Subway wanderings

The Metro is an inexpensive and virtually hassle-free way to reach the sights of the District - the famous ones and the "insider'' places.

By JERRY V. HAINES

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2001

How the locals do D.C. Beyond the Mall, the monuments and the museums is Rock Creek Park, watersports on the Potomac, art galleries and ethnic neighborhoods and restaurants. If you go Typical budget round-trip air fare from the Tampa Bay area to Washington's Reagan National Airport is about $115 on Northwest or Delta. Often travelers can save a few dollars by flying on Southwest and USAirways into Baltimore-Washington International, about 30 miles north of Washington.

Something is wrong here: People are smiling. Usually, the morning commuters disembarking at Washington's Farragut West subway station wear the resigned expressions of Herefords on the loading ramp at Swift & Co. But these riders are smiling, laughing -- even talking to fellow commuters they've never met before. "Did you hear what he said?" they call out.

So what did who say? Well, as the Metro train operator eased his six sleek cars into the station, he had announced over the P.A. system, "Farragut West, have a good day."

Usually, even the innocuous "Have a good day" is out of character for the businesslike drivers of the Metro. But then this one responded to himself over the P.A., in a girlish falsetto, "You have a good day, too, Mr. Train Operator."

It was the little lift you need if you are going to face another day full of cubicle lint, bleating telephones and on-screen messages that "The program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down."

His comment was just a little reminder that somewhere within all the steel and glass and motherboards, there remains an element of humanity.

Although it is among the busiest stations on the system, Farragut West probably doesn't appear on many tourist maps of Washington. Unlike the Smithsonian, Arlington Cemetery or the Woodley Park/National Zoo stops, nothing much happens here to fill a photo album. ("And this is Evelyn with a K Street lawyer . . .") To me, however, the Metro itself is an attraction, and what makes it so attractive is the way it can show you parts of the District -- and its humanity -- that you might otherwise miss.

For example, one budget-conscious way to visit Washington is to stay at an inexpensive motel in Northern Virginia or Maryland and then to take the Metro into the District.

Alternatively, you may start your trip at Reagan National Airport. (The graceful arch of the elevated track dominated by the airport's new tower makes it look like a Popular Science cover from a 1950s "Visions of the Future" issue, particularly when a northbound train glides into the station.)

If you choose the Metro for your transportation, you will have some choices: Washington Metro has five lines, each represented by a color. Just check a system map in any station and chart your trip.

The card-operated turnstiles may seem formidable at first, but the employee in the kiosk will explain how to buy and use a Metro fare-card, and soon you'll be navigating by train as though it were your own oversized Lionel.

Step aboard

Let's start this tour across the Potomac in Northern Virginia. Board the Yellow Line for D.C.; we're going to get you something to eat. In a moment you will go underground to let off upscale shoppers at Pentagon City and to deliver clerks and colonels to the Pentagon itself, then climb above ground again to cross the Potomac, then go subterranean again.

Transfer to the Green Line at the Mount Vernon Square/UDC station. (Transferring can be tricky, as your sense of direction often goes haywire underground. But the stations are full of maps and signs that will show you where you are in relation to where you want to be.) Take the Green Line to the U Street/Cardozo station.

You may wonder, "Was there no closer restaurant? This seems like a lot of work." Ah, but this is also a ceremony. We're going to Ben's Chili Bowl, a tradition for native Washingtonians, visiting musicians and pilgrims seeking the definitive chili dog. When Bill Cosby comes to town, for example, he has been known to start discussions by asking, "Where are my half-smokes from Ben's?"

The furnishings are spare, but the portions are satisfying, and you can eavesdrop on conversations.

Next, some sightseeing, but not where you might expect. Judiciary Square, on the Red Line, is a quiet station, perhaps because so many of the people who come to its courthouses and legal offices arrive there instead by limousine, TV satellite truck or paddy wagon.

But up the escalator on the north end is the poignant National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, honoring police officers killed in the line of duty. Bronze lions symbolically protect their cubs, and 15,000 yellow daffodils commemorate 15,000 slain officers.

