel and runs the website. So if you've any comments or complaints, he's the one to get in touch with! He also produces and presents on the channel, primarily the series THE TRAVEL BUG and THE TRAVEL CHANNEL GUIDE TO … And when he has a spare minute, he writes for the travel section of the Sunday Mirror in the UK.

 

Washington DC is an Imperial City. A half day coach tour brings this fact home. From military marker to war memorial, the American capital, and let's face it, the nearest thing we have to a global one, is stuffed with tributes to the country's involvement in domestic and overseas adventures. Not that many other capital cities are any different; London's Trafalgar Square hardly celebrates a picturesque peninsula off the south coast of Spain. But in DC, three hours concentrated war tourism brings the US' military past to the fore.

My coach tour through American history brought me full circle; I opened and closed in Washington DC. At the top of the two week trip I was treated to a morning's tour of the capital's sights whilst at the end I took up Cosmos' option of an additional two night stay which allowed me an extra day and a half to explore. Base camp is the Washington Plaza on Thomas Circle, just five blocks from the White House, and as I pointed out last time round, it was the least impressive of the Cosmos accommodation portfolio I'd experienced, though the location is perfect; everything's just a walk away.

On the morning tour you're joined by a local guide. Ours was great value for money and be sure you have a few dollars to hand. You'll be expected to tip at the end. We kicked off at Arlington Cemetery which gazes back at the city itself from a perch on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. There are 123 national cemeteries in the States and this is the most important, the burial place of approximately 270,000 serving men and women. Tourists of course come here to see the eternal flame which burns at President John F. Kennedy's grave. It was my second visit and I was reminded how unmoved I was the first time round. "Where were you when you heard Kennedy was shot?" I think the point is, I wasn't there.

Much more moving for me are the memorials which scatter the National Mall, the rectangular greensward which cuts through the heart of Washington. Capitol Hill and its domed Congressional building are at one end, the Lincoln Memorial at the other, the soaring obelisk that is the Washington Memorial soars above in the centre. The seated Lincoln is hypnotic, like Jimmy Stewart's Jefferson Smith you ascend the steps to find his gruff old face gazing down. It's shivers down the spine kind of stuff. Equally affecting are the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, the former is a sheet of polished granite inscribed with the names of the almost 60,000 servicemen killed or lost in action during that terrible conflict while the latter consists primarily of a Field of Remembrance where 19 life-size stainless steel combatants advance warily into a eerily silent conflict. Both offer intense food for thought.

Two stops for photo ops at the Capitol Dome and White House round off this coached introduction to DC. Of course, it's skimming the surface, but like all good coach tours it stimulates the appetite for more and helps you get your head around the city's geography.

Washington's Number One industry is unsurprisingly government, with tourism coming in a surprising Number Two, and as you'd expect from a city with a major workforce there are plenty of areas in which to play. In the past ten years, DC has shaken off its violent image, parts of the city have undergone a transformation, and the result in many places is that late 18th century ideal of an urban public space of leafy boulevards and broad walkways. During my downtime at the end of the trip I made a B line for two sights, the National Archive and the National Museum of American History.

The Museum forms part of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum and research complex comprising 18 museums and galleries, a National Zoo, and nine research centres. It'd take a lot more than a day and a half to get around those! The National Museum of American History is a great way to spend half a day however, albeit not as popular as the National Air and Space Museum just up the Mall. It's also contextualises many of the things you'll have seen on your Cosmos Tour. Highlights for me were the display on the history of the American Presidency complemented by the First Ladies exhibit featuring examples of gowns worn by the presidents' wives at Inauguration Balls. In the museum, you can also search out the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.

My visit to the National Archive was a personal pilgrimage, the culmination of ten years' reading about American history and an A Level in History twenty years ago when I studied the American Revolution. The Archive is home to the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. These along with related documents are housed behind glass in an inner sanctum where the masses queue to glimpse America's equivalent of the Ten Commandments. I was lucky. I arrived mid-morning on a weekday and there was no queue, though that had changed by the time I left just before lunchtime. The documents are in a faded state and in all honesty, will interest only those who are interested. I was fascinated.

During my trip to DC I managed to go off-road and stay at the city's most historic hotel, the Willard Intercontinental on Pennsylvania Avenue just a spit from the White House. Now, even if you don't stop over, this is one place you should pencil in for an early evening cocktail in the Round Robin Bar. Here 19th century senator and 3 times presidential candidate Henry Clay introduced Washington society to the mint julep. Abraham Lincoln was smuggled in here prior to his inauguration, President Ulysses Grant unsuccessfully tried to avoid nagging office seekers in the lobby (coining the term "lobbyist"), and Martin Luther King finished writing his I Had A Dream speech, all at the Willard. The hotel was restored to its former glory back in 1986 and is currently celebrating its anniversary with a fascinating exhibition of artefacts. Whatever you do, pop in and soak up the history - and great cocktails!

Another place for a quality drink and a fairly recent addition to DC's evening scene is Inde Bleu, located on G Street NW, near the MCI Center. A modern bar cum restaurant and music space, the downstairs is all chilled white and scarlet where floating crimson fabric indicates a nod to the subcontinent, and upstairs a big airy room of soft creams with light airy Indian fabrics draping the windows underlines the culinary combo of French and Indian. Washington in its anti-tobacco drive has reached the point where smoking is banned in restaurants but allowed at the bar. The ban will become blanket in 2007.

The cooking at Inde Bleu is superlative. Though my amuse bouche, a creamy onion and truffle soup, was far from mind blowing, my starter, cumin scented scallops with orange-braised chicory, crispy pancetta and micro basil ($14), hit the bullseye with a stunningly sweet, sharp, salty melange. The chicory was braised to perfect pepperiness. Main course consisted of muscovy duck breast on pickled red cabbage with asafoetida gnocchi and pomegranate juice (($31). Personal issues regarding presentation trumped taste on this one. The unsliced breast resembled a rather dark potato a long way from its patch and proved that appetite is often born in the eye. I demurred on dessert but whatever my qualms, there's no doubting that Inde Bleu is a serious player that treats its cooking with commitment.

And so my US marathon drew to a close. No longer a coach tour virgin, there's no doubt in my mind that despite the odd flaw I've already highlighted, this was an enviably painless, and even pleasurable way of covering a lot of ground and some great sights in a short period of time. Our guide and driver were supportive, helpful, and informative throughout, though as is ever the case with guides, they have a tendency to pad out the gaps in their knowledge with some dubious and sometimes inaccurate blather. Would I do it again? No doubt. In fact, now I've passed forty, I feel myself hurtling towards my next coach holiday at even greater speed. "Hold that bus!"

Oh, a word to end on the ghastliness of Dulles International Airport. Uuurgh! That's all. A word as promised.

 

For more info on Cosmos Tourama Holidays visit.

 

For more info on Washington DC visit.

 

For more info on The Willard Intercontinental visit .

 

For more info on Inde Bleu visit.

 

What do you think of USA? I'd love to hear any advice you may have DROP ME A LINE

September 2006