Getting Around

The streets in Washington are currently as torn up as those in Houston; evidence of a strong economy, I guess.    There is no place to park.    Charlaine and I are very used to taking public transportation when we visit a new city, and usually find it is not as good as Houston's Metro.    D.C. is a exception; you can take the subways and buses to just about anywhere you want to go, and if it's late, there are lots of very reasonably priced taxis.

We made good use of all these, and I would not recommend renting a car.    However, there are two problems with the bus and subway system: you cannot get a system map of the bus routes, despite what some tell you (don't waste your time like I did), and the fare system as presented is incredibly complicated.    But you can get maps of individual bus routes, and make your own map, and the fare system for anywhere you're likely to go is much simpler than they would have you believe.