Mission 1: Wheaton (Red Line) March 26, 2011

Today was our first Mission Metro Adventure. We came up with this idea thinking it would be spring but alas, today it was only 30 degrees when we left home. The Wheaton stop is one of the farthest from our "home" at Branch Avenue on the Green line. Probably, including transfer, an hour train ride.

Neither of us had ever been to Wheaton before so we had low expectations. The Wheaton stop is underground and if you're afraid of super high and steep escalators.....avoid at all costs! This was by far the longest escalator either of us had ever seen. Approximately a 3 minute ride from bottom to top.

Our first stop, after being lost in the Metro parking garage, was the infamous Wheaton Plaza. The Plaza is home to JCPenney, Macy's, a closed Target and of course Candy World. Here we bought licorice laces which sustained us for hours to come! A pretty basic mall, probably just like the one in your neighborhood!


Next we stumbled into an "International Market" (aka big rummage sale in mall parking lot). However, none of the vendors spoke English so it did have an international flair! From the mall parking lot we headed towards "The Triangle" (located between Veirs Mill Rd, Georgia Ave and University Blvd/Rte 193). This is the real Wheaton: a plethora of international shops, restaurants and businesses. Here you can find all things Latino but also everything from Filipino to Ethiopian. At the Filipino store we found the spring roll wrappers that have eluded us for months and enjoyed sausage and meatball subs from the Italian deli (Marchone's).

Of course for you music lovers, the metro is mere steps away from Chuck Levine's Washington Music Center - heaven on earth! It kind of reminded us of the music store scene in The Blues Brothers movie where Ray Charles starts playing the old piano and by the end everyone is dancing in the street!



There are some parks and gardens close by too but since it was freezing today we decided to save that for another Metro Mission!