Day 742: Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to Washington

We departed from Chicago on a sunny day. Our Mega Bus (costing $10 USD each) left a little later than planned but we had reserved seats at the front, behind the driver this time.

We arrived in Cincinnati in the downtown area. We then took a two mile walk to reach our accommodation. We were staying with an Vietnamese/American couple who lived on the outskirts of Kentucky ($153 CAD for 3 nights). Our room was spacious with a comfy bed along with lots of maps and tourist information, should we need it.

Cincinnati was much smaller than Chicago so after a couple of hours we had seen the place – unfortunately not much to look at either. Our visit to Cincinnati was more of a rest stop whilst on the way to Pittsburgh. Regardless of how much there was to do in Cincinnati our bodies were glad of the rest and the reduced amount of miles we were walking per day! The Taft Museum of ArtThe first concrete sky scrapper in the USA built in 1903A very cold yet sunny day in Cincinnati View of Cincinnati City from the bridge

Cincinnati City

The crossing between states

On December 9th we left our accommodation. After a 2 mile walk we had reached Greyhound coach station. At 12.30pm we were due to take a coach to Pittsburgh, the coach costing $55 USD in total, without reserved seats and a 35 minute lay over in Columbus.

As it stands we definitely prefer Mega Bus over Greyhound. Just to add to our not so great review of Greyhound we discovered our coach was delayed for 3 hours. The delay will mean we miss the lay over coach so we were really hoping Greyhound would sort themselves out.

At 12.30pm Greyhound managed to pull a favour with another coach company. We set off as the snow was falling hoping that all the was sorted – fingers crossed! Luckily we managed to make the connection coach, this was the last change before reaching Pittsburgh.

The journey was the most uncomfortable one we had been on to date. We didn’t stop once in the 4 hours to stretch our legs, plus we could only have one bag under the bus so our knees were by our chins to accommodate for our bags being at our feet. Just to top all that off, the couple sitting in front of us had their chairs reclined for the whole journey so our space was limited even more.

After a 20 minute walk we reached our next accommodation. A private room in a cosy house, our most expensive accommodation yet at $210 CAD for 3 nights. The host lived in a house next door and rents out the three bedrooms for guests. Our bedroom was lovely and the house was very well equipped. We were 300m away from a supermarket and a easy walk away from the city centre.Our room during our stay in Pittsburgh

After a good nights sleep we headed out to Pittsburgh city to explore. First we decided to go up to the cities view point that you can reach via a inclined tram. The tram is classed as public transport so luckily the price remains regulated by the government at $2.50 USD each one way.Walking through the city centre Wrapped up warm on a very cold/windy day in Pittsburgh The inclined tram ride to reach the cities best view point

After admiring the view for a while we decided to take a scenic walk back into the city rather than get the tram. By the time we had done some more exploring and stopped to take plenty of pictures it was starting to get dark. One of Pittsburgh’s American Football stadiums. A match was taking place the evening we took this photo.Trying our best to get a picture of us with the city in the background!John with Pittsburgh city!Pretty church we found at the top of the hill, pretty busy what with it being Sunday.We managed to find a quieter view point so we had all the space we wanted to get a picture!

There were a fair few tourists in the city on this particular evening as there was a big American football game on at the stadium. Therefore the city was filled with fans dressed in black and yellow, a few of which were staying in the same house as us – they had travelled from Austin, Texas to see the match.

On our last final full day in Pittsburgh we went to explore the ‘down town’ area. The weather wasn’t as cold/windy as the previous day so it was much easier to walk around.

‘The Strip’ which hosts the Market (rather pricey) containing meat, fresh produce and American Football merchandise Muriel of Pittsburgh Quite a large Christmas nativity scene in the centre of townPittsburgh courts

On the 12th December we awoke at the early hour of 6AM to leave our accommodation in Pittsburgh and walk to the coach station to depart at 7.30am. It was still dark when we left and it was starting to snow – just like when we left Cincinnati. Our Double Decker Mega Bus

To our surprise a double decker bus turned up! Our seats were located on the upper level. For this journey we had paid $2 USD each ($1 was for the optional reservation fee).

Unlike Greyhound, Mega Bus leave dead on the minute of departure. Once on board it was rather cosy watching the city wake up as we headed for Washington DC. The journey went well and we arrived at the scheduled time.

We then had to catch the metro to reach our accommodation. The metro card cost $2 USD each and the trip itself cost $4 USD each – annoying when a 300 mile trip cost less than a 5 mile trip!

After a 20 minute walk and a total of 9 hours in transit we reached our accommodation. We were staying with a man called Frances for a total of $76 USD for two nights. Frances had told us he would be at work when we arrived. Little did we know Frances works from home so we jumped when we found another man in the house!

Our room was pleasant and we had a television which was a nice treat. We didn’t fancy a 3 mile work to the supermarket so we ordered some food in while we got to know Frances.

On our one and only full day in Washington we decided to go sight seeing. We caught the train at 11am costing $3.05 USD. First we went to look at the multiple grand buildings, The US Capital building followed by The Liberty Congress Building.The US Capital BuildingThe US Capital Building Cold yet sunny in Washington!Us both with The US Capital Building Walk around the lakeThe Liberty Congress Building

Next we went to a free art museum called The National Gallery of Art it was nice to warm up too! The gallery was beautiful and absolutely huge. We only had time to see a small section as there was a lot we wanted to see but it was certainly worth the visit.Entrance to the Art Gallery John with Louie XIVWe found a painting of the church we visited in Amsterdam when we first started our travels in 2015!The Art Gallery Gardens

We then went to the Natural History Museum which was also free and equally impressive! Unfortunately again we had to rush around the museum just so that we could fit everything in. We were extremely impressed with The Natural History museums, the exhibits were fantastic as well as the sheer size of the place. Even better that we went in for free!Luckily we’ve never met a real bear but this was close enough!The ocean section of the museum

We then made it to the White House where unfortunately there was building work going on in the gardens! Once we got a picture avoiding the JCBs we got a few snaps of ourselves. Us at the White HouseOne of The Trump hate camps – somebody was living behind that!

There were a couple of ‘camps’ set up directly in front of the house exclaiming their hate for Trump. We managed to avoid protesters by being standard tourists and gawping at the scenery and big sniper guns pointed out from the roof.

Next we went to see the Abraham Lincoln memorial followed by the Obelisk that represents George Washington. The monument was created in 1884 – back then it was the tallest building in the world.The Abraham Lincoln memorial The George Washington Obelisk

After walking 15km we decided it was time to head back to our accommodation before it got too dark out. We had a wonderful day in Washington, our only wish was that we had a bit longer to visit all the museums and attractions.

We spent our evening packing back up ready to head to New York the next morning!