The Silver Meteor leaves New York a little after 3pm and reaches Washington DC at about 7pm en route to Charleston. All along the way are suburbs and towns with mainly timber homes. The east coast is very wooded with deciduous trees and numerous big rivers. I settled down for my first night on the train and did manage to sleep for several hours.
Charleston
The train arrived in Charleston South Carolina before 5 am and I sat around the station waiting room until after 7am. The station is miles from the town and there is no public transport so I ubered to the Magnolia plantation garden. ( My first US uber experience and all went well.) This is one of the oldest gardens in the US open to the public and is famous for its azaleas and camellias (despite the name). It was a glorious morning and I was the first person there and although the azaleas and camellias were over, it is still a magical place with the swamp cypresses surrounding a dark lake and a white bridge with reflections one cannot stop photographing.
After several happy hours I ubered down into Charleston itself and wandered around for the rest of the day. This is a charming town, with attractive streets and buildings, packed with tourists. It was quite hot and I think might be unbearable in summer. It is easy to walk about and there several historic homes to visit as well as a market and lots of places to eat.
Washington DC
I returned on the Silver Meteor which left Charleston at about 8 pm and early next morning I was in Washington DC. I was greeted by rain and drizzle, but with my brolly up and my pack on my back I gallantly made my way to the Library of Congress and queued to get in along with dozens of school children. It is very grand inside and after taking some pics I set off for the National Gallery of Art in The Mall. I was not feeling great as the cold which dogged most of my trip had set in and I found the Mall oversized and not exactly a friendly place. The National gallery though was fabulous, especially the modern art wing. After spending most of the day there and lunching in the cafeteria, I popped into the African art museum and strolled through the garden at the Smithsonian, but was too tired to visit.
By late afternoon I was ready to explore the subway system to find my bed for the night. In all I used 4 subways systems in the US (NY, DC, LA and Boston). They all function pretty well and have slightly different ticketing rules, but all offer discounts for seniors. That is one of the great things about the US, seniors get discounts at museums and on public transport (no discount on my AMTRAK rail pass though).
The escalator at my subway stop in DC (Woodley Park) was incredibly long and steep and quite scary actually. I see from the internet that is 204 feet set at 30 degrees. Here is a youtube link
Next morning I set off for Georgetown as one of the things I really wanted to see in DC was Dumbarton Oaks the garden designed by Beatrice Farrand. After walking miles I finally arrived only to discover it was not opening until 2pm. I spent the morning pottering around Georgetown, a very attractive and affluent part of DC and was near the front of the queue when the garden opened (having visited the Dumbarton house which is opens earlier and has some very interesting objects collected by Robert and Mildred Bliss).
I hate to say I was a tad disappointed by the garden. It seemed over designed – perhaps others have been fiddling with it since, and some of the statuary is not of good quality. I was very sad that the famous pebble pond was drained. However it was a lovely afternoon and it is still a very pretty garden.
After visiting the garden, I rushed off to see the Phillips collection. Once again this is a lovely little collection with some great art. By this time I was smitten by Vincent van Gogh. I just love the way he daubed on the paint. It writhes about as if alive. No reproductions can do the works justice. One that persists in memory, The road menders, a street scene with the trunks of big old trees, is here. There is also a gorgeous Vuillard of a buxom woman sweeping a room, a beautiful study in browns. If I could have tucked a painting under my arm it would have been that one.
On the third morning, it was bitterly cold and I abandoned plans to see if the cherries were blooming near the basin and went to the station to catch the Cardinal train through the Appalachian mountains to Chicago.
To New Orleans via the Appalachians and Chicago
Charleston & Washington DC
