Hotel Review: The Madison Washington D.C "Luxury in D.C"

 I will definitely continue my trip report of my North American odyssey afterwards. However, as a starter for my stories on Washington D.C i want to review our place of abode in the capital city first and it was the Madison Hotel.

Surprisingly enough, we found the the hotel rates in DC are much lower from those in Manhattan. For this, a night's stay at a 4stars hotel in DC would be equal in price to that of 2.5/3 stars hotel in Manhattan. Due to this and due further to our short stay of only one night in DC, we decided to pamper ourselves (a bit) in a little luxury by staying at this 4 stars boutique hotel located right in the middle of DC townsquare.

The external facade and the main entrance to the hotel

We arrived around 10am from New York and directly made our way to the hotel which was a 20 minutes taxi ride from the train station. In a stark contrast to New York's scene, DC is more quite and less crowded with the overall backdrops of the city were made up of offices (mostly governments). One more thing about travelling in USA, do keep an extra cash in hand for the tips as literally everyone (that's what i believe!) is expecting for you to give them some tips.

So we arrived at our hotel and was pleasantly happy to see the luxurious feel of its decor for which was influenced by the American style and not those of European heavily-chandeliered decor mostly found in luxury hotels. This is more like a luxury American homes-the thing that i like and hope to replicate the same in my future home.

Lobby area and the hallways to our room

A slight hiccup during our check-in process when the reception lady couldnt find our reservation.However it got sorted out by the very nice Manager of Nigerian descent. We were promptly lead to our Deluxe Room.

I can't say enough how much i love this room. It was perfectly sized and equipped with amenities and equipments and the touch of colours which are warm yet cozy. 

The bedding are marvelous as there were 2 queen beds with soft and comfy mattress and yes most importantly sufficient pillows.

32" LCD TV with cable channels including pay-per-view channels....

I want this chair in my room!

Lets look at the bathroom............

Sparkling marbles will greet you in the bathroom and soft fluffy towels are ready at your perusal. The amenities are also customized for the hotel guest and of environmentally friendly products.

One of the feature which i love the most in this hotel is the coffee brewing facility in your room.Yes, here they do not provide you the 3 in 1 instant coffee but each room is provided with coffee brewer for the guest to brew their own coffee fresh every day. There are few types of coffees to choose from as well, to your likings.

you can also have some snacks with your coffee-chargeable of course..............

If you are traveling by air you dont have to worry about checking in for your flight as airline check in can be done in the business centre-compliment of the hotel. For us, we were promptly assisted by the front desk manager himself and his colleague and they were so patience and friendly lot.

The city centre is just around 10-15 minutes walk from the hotel but if you insist taxis are at abundance around the hotel.

According to their website http://www.madisonhoteldc.com/, the hotel is currently undergoing renovation to rejuvenate its rooms and i believe this will  promise better service and comfort for the guest. I believe it does stood up to its 4 stars status and even for me they deserve a little bit more star as the service was at par with some other 5 stars establishments.Kay2011.

Journey North America-Brooklyn Tour

Having had a wonderful trip to Liberty Island here Meeting Ms Liberty, we continued the usage of our hop-on-hop off bus tour to Brooklyn. We were informed by the very informative tour guide that Brooklyn was in its early days occupied by Dutch settlers hence the name "Brooklyn" came from the Dutch word or "Breukelen" which means "broken land". It was also named after a village in Holland of the same name. Nowadays, Brooklyn is one of the 5 boroughs (or municipal administration) of New York, the others being Manhattan, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.  And no other icon can best be associated with Brooklyn than the world's famous Brooklyn Bridge.

From Battery Park enroute to Brooklyn we passed the financial district of Wall Street...

Yes. at this particular time gay marriage had just been legalized in NYC....

