Thoughts about DC from a Tourist. (Washington: how much, hotels, home)
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Just got back from Washington D.C, have to say you guys have a great city.
Absolutely loved it. Im even thinking about going to school there.
Just a few thoughts/ questions though
I noticed no tall buildings in D.C. Everything was about 10 stories. Whats that all about? All the buildings were really nice, loved the architecture. We dont get architecture like that in Toronto. Probably because our climate is a lot colder. But I never saw any skyscrapers like we have up here.
Also, we were freaking out because you guys have WAY different vegetation for a place only 10 hours away. I saw trees/ plants i had never seen before lmao. Also during the week I heard a southern accent in person for the first time.
I also noticed class distinctions being somewhat along racial lines. Not entirely but in general my family noticed 85% of the people in expensive restaurants/ areas/ driving nice cars or at our hotel were white, with a few Asians. While 70% of the working class people, who worked at the restaurants/ hotels/ cab drivers were black. Why is that? I always here about Affirmative action being a big deal in the US. We dont have nearly as many black people in Toronto(10% of the city) as you guys do. But most tend to be middle class here, while the poor/ working class is made up of immigrants from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
1)There's a law that requires buildings here to be a certain height. Not sure how much it was. But it was so that skyscrapers wouldn't block out views of the Capital/National Mall area.
2) I would say DC was built along the Northern/Southern border. Virginia has more of a southern feel and Maryland more of a Northern feel. Though the DC suburbs on both sides are pretty liberal. Just my opinion though.
Just got back from Washington D.C, have to say you guys have a great city.
Absolutely loved it. Im even thinking about going to school there.
Just a few thoughts/ questions though
I noticed no tall buildings in D.C. Everything was about 10 stories. Whats that all about? All the buildings were really nice, loved the architecture. We dont get architecture like that in Toronto. Probably because our climate is a lot colder. But I never saw any skyscrapers like we have up here.
Also, we were freaking out because you guys have WAY different vegetation for a place only 10 hours away. I saw trees/ plants i had never seen before lmao. Also during the week I heard a southern accent in person for the first time.
I also noticed class distinctions being somewhat along racial lines. Not entirely but in general my family noticed 85% of the people in expensive restaurants/ areas/ driving nice cars or at our hotel were white, with a few Asians. While 70% of the working class people, who worked at the restaurants/ hotels/ cab drivers were black. Why is that? I always here about Affirmative action being a big deal in the US. We dont have nearly as many black people in Toronto(10% of the city) as you guys do. But most tend to be middle class here, while the poor/ working class is made up of immigrants from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
I also noticed class distinctions being somewhat along racial lines. Not entirely but in general my family noticed 85% of the people in expensive restaurants/ areas/ driving nice cars or at our hotel were white, with a few Asians. While 70% of the working class people, who worked at the restaurants/ hotels/ cab drivers were black. Why is that? I always here about Affirmative action being a big deal in the US. We dont have nearly as many black people in Toronto(10% of the city) as you guys do. But most tend to be middle class here, while the poor/ working class is made up of immigrants from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
It's not that black people, or anyone, are being discriminated against. It's that they (and a lot of people) can't afford the nicer parts of DC. DC is a very expensive place.
Just got back from Washington D.C, have to say you guys have a great city.
Absolutely loved it. Im even thinking about going to school there.
Just a few thoughts/ questions though
I noticed no tall buildings in D.C. Everything was about 10 stories. Whats that all about? All the buildings were really nice, loved the architecture. We dont get architecture like that in Toronto. Probably because our climate is a lot colder. But I never saw any skyscrapers like we have up here.
Also, we were freaking out because you guys have WAY different vegetation for a place only 10 hours away. I saw trees/ plants i had never seen before lmao. Also during the week I heard a southern accent in person for the first time.
I also noticed class distinctions being somewhat along racial lines. Not entirely but in general my family noticed 85% of the people in expensive restaurants/ areas/ driving nice cars or at our hotel were white, with a few Asians. While 70% of the working class people, who worked at the restaurants/ hotels/ cab drivers were black. Why is that? I always here about Affirmative action being a big deal in the US. We dont have nearly as many black people in Toronto(10% of the city) as you guys do. But most tend to be middle class here, while the poor/ working class is made up of immigrants from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
DC has codified height restrictions. The law states that no building may be taller than twice the width of the street it faces. Height restrictions are not that uncommon, most mid-sized cities have them.
Why is it curious to you that DC has socioeconomic segregation that separates whites and blacks, but not curious that Toronto's segregation separates whites and Asians? Segregation is segregation.
DC was built to be a government city, so you have two DCs:
1. The "Official DC" as it's called. It draws professionals and politicos from around the country and world. They tend to be highly educated and well paid.
2. You have the "local DC", which tends to be much more similar to any other city with families going back generations and such. Most of the local population tends to be black due to historical settling patterns and emancipation (DC was the first "state" - it's a federal district that functions like a state - to outlaw slavery). DC and the area does have a strong and rapidly expanding well educated black population (similar to Atlanta in a lot of ways), but most still remain in the working class service industry, unfortunately.
Hopefully you saw the Canadian Embassy with its nice, prominent location. Hopefully you also got out of downtown into some of the neighborhoods. They tend to offer a very different side of DC.
Welcome to the u.s....I love t-dot...great city...it's a small NY but clean and safe...
-like the op's said, is a code more for security than anything...dc would have so many snipers if they didn't have it...plus why block the views...
-DC has a large African American population and many wealthy-upper middle class and highly educated..You can not make a blanket assumption based on one location...
-Yes the U.S. /Canada are massive and the geography of both countries is amazing....I see tree's in DC that I never see in my home state and vice versa
DC has codified height restrictions. The law states that no building may be taller than twice the width of the street it faces. Height restrictions are not that uncommon, most mid-sized cities have them.
This is true, but DC's restrictions are quite severe--if you're not familiar with the cityscape, it can be quite surprising, particularly for a North American city.
Also, we were freaking out because you guys have WAY different vegetation for a place only 10 hours away. I saw trees/ plants i had never seen before lmao.
Yup--DC and Nova are right on the edge of the northern boundary for many colorful plants. Crape myrtles and banana trees, for example. At the same time, we also have many plants that require the cold of winter (daffodils, for example). It's most noticeable in the fall. The variety of both "southern" and "northern" trees here means that fall foliage never really hits a specific peak, but it also lasts much longer than in most other areas.
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