To start off, my wife and I took the Metro, arriving at the Navy Yard station at about 6 p.m. for the game scheduled to start at 7:10. Despite the crowd, things moved pretty smoothly getting out of the station and onto the street level. From the exit, it’s a straight shot to the ball park, no streets to cross and a nice, wide promenade to the stadium.

The place makes a great first impression. You walk up to the center field gate and once through the gate to a wide open area which funnels to either side or straight into the left field seats.

Right in that centerfield ‘‘Strike Zone” area there are several attractions. The Nintendo ‘‘PlayStation Pavilion” gaming den features games like ‘‘MLB 08: The Show” and ‘‘Gran Turismo 5.” There is also an open-to-all center field restaurant with seating in the center field bleachers and a great view of the field.

As you travel around the concourses to your seats, there is no congestion at all in the wide expanses, lined with a great variety of concessions and shops. The design allow you to keep sight of the field as you travel around, either directly or via the multiple TV monitors placed throughout.

Of course, there is the huge (4,500 square foot) HD scoreboard which stays very busy with stats, replays, etc. Around the field there is also hundreds of feet of LCD ribbon actively showing the score line and other items and generally helping to keep the experience alive.

As near as I could tell from walking around, every seat has a clear sight line to the field. Ours were on the third base side just past third base, and provided an excellent feel for the field and the game. But even the upper deck, $10 on game days, has some great views too. And if you don’t like it so high up, based on the 30,000 or so that were there for the Mets, you should have ample opportunities to ‘‘upgrade” your seats.

During the game there are enough facilities (rest rooms) so that you don’t have to go too far to go, or wait too long, either. The lines at concessions during the game were reasonable; I left after the top of the sixth to get drinks and got back to my seat while the first Nationals batter in the bottom of the inning was still up.

Leaving (during the ninth inning) was more crowded than arriving. The street (pedestrian only) going to Navy Yard station was full but moving. Ditto for the lines down to the trains, crowded but moving. Of course, the platform in the station was packed, but they had enough trains coming in that we only waited about five minutes, about normal. The train was definitely crowded, but not worse than some Tokyo subway rides I’ve been on by a long shot! Overall, not bad considering how many people they were moving.

Oh yeah, the game itself? Well, the Nats put that away in the sixth with a Felipe Lopez grand slam. Final score Nats 10, Mets 5, a bummer but not enough to dampen a great night at the new Nationals Ballpark.