 Our bus also took as along China Town....

and as this tour is dedicated to capture the best of Brooklyn, it's just proper for us not to drive onto Brooklyn Bridge as we wouldnt be able to take picture of it...hence we took the Manhattan Bridge so that we would be able to take capture Brooklyn Bridge with our camera....

and the bridge in its full glory with Manhattan skylines as its backdrop

Once passed Brooklyn Bridge, we finally entered Brooklyn city centre, obviously the surroundings here are less crowded than downtown Manhattan. We were also informed that many New Yorker prefer to live (or have to) live outside Manhattan due to high cost of living and houses therein, thus Brooklyn is one of the area where most New Yorkers live. This is also where most of those homes in most Hollywood dramas or films featuring New York city is filmed, one in particular is Sex & The City.

There are many parks here and it's also famous for its Brooklyn Zoo....

We passed underneath Brooklyn Bridge...

Manhattan from the other side.....

mosque and Muslim restaurants/shops...

Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, tallest building in Brooklyn

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch...

Brooklyn Art Museum...

my favourite fried chicken is here!

We made our way back to Manhattan and our last view of Brooklyn Bridge...

Being our last day in New York we decided to end the night with a walk in Times Square...

Times Square at night is thousand times better than in the day as all buildings are lit up with kaleidoscope of colours...

It was the most hippest and happening place ive ever been todate. Im really missing NYC now and its fast moving life. I believe this is where the American Dreams are created and lived in.

Tomorrow we'll be venturing into US administrative capitol city of Washington DC and we'll be taking a train ride in America's AMTrak rail line...stay tuned for more in my Journey North America-Kay2011

Journey North America (3rd) Day in New York-Meeting Miss Liberty

Continuing from my previous installation of my North American odyssey here..journey-north-america-part-2-new-york

Today would be a day that we finally got to visit the most iconic icon of New York, the Statue of Liberty. It's located at the Liberty Island whereby a boat trip is required across the channel from the mainland. Needless to note that New York comprised of clusters of islands and only when we arrived there that we noted this fact. 

We have already purchased our Statue of Liberty ticket online before the trip however ours  would only cover access to the ground and if you intend to go inside the statue itself you'll need to purchase different tickets at different rates, the most expensive would be the one which allows you to visit up to the crown of the statue. For this an advanced purchase of 3 months prior to your visit is required as daily visitors allowed to be in the crown area is limited.

So we made our way to the jetty to take our boat ride early morning before the start of office's rush hour. If you are in Manhattan, your starting point to Liberty Island will be from the pier at Battery Park. There is another departure point at New Jersey.

A War Memorial at Battery Park

while waiting for our departure time, we had our breakfast at this cafe near the Staten Island ferry terminal. Staten Island ferry is a commuter ferry between Manhattan and Staten Island and it's free! I had a wonderful cheese-bagel at this cafe..i really missed bagel....

This is the ferry that would take us to the Liberty Island. Ticket can be purchased at their website here http://www.statuecruises.com/default.aspx

It was a very beautiful sunny morning with light breeze. Be careful to take off your cap if you're sitting at the open air section of this boat as your cap/hat may be blown off by the wind.

we are almost there...so excited....

we finally arrived at Liberty Island and started our ground tour. The first sight of Lady Liberty amazed us as we finally see this magnificent structure standing proudly before our own eyes,,,,,,,,,

some history of Liberty Island

Manhattan skyline from Liberty Island...

Now, there's a souvenier shop whereby you can choose from many arrays and types of souveniers of the Status of Liberty. However, in addition to that, dont missed the chance to get one of this souvenier coin where you can find the machine near the cafeteria area. And it cost around $2 per piece only.

On our return trip, the boat made a short stop at Ellis Island. This was a historical sight where you can visit historical buildings used in the early years for immigration/quarantine and other naval related purposes.

After a wonderful field day at the Liberty Island and visiting Lady Liberty the iconic icon of New York, we were nearing to the conclusion of our New York trip, and what better way to end it this way as it wont be complete without the same.

Our boat nearing the pier of Battery Park, Manhattan.......

After alighting the ferry, we made our way to continue our hop-on-hop off tour to Brooklyn. The bus stop is conveniently located by the roadside of Battery Park thus we've planned it in advanced to continue the tour after our Liberty Island visit. Stay tuned for my next installment of Journey North America.Kay2011