Washington DC Hotel Video, Tourism, Travel and Restaurant Photos

I went down to Washington DC several times in the last few weeks and when traveling, it is my opinion that the less of a hassle it is to travel, the better the trip. For example, getting to an airport 2 or 3 hours prior to the plane taking off is a waste of time and if I have another option to travel other than airplane, I'll take it. Which is why, when I travel to Washington DC, I always opt to take Amtrak. I bring my laptop with me, my drink of choice and a few DVD's and in no time, the train is pulling in to Union Station in Washington. Just a note though: If you would like total quiet and don't want to be disturbed, Amtrak has a feature called a "quiet" car. This means that when you are in this car, library rules apply, that is, no loud talking, absolutely no cell phone conversations and no loud music.

One side thought though: When I travel, I pack underwear, socks, toothbrush, deodorant, toothbrush/toothpaste and maybe 2 pairs of jeans and a shirt or 2 which fits snugly in my knapsack, which also holds my laptop. This should hold me for 2 - 3 days. I have noticed people traveling down to Washington DC for like 2 days and they are lugging steamer trunks. Please be a knowledgeable traveler and don't draw attention to yourself as a tourist--pack your bags and luggage wisely and efficiently.

If you know you are going to travel to Washington DC or anywhere on the Northeast Corridor line (from Boston - New York - Philadephia - Washington DC), Amtrak features weekend specials where your trip may cost as low ast $49.00 one way and if you book your trip far enough in advance, you may realize further discounts. Amtrak also has a frequent traveler program called GuestRewards, which allows you to add points for future travel discounts.

Here is some video and a photo of Amtrak's premier train, the Acela:

Amtrak Acela Video




Amtrak Acela Train Photo



















So I leave Union Station and head on down to my hotel in Washington DC. I have a choice of two that I use, the first is the Embassy Suites on 22nd and M Street and the other is the Embassy Suites DC Convention Center Hotel.

Here are photos of the Washington DC hotel on 22nd Street.

Washington DC Hotel Bedroom Photo














Living Room Picture at Washington Embassy Suites Hotel













When I was in Washington and stayed at the DC hotel on 22nd Street, the first round of the NFL playoffs was going on, so I had to do a pre-pre-pre Super Bowl party and here are some of the furnishings:













The next morning, I headed out to the United States Supreme Court and took some video outside of the high court but I also took some video inside the court. So here you have the:

United States Supreme Court Video





At the Washington DC hotel on M Street, they had a large pool with some exotic fish, so I stopped by and took some video of the pool to show the design of this Washington DC hotel and to also show how family and tourist friendly this Washington hotel is. I did kind of get the heebie jeebies because the fish saw me there and they all swam over to me as if I was going to toss them some food. Here is the video:














It was now time to go out into the city of Washington DC and find a good restaurant. I'm not so much of a steak dude but I have ordered Italian, French and so-called Cajun food and either the food tasted like it was microwaved or it was too bland and over priced. So when I travel, I'm usually going to take the safe bet and do some kind of steak but lately I'm slowing down on the large cuts, such as over 20 ounces. So I found a good Washington DC restaurant on 7th Street called the Chop House. They had something called tenderloin tips, which was basically sliced steak with a nice saunce on it and they also had braised or roasted mushrooms, mashed potatoes and a salad. The food was decent and not expensive. Here are a few of the photos:


Salad and Cocktail at Washington DC Steak House Restaurant






Washington DC Steak Restaurant Photo of Tenderloin Tips and Mushrooms








The other Washington DC hotel that I stayed at was on 10th Street and near the Washington DC Convention Center. This Washington hotel is located closer to downtown Washington DC and closer to features such as the Smithsonian Institute, White House and Capitol Hill. The DC Convention Center hotel is near major restaurants and Washington DC's so-called Chinatown as well as the Verizon Center.

Here is the Washington DC Hotel Video which I created.











and when we travel, we decided to travel light, so here are some of the spirits we brought with us:





So there you have it. Traveling to Washington DC or any other city on the Northeast Corridor is easy to access and if you use some of the discounts or book your hotel and travel early, you will receive substantial travel discounts, whether it is a weekend getaway or if you are simply doing the travel and tourism thing.

Another Good Steakhouse-Shula's 347 Grill - A Vikings Perspective

Last weekend, I traveled up to Providence Rhode Island to discuss some search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing techniques and opportunities with a colleague of mine.

I hopped about Amtrak for the train ride up there and lo and behold, Miss Daisy was driving the train - not her chauffeur Hoke--Miss Daisy herself. When I arrived in Providence and learned how to walk again, after having sat for so long, we met up and went to the Hilton in downtown Providence and I proceeded to show him link building, blogging and what a Google PageRank is and what are the factors to employ when trying to achieve a high page rank.

We spoke for a couple of hours and he then had to leave and do the Saturday afternoon domestic thing and I was left to fend for myself. Not wanting to do the touristy thing, I stayed at the hotel and said to myself, "Let me get a drink and plan my next culinary move".

I went to the hotels restaurant and saw that they had a Shula's 347 Grill. I said, this can't be related to Dolphins coach Don Shula. To my surprise it was.

I'm a simple man: A steak; cranberry and vodka (no lime garnish) and a place to dive into my own little world. Maybe it's the viking in me ["More food; More wine for everyone...and singing Viking battle songs] but I didn't travel to Providence to sample their seafood. Anyway, I was looking for a meal that would tide me over til I got back to New York City proper and this place did the trick.

Let me set it up for you: I order a 16 oz strip steak (what that is, I don't know), well done and some mashed potato thingy and some tomatoes to keep it sane and gully with a vegetable. Oops. I did have the house salad which I swallowed in no time. Nothing like some fresh greens to get ya going before the main course.

The steak and potatoes came and it was a very good steak. No fat or none that I had to play around with (slicing it off). Let me put it in the proper perspective. I've eaten at quite a few steak houses (Smith & Wollenskys, Peter Lugers, er Outbacks) and the portion of steak in Shula's 347 Grill was smaller, I did not go hungry. A good thick, nurtured steak; not cooked but nurtured. A fresh salad with egg sparsed in.

When most people dine out, they want a decent meal and if the wait staff advertises something about the meal, you would come to expect it. I was doing link building from the restaurant and no one disturbed me even though it was a Saturday afternoon/evening. Finishing off my SEO and link building work with a good meal; interspersed with drinks is not bad.

I now have to make a business excuse to go back up to the Providence Hilton, which Shula's 347 Grill is attached to and try out their 22 or is it the 24 ounce nurtured steak. This time, I should have a seafood starter. Just because.

Here is a photo of the steak at this Providence Rhode Island restaurant - Shula's 347 Grill

New York Pennylvania Station Announcer is An Institution

I was waiting for my train in Penn Station this morning and I took out my camera just to record the audio of the New York Pennsylvania station announcer who is female and has been doing this for over 30 years. I can remember when I was going to a gym out in Iselin NJ in 1986 and this same announcer, announcing the train departures and arrivals for both Amtrak and New Jersey transit. Of course, New York Penn Station is the hub for the Long Island Rail Road, New York City subway and of course, Madison Square Garden. As New York Penn Station serves 4.2 million passengers a week, this woman's voice is an institution.



New York Pennsylvania Station and Amtrak Train Schedules

Updated on May 29, 2008:

Here is a story that the New York Times ran about the Penn Station Announcer which my blog post featured:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/nyregion/11amtrak.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=amtrak%20announcer&st=cse&oref=slogin