Bruce had another trade show last weekend in Washington DC so I decided to tag along because my sister lives in Bethesda, Maryland. My sister, Jolene, has lived here around 35 years and her husband, Jim, has lived here his whole life. Needless to say, they both work for the Federal government; Jolene, for the Justice Department and Jim, for the Federal Court System. We have had great personal tours of DC from both of them over the years. They are good at adding that special insider's view of Washington DC (like seeing the "Highest Court in the Land", which is a basketball court located several floors above the Supreme Court) and our favorite, the Exorcist Stairs in Georgetown.
I was a teenager when that movie came out so it left an impression, what can I say...so we always have to go see this spot in Georgetown. Also, next door, we saw that the Excorist House was for sale. I'm not sure I'd want to live there even though it was only a movie.
We love Georgetown, it is so unique. Jolene drove down the street where JFK lived when he was a senator, so much history everywhere. Of course, it's like that wherever we go around here. I've been to DC at least half a dozen times since Jolene has lived here so I figured I would not want to be doing that much "touristy" stuff this visit but both Bruce and I felt so patriotic just landing at the airport and taking a cab to our hotel and seeing a few landmarks, we had to get out and do some sightseeing.
Jolene was happy to let us get it out of our system. After Bruce was done with his trade show obligations, we walked from our hotel to have lunch at the W Washington DC Hotel that Jolene and Jim told us about. They had a POV (Point of View) restaurant on top with a great view.
It was a perfect way to begin our afternoon of being a tourist, really got us in the mood.
The hotel was gorgeous, too.
We hit a lot of spots in a short time of being in our tourist mode, including the World War II Memorial that neither of us had seen before. It is relatively new, opened in 2004.
Jolene said that when my mom came to visit in 2005, they visited this memorial and it was overwhelming to my mom. She had to find a place to sit down. It was almost too much for her to take in.
I can see why, especially for someone who lived through it. It was breathtaking.
It was slightly wet when we were there, as you can see, but it did not dampen our spirits.
We then stopped at the Korean War Veterans Memorial
the Lincoln Memorial
and the Vietnam Memorial.
My feet were tired by now so we called Jolene and she picked us up and off to Georgetown we went. Jolene loves Georgetown, too. Who doesn't? She showed us the newly renovated waterfront area with the Kennedy Center in the background. Like Seattle, a lot of parts of DC are getting upscaled now.
On our first night in DC, Jolene and Jim picked a wonderful, historic restaurant to eat dinner called the Tabard Inn off of Dupont Circle. Simply lovely. It had the ambiance of an English manor in a row house built in 1887. The Inn has been around since 1922. The food was exquisite, too. I had homemade tagliatelle pasta and Bruce had pork chop with pineapple chutney. A great way to start our DC experience.
The next morning, Jolene and I had a day to ourselves as Bruce attended his trade show. We started off with breakfast at Busboys and Poets and I got my southern grits.
Busboy and Poets refers to an American poet, Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy in the 1930's prior to gaining recognition as a poet. It's a restaurant but also a book store where art, culture and politics collide to inspire social change. It was quite an interesting place. I loved the grits...Busboy and Poets is located at the U Street Corridor which is DC's cultural and activist scene. In it's cultural heyday, the U Street corridor was known as the "Black Broadway" with all it's theaters and historic clubs and venues. From there, Jolene and I wandered the streets near Dupont Circle.
We went into many quaint shops, Jolene loves to shop as much as I do. We both thought this chair was quite the find.
We also went in the Phillips Museum which is America's first Museum of Modern Art. Phillips Museum is named after Duncan Phillips (1886-1966), the grandson of the Pittsburgh steel magnate. His collections are housed in the family home, an 1897 Georgian Revival house which I loved looking at as much as the art. The most famous piece here is Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880-1881). I'm sure you'd recognize it.
After our cultural fix and shopping, it was time for a coffee break at Dolcezza
with none other than Stumptown coffee, one of our favorites!
We met Bruce and Jim for dinner at a Turkish restaurant called Ankara for another delicious meal. I got a combination of lamb chops, chicken kabobs and Koftas, or Turkish meatballs.
It was all so good, especially the lamb chops but even more so, the company of being
together again with my sister is always treasured moments since we live on opposite ends of the country.
On our last day in DC, we were flying out of BWI (Baltimore airport) so we decided to spend the day in Annapolis, Maryland which is also the Capitol of Maryland. Again, the beautiful architecture and red brick buildings and roads are so beautiful.
We spent some time touring around the Naval Academy which is located here
and saw the chapel
which was beautiful inside.
We started noticing right away, all the inferences of ships everywhere we went on campus, even in the chapel. This is the U.S. Naval Academy, after all.
Dahlgren Hall was also very impressive. It use to be an old armory building now used for various functions including a cafeteria located here.
Another ship displayed here.
Outside Dahlgren Hall were a couple of Japanese torpedos on display.
The mascot of the Academy is Bill, the goat.
A goat, you ask? For centuries, ships sailed with livestock in order to provide sailors with fresh food. Ships in the British and early American navies often carried goats, to eat the garbage and other undesirable food and to return milk and butter. The name Bill is from the term "billy goat" for a male goat. It makes sense now, huh? The Naval Academy is a large part of Annapolis but there is also a beautiful waterfront and marina.
We will be feeling our patriotism for some time after this trip.
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