Steve Pope wrote:

> merryb > wrote:
>
> >On Oct 23, 7:35 pm, sandi > wrote:
>
> >> merryb > wrote
>
> >> > If I could afford it, I'd do it in a heartbeat- I think S.F.
> >> > is my #1 favorite city!
>
> >> I think so too. But I do like Washington DC also.
>
> >That's someplace I've never been- I'd love to take my 11 year old to
> >the Smithsonian...
>
> I like Washington D.C. alright but it is seldom on people's
> lists of favorite cities. Outside of Georgetown and Dupont Circle
> it does not seem like there are that many places to just hang
> out. I do not know that the city would sustain my interest.


That's because it's a one - horse town (government) and to me it more
resembles a college town, the "college" being the government areas, with a
nice residential area in the NW for those engaged in governmental
activities. This is surrounded by horrible black slums and further out
towards the Beltway you start getting to Suburbia Land...

It never had any industrial or commerce sort of base as most other big US
cities had, so no large influxes of foreign immigrants; no blue collar class
to provide working class "interest", such as large ethnic nabes with the
requisite culinary attractions, workingman's taverns on every corner like
Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, other places had...you have to go up to
Baltimore to get that, and frankly, Baltimore as a normal city is a much
more interesting place. After you see all the tourist attractions DC can be
pretty boring...

DC is also a pretty transient place and IMO it's a fairly provincial place.
Until a few decades ago it was practically a backwater in most every sense
of the word, pre - WWII it was a sleepy small southern town, nothing more;
people if they could fled the place during those pre - air conditioning
summers, making it a virtual ghost town. That started to change during the
JFK administration and a bit later large groups of immigrants from places
like Korea, Vietnam, Eritrea, Ethiopia, etc. began livening things up,
especially culinarily...


> Tons of tourist attractions, however.


The best, and many, many, are free...it's a vast storehouse of cultural and
historical treasure.

The entire area that is of interest to visitors (the Mall and close adjacent
areas and NW) is almost entirely walkable, that's how small of a place it
is...it's well - equipped to handle tourists, easy to get around, it has a
great subway and bus system. DC is also centrally - located to many
attractions in the area, e.g. mountains and the Tidewater in Virginia,
Delaware beaches, Annapolis...Philadelphia, Baltimore, and even NYC are
fairly close by train. To a person like me stuck in Chicago that is
surrounded by vast and boring flatlands with it's dreary Putzvilles it's a
treat of a place to visit. But I would not want to live there...and the
population in general is the most stuck - up and unfriendly I've ever
encountered in this country, most everyone it seems has their sphincters
wound *extremely* tight, totally opposite of the folks in Baltimore or even
NYC. I've never seen such sour faces as I've seen on the streets of DC...


--
Best
Greg