Washington, DC in 2 days

Thursday Night (Day 0)

Unless you have a specific picture in mind of what you want to see in Washington DC, two days is sufficient to satisfy your interest but leaves you eager to come back. Arriving late Thursday night after 14-hour drive from Florida we headed straight to the Savoy Suites Hotel. I found it on Trip Advisor when using their handy "Map out most popular hotels" tool trying to locate a hotel as close as possible to the key destination point and a reason for the trip – Russian Notary Office. Savoy is located on the outskirts of Georgetown - one of the neighborhoods that my husband Alex and I wanted to see anyway. The hotel has seen better times and some of them must have been quite interesting judging by a presence of a large Jacuzzi tub right next to the king size bed. Needless to say it was a relief to see that room had an alternative – a regular shower in a bathroom. The dark red Jacuzzi mounted on the pedestal was giving me creeps the entire duration of a short one-night stay. The bed though was clean and very comfortable.

Friday (Day 1)

The visit behind unevenly colored yellow concrete wall, a.k.a. Notary Office, ended by 10 a.m. Hungry for better sightseeing we drove right to Georgetown’s main street - M Street. Parking for a car was easy to find and cost $1 an hour. Later locals told us that it was just our luck. I guess, the earlier you come the better the chances are. By noon all the parking spots were taken indeed.

The street immediately surprised me with the amount of fashion stores. From mid range to higher fashion, there’s plenty to choose from and keep you busy for days.

Among two of us I’m the planner who probably spends more time researching than the actual duration of a trip. Looking on Washington Post's website I really liked their City Guide section and the Restaurants Search Tool. By choosing Top Reader Ratings, location and a middle price range filter I located a number of restaurants and cafes I wanted to check out on this trip.

The first one was Baked and Wired, a coffee and tea place in Georgetown (see photos to the left and right). Unfortunatelly a sitting area inside of the cafe was in the middle of renovation. The Late that we ordered was very good - strong, but smooth and creamy. Among many baked goods cupcakes were supposedly the best. We ordered a carrot+walnut and a chocolate cupcake and again couldn't be more happy with what we got. The price for the order was $13.

After strolling the streets for a few hours enjoying weather and the sights, we drove to the next neighbourhood to explore – Dupont Circle, which happened to be literally 5 minutes away. There we checked into the Topaz Hotel, a place to stay for the following two nights. The hotel was priced similar as Savoy but happened to be much more attractive. The lobby and the room were nicely decorated. The elevator was slow and we didn't have much of a view even from the 10th floor. Overall it was a good quality hotel, with creative design, clean and affordable.

On the way to the restaurant we spent at least an hour people-watching from the bench of a Dupont Circle Park. We could sit there the rest of the day if only cupcakes from the morning lasted longer. The dinner spot was again fished out from the list on Washington Post. This time I picked Sushi Taro – supposedly a true Japanese restaurant frequent by the employees of the Japanese Embassy in DC. Not much from an outside, the interior of the restaurant was nice and simple. Restaurant opened at 5:30p.m., and since we came there early there was no wait for a table. The place filled up quickly and it's probably safer to make a reservation. We ordered eggplant and mushroom tempura for appetizer and sushi rolls and Chirashi plate for dinner. The taste of tempura vegetables was very good –batter was light and hardly oily. Sushi rolls and fresh fish were very good too. What I liked the most was their rice - cooked and flavored perfectly.  

Filled with wonderful food and happy from beer we headed to the Dupont Circle metro station to take us to the National Mall. It took some time (possibly due to the beer effect) to figure out the way to buy passes from the machine at the entrance. The design of the station was bare and looked unfinished, especially compared to the excesses of the metro systems in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Both days that we used the metro, except for the central locations, the stations were almost empty and the trains were 10-15 minutes apart - might be a weekend thing though.

The National Mall was only 3 stops away. When emerging on the daylight we reached for a map and then, a friendly guy in a city district uniform came from nowhere and gave us a better map and helped with directions. It couldn’t be a better timing. The National Mall area was a wonderful place for a long walk in the surroundings of a grandeur architecture. We headed to the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden and discovered a Jazz in the Garden event right in progress - a free Friday night concert. People were everywhere: on the benches around the fountain, relaxing on the grass, drinking sangria which was sold right there. It was a great event to accidentally stumble upon.

Our next destination was minutes away - an After Hours event at the Hirshhorn Gallery ($12 per person at the entrance, the next event is on October 5, 2007, check Hirshhorn's web site).  Most of the museums in DC close early and the fact that you could go to the Hirshhorn Gallery between 8 p.m. and midnight was amazing. In my mind this goes very well with the whole idea of modern art and makes you feel like you are experiencing art in development. On the second and third levels of the museum we wondered the collections including Wolfgang Tillmans photo exhibit. Outside, in the hollow of the cylindrical building, with modern music playing a large pool of water (a fountain during the day) was beautifully illuminated. A crowd of hip young people, some very dressed up, was mingling around forming lines to the cash bars. I was very impressed by the event and wished more museums followed their steps.

To end the night we walked from Hirshhorn to the Wahington Monument, which you can see from far away. It's a beautiful sight at night with practically no people around it. The benches near the monument are curvy, made from stone and are super wide so that people can sit on both sides. They were a much needed relief for our very tired legs.

Saturday (Day 2)

In the attempt to experience the best in these two short days, we skipped breakfast in our own hotel and went literally next door to the Hotel Tabard Inn, famous for its atmosphere and wonderful restaurant - "a jewel of a downtown hotel and restaurant". The dining area outdoors was supposedly especially charming but since we had no time to wait, we settled for immediate seating at the bar. It was a great brunch anyway, the area was cozy, Victorian looking, and food was delicious.

Next, let our tour of the museums begin. Our first pick was the National Museum of Natural History. The admission was free here and in all other museums we went to. Right away we were drawn to the exhibit of dinosaurs. It was extensive and included fossil plants, mammals and sea creatures.

After dinosaurs we quickly walked through the Hall of "modern" Mammals. My most favorite was the owner of the largest ears - the desert fox. In general it was stange to be surrounded by hundreds of stuffed creatures, but it seemed that children enjoyed the exibit. The funnies moment was to catch a conversation between a mother and a small girl who wondered if pinguins with red eyes were angry.

For me the most impressive exhibit of the museum was the Hall of Geology and Minerals. Well above all expectations it was truly outstanding. It started with the collection of meteorites, continued with numerous displays of every possible mineral and gem in every possible color and shape and ended with the case showing Hope Diamond. Needless to say one of the world's largest diamonds was generating a lot of "unhealthy" interest. People were walking right by the displays with minerals and gems, which were a lot more impressive from my perspective and heading straight to the diamond. You can see in the photo in the slide show what an enormous crowd was gathered around it.

The second museum for the day was the neighboring National Gallery of Art. We went to the West Wing building. It was organized in a very confusing way, making it difficult to tell which hall you have already visited and which not. I was surprised by the absence of motion detectors around the paintings, which was compensated by a large number of mostly unfriendly museum workers.