Winter Wonderland in Gaylord

(http://www.bing.com/travel/content/search?q=Decked-Out+Hotels%3a+Gaylord+National+Resort%2c+Oxon+Hill%2c+Md.&FORM=TRSSPG)

I visited several times Gaylord, the huge hotel complex on Potomac border, across Alexandria. It was always an enjoyable experience. They know what it means to make it big, these guys! Well, if you ask me, the Gaylord in Texas (some place near Dallas) is even bigger, which should not come as a surprise as Texans don't know the meaning of just big.

Now, as Christmas is coming, Gaylord (the one from the Potomac) invited ice carvers from China. They work on 2 million pounds of ice for 30 days to construct a Nativity scene, storybook characters such as the Grinch, and a real two-story slide that children can scoot down (bing). I wish I were there now!


(Gaylord)

Crossing Potomac from Alexandria to Gaylord

- The Peacemaker -

- View of Alexandria, from the board of Peacemaker -

- again the Peacemaker -

- House on the Water -

- USS Freedom -

- Cherry Blossom Ship -

- Ship in Black, White and Red -

- Seadog -

(Alexandria)

(Gaylord)

Photo of the Day - June 4, 2008

(Gaylord)

Gaylord: the Atrium

(Gaylord)

Gaylord: the Atrium Viewed from the Ballrooms Terrace

(Gaylord)

Gaylord

Gaylord National, the new landmark in DC Greater Metropolitan Area. It is on the Maryland shore of Potomac, in the PG County near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Alexandria is on the other side.

It is a huge construction, a resort and convention center with an enormous atrium that is a whole world on its own: tropical gardens, fancy boutiques, elegant restaurants, everything closed by a huge glass and metal structure, window and ceiling, and by the elevators, escalators and terraces leading to the upper floors of various hotels, ballrooms and conference halls. All very Americana.




To get there, I took a water taxi from Alexandria: it crossed the river in twenty minutes.

I saw two years ago the Gaylord from Texas, in Dallas/Fort Worth are: it was incomparably larger; they had there inside the atrium a river and a railroad! But Texas lives on another sizes.

• The Atrium Viewed from the Ballrooms Terrace
• The Atrium
• Photo of the Day - June 4, 2008
• Crossing Potomac from Alexandria to Gaylord
• Winter Wonderland in Gaylord
  

(Washington, District of Columbia)