Across the street is my nominee for "Neatest Old Building in Washington," the National Building Museum, which was built after the Civil War for the distribution of soldiers' pensions. (In fact, most people know it as the Old Pension Building.)

Its Great Hall is 150 feet high and bigger than a football field. In the exhibition rooms, you may find tightly focused displays: life in America as we should remember it but usually do not; Tools as Art; and Wood: An American Tradition.

Back outside and return to the Red Line, for the trip to Dupont Circle. Major streets -- Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire avenues and P Street -- converge here, and so do many elements of Washington society. Diplomats and lawyers chat in Italian over the white truffle taglierini at Al Tiramisu; future e-commerce tycoons crowd third-floor walkups; same-sex sweethearts walk hand-in-hand through the park.

You might be inclined to pass by the Phillips Collection if you are already experiencing art fatigue from the more famous galleries on the Mall. That would be too bad, because here in the former bedrooms and parlors of Duncan Phillips' Dupont Circle area mansion is a collection of surprising depth.

Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party is the keystone of the permanent collection, and you could spend an hour just appreciating the fruit, flowers, flirting and joie de vivre in this one painting.

Fancy meeting you here

Joie de vivre is sometimes lacking in Washington. That is why you can spot the fellow tourists on the Metro: They are the ones talking to strangers.

It is not that Washingtonians are unfriendly, but some sort of law seems to have decreed that you are permitted to talk to each other only if you got on the train together. That is why we are so charmed by our favorite Metro operator when, for example, he reminds us during the holiday's potluck office party season, "Whatever you do, don't drop that casserole."

Maybe we can blame it on architecture. Metro's underground stations seem less like train stations and more like fancy new churches in suburban neighborhoods where nobody knows each other yet.

Metro stations have rounded, honeycombed ceilings softly lighted from below, and their mezzanines seem to float above the tracks. There are no graffiti, although efflorescent seepage occasionally mars some walls. New electronic signs indicate the waiting time until the next train arrives.

If you want conversation, head for Eastern Market. This historic, covered market on Capitol Hill encourages socialization. Stop to check out the chorizo, linguica, bratwurst or andouille (is there an ethnic group that doesn't have its own sausage?) and another customer is likely to volunteer, "Oh, I had some of that last week. Try it with bean soup."

Buy a crabcake breakfast with eggs and buttery grits at the Market Lunch, in the northeast corner of the hall, and eat it at the crowded communal table that gives you no choice but to make acquaintances.

Cell phones will ring as they do all over Washington, but the signs that announce sale prices on chitterlings, liver pudding and chicken feet will confirm that you have found the authentic Washington, the one that rarely makes the network news. And Metro's Orange and Blue Lines will take you there.

There's one more stop to make. About a block north of the Red Line's Farragut North station is St. Matthew's Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Washington. It is a large, lovely place, richly decorated with mosaics.

The Four Evangelists watch over the congregation from their respective corners below the great dome (but currently they watch through a large netting installed to protect worshipers during restoration of the ceiling). Senators and Supreme Court justices attend Mass here; President John Kennedy's funeral was held here.

You can use the Metro until it is time to leave the city: The Blue and Yellow Lines will take you to Reagan National, if you came to us by air. (Just don't try schlepping a lot of baggage during rush hour.) The Red Line connects you to Amtrak at Union Station and (with a 21/2-block walk) to the bus terminal near there. The Metro does not yet extend to Dulles Airport, in the Virginia countryside.

The Metro is not perfect. It is showing signs of aging -- computer failures, track problems, stalled escalators -- which perversely seem to manifest themselves during rush hour. Washingtonians love to complain about the problems.

But for visitors, the Metro is still the most hassle-free way to see the things you want to see. The stops for the Capitol, the Supreme Court and the Air and Space Museum are pretty obvious. But try some of the non-obvious stops, as well. Perhaps you'll find some charms you might otherwise have missed.

Jerry V. Haines works in Washington and lives in Arlington, Va.

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