Travel: A Walk through Washington D.C.

I spent a few days in Washington D.C. last week because I attended a professional development just outside of the city. Once that had finished, just after noon on Saturday, three friends from Boston and I took an Uber into the city center. We checked into our hotel room (I can highly recommend the Hilton Garden Inn on 14th Street), then we took a long walk. Having mostly sat for the three days before, we enjoyed walking around Washington D.C. even more. The city center is very organized and clean. Distances are actually much further than they seem at first glance because the buildings and blocks are giant. On Friday it had still rained cats and dogs, but on Saturday the sun was shining. We even discovered a few of the famous cherry trees that were already blossoming.

What I like about Washington D.C. is that they have those magnificent buildings that copy European architecture. Also, there is so much space. The National Mall with all its museums is really pretty. Besides, all museums there are for free (it was our plan for Sunday to visit two of them). The downside is that the city center is full of tourists. You can hardly find good coffee on the Mall – unless you go into the museums. Outside there are many food trucks, but they mostly sell unhealthy fast food.

This time we didn’t walk the whole way between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol. Instead we left that part when it got dark just after 5 p.m. because we had reserved a table for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. There was also an ice hockey game in the stadium so that all of Chinatown was full with Washington Capitals fans. After our dinner we found a little wine bar where we tried different samplers of white and red wine and sparkling wine for me. Since the week had been exhausting, we went to sleep just before 11 p.m. – so that we would be up early enough on Sunday to visit the museums.