How long is the tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving

I just got the confirmation back from our Senator that we have a tour set for 8:45 am for the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and a tour for the White House on the same day set for 11:30 (but we have to be there by 11:15am). Is that going to be enough time? How long is the Printing and Engraving tour? I am sure they wouldn%26#39;t book these too close together. But I would just appreciate any help possible! Also - can you take cameras into the Bureau of P%26amp;E?

Thanks in advance - Debbie

How long is the tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving

Tweetibyrd:

See the recent post on ';Taking Camera into DC Public Buildings'; - it was just updated this morning. (FYI - you can bring a camera into BEP).

From previous posts, I would estimate the tour to take about 45 minutes. That will give you plenty of time to get to the White House, but remember, you can%26#39;t take your camera into the WH, so if you can, try to run back to your hotel to drop off your camera first. If you%26#39;re staying downtown, hopefully that won%26#39;t be too big a problem.

Enjoy your trip!

How long is the tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving

You should be able to make it - The BEP (Smithsonian Metro Station) and the White House (Metro Center) are only a couple of stops apart, and you can take either the blue or orange line to get there.

I%26#39;d leave the cameras in the hotel - you can%26#39;t use them in the BEP, and you can%26#39;t take them into the White House. Besides, there really wasn%26#39;t that much to look at on the BEP tour, over and above what you would see on a video documentary about the place. The one neat thing about the tour is that you can buy uncut sheets of currency there. (If you%26#39;ve seen the ads in Parade Magazine and other places, those uncut sheets are being sold at HUGE markups!!!)

Thanks for the advice. I figured they wouldn%26#39;t book a tour close together if there was no hope of getting there in time. What about parking? is there anywhere close to park? We will be getting in that morning and instead of trying to get to our hotel in Alexandria that morning and riding the Metro in - I would like to drive in to make the tour. Are there any good places to park around there?

If you need to drive, your best bet for parking in this part of town is actually on the street--C Street SW to be specific. There are two-hour metered spaces, and the two-hour limit is strictly enforced so you%26#39;re not competing with people who are trying to park all day.

Commercial garages are in short supply in this part of town, which is almost entirely government buildings with their own employee parking lots.

Parking IS going to be tough down there. Although there are two-hour meters all around, the DC police have been instructed not to ticket cars with handicapped license plates or rear-view mirror placards. Hence, commuters beg, buy, or steal handicapped placards and use them for free all-day parking in the area limiting the amount of available parking for tourists and others with short-term parking needs. You%26#39;ll have to drive in pretty early to beat those scam artists, which might be difficult in rush-hour traffic.

Why not leave your luggage at the airport (if don%26#39;t claim it, the airline will store it in their unclaimed luggage office for free!) and take Metro to the BEP and White House, before returning to the airport for lunch, to pick up your luggage and pick up your car??? The White House tour is a simple walk-through, which shouldn%26#39;t last more than 30 mins or an hour if you stop at all the rooms to read the displays, putting you back at DCA by 1 pm.

drwong,

Surely you realize that D.C. police don%26#39;t issue parking tickets. That honor falls on the Department of Public Works.

D.C. Law 13-279 went into effect in 2001 and allows those with handicapped tags or placards to park in metered spaces for double the allowed time for free--four hours total in most cases. After that time, they must pay or leave. All to address the specific abuse of the system you described.

I see and chat with the DPW ticket writer on my block almost daily. The DPW ticket writers are not looking the other way when they see a handicapped plate or placard as you suggest they are. It%26#39;s just not as easy for them to document that a car has been in a space for four hours versus two hours due to the timing of their rounds. Some do slip through the cracks. But when the DPW writer can document that a car has been there four hours and then isn%26#39;t paying, they%26#39;ll get a ticket.

I have worked in different parts of southwest DC for over 11 years, including the area around the BEP. Empty metered parking spaces are much easier to come by in SW than in other parts of DC. The two-hour limit makes them useless for tourists desiring to take in a few museums, but are perfect for the 45-minute BEP tour.

Thanks for the clarification. No wonder I see cops driving past expired meters without even a glance. Maybe there aren%26#39;t a lot of parking abusers near the BEP because there aren%26#39;t a lot of government office buildings nearby.

The next time you see your parking enforcement contacts, send them to Independence Ave SW and the streets around the National Air %26amp; Space Museum - there are lots of handicapped parking abusers who leave their cars out all day, coming out during lunch to rotate parking spaces with each other. Your ticket writers could meet their weekly ticket quota in a day! (Or do they really have quotas?)