Washington, DC is 12 square miles bordered by reality
It's been a touch too busy/stressful around the these parts. Most of it's been good, though some not so good--I guess I'll just have to focus on the good parts!
1. I spent the weekend in Washington DC visiting a friend, K. I met up with one of my BFF's, E, while I was there, and also hung out with friend S, who was staying over with K too.
I decided to try out two bus services I've never used before: Bolt Bus and DC2NY. Both were fine; they came with wireless, decent seat size, and Bolt Bus had electrical outlets while DC2NY gave everyone a free bottle of water and choice of whether to play a movie or not. Both got snagged in traffic (which was to be expected), and so my trips ended up being about 4 1/2 - 5 hours long both ways. Not the most delightful way to spend 5 hours on any given day, but I brought food, my sleep mask, and plenty of reading/watching material. I watched a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory and Boardwalk Empire on my netbook.
So I arrived in DC on Friday night, and K & S & I all went to Co Co Sala, which is a fun restaurant that features chocolate in all its food. Nice interior, trendy, with good food. I got a sort of enchilada type thing and split a Chocolate Onyx dessert, both of which were very tasty.
On Saturday, the government shutdown was averted, and K lured her friend Andrew into driving us to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and the US National Arboretum where we took a tram tour. The Aquatic Gardens weren't much to look at, unfortunately--the lilies hadn't come into season and there were some angry nesting geese about. The Arboretum was better and the tram tour was fun. I got to go to the Ikebana exhibit along with some bonsai, which I was very excited about, and see some pretty massive koi goldfish.
After the parks, we went to the Sakura Matsuri Street Festival and wandered around looking at the vendors. The festival shut down around 6, so we headed off to Kramer's Books and Afterwords to get some dessert; I shared a delicious slice of salted caramel chocolate cake with E, and then we split up. E and I went to my favorite Turkish place in DC, Ezme, and we chatted for a while before walking back to K's place. The night finished off with K, S, and I all going to Phase 1, which was playing some fun music and had some good dancing.
My last day, Sunday, we woke up early to go paddle boating on the Tidal Basin. The day was a bit overcast, but paddle boating was super fun and quite the workout. We headed off to Circa for brunch before I headed on the bus back to NY.
2. This weekend, I plan to do a whirlwind visit of Philadelphia to stay with my BFF J, who I haven't seen in a while. We should be going to the Zoo, which I haven't been to in over a decade (so my memory of it is a bit hazy). Should be good!
3. I also hope to stop by the orchid show at the NY Botanical Garden this weekend. Hopefully I'll have time/energy!
1. I spent the weekend in Washington DC visiting a friend, K. I met up with one of my BFF's, E, while I was there, and also hung out with friend S, who was staying over with K too.
I decided to try out two bus services I've never used before: Bolt Bus and DC2NY. Both were fine; they came with wireless, decent seat size, and Bolt Bus had electrical outlets while DC2NY gave everyone a free bottle of water and choice of whether to play a movie or not. Both got snagged in traffic (which was to be expected), and so my trips ended up being about 4 1/2 - 5 hours long both ways. Not the most delightful way to spend 5 hours on any given day, but I brought food, my sleep mask, and plenty of reading/watching material. I watched a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory and Boardwalk Empire on my netbook.
So I arrived in DC on Friday night, and K & S & I all went to Co Co Sala, which is a fun restaurant that features chocolate in all its food. Nice interior, trendy, with good food. I got a sort of enchilada type thing and split a Chocolate Onyx dessert, both of which were very tasty.
On Saturday, the government shutdown was averted, and K lured her friend Andrew into driving us to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and the US National Arboretum where we took a tram tour. The Aquatic Gardens weren't much to look at, unfortunately--the lilies hadn't come into season and there were some angry nesting geese about. The Arboretum was better and the tram tour was fun. I got to go to the Ikebana exhibit along with some bonsai, which I was very excited about, and see some pretty massive koi goldfish.
After the parks, we went to the Sakura Matsuri Street Festival and wandered around looking at the vendors. The festival shut down around 6, so we headed off to Kramer's Books and Afterwords to get some dessert; I shared a delicious slice of salted caramel chocolate cake with E, and then we split up. E and I went to my favorite Turkish place in DC, Ezme, and we chatted for a while before walking back to K's place. The night finished off with K, S, and I all going to Phase 1, which was playing some fun music and had some good dancing.
My last day, Sunday, we woke up early to go paddle boating on the Tidal Basin. The day was a bit overcast, but paddle boating was super fun and quite the workout. We headed off to Circa for brunch before I headed on the bus back to NY.
2. This weekend, I plan to do a whirlwind visit of Philadelphia to stay with my BFF J, who I haven't seen in a while. We should be going to the Zoo, which I haven't been to in over a decade (so my memory of it is a bit hazy). Should be good!
3. I also hope to stop by the orchid show at the NY Botanical Garden this weekend. Hopefully I'll have time/energy!