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America: Washington (9th -> 13th)
We drove from Baltimore to Washington. Fortunately, I had a map of central Washington, so we found our next hotel, The Fairfax, without too much difficulty. The hotel was a little nicer than the Radisson and a great deal quieter, however, things like breakfast were not included in the price. Here's a picture of the room ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bateleur and I shared.
We headed out in the afternoon to look around and find some food. We ended up at Pizza Studio which produced excellent pizzas. We didn't bother with a third meal - just bought some Krispy Kremes instead which we took back to the hotel to eat.
Wednesday was much hotter (a problem that persisted for the rest of our Washington stay). We had breakfast at the hotel, which was OK, but rather pricey. After eating, having been promised that museums were air conditioned, we braved the Metro and headed for the National Air and Space Museum. This turned out to be both excellent and free. There was plenty to see: films, displays and air and space craft.
That evening, we went to seecondign and Pallavi. condign got us drinks and nibbles (a rather fine G&T in my case) and then they took us to dinner at Busboys and Poets which Pallavi described as "a very DC-as-a-city place". I had the Shrimp and Chicken Chorizo Pasta which was excellent and Bea had some sweet potato fries which we admired.
Thursday we had breakfast at Panera Bread which was essentially a bakery cafe with bagels and toasted sandwiches and free wi-fi (we liked it enough to go back Friday and Saturday). Then the duo decided that they'd had enough of the heat, butbateleur and I headed for the Phillips Collection which was three minutes from our hotel. This is "America's First Museum of Modern Art" and it is situated in the rather lovely Phillips house. It turned out to be much better than we were expecting and even included a painting I recognised - Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir. Also, it was free. Thursday evening, the duo were persuaded out for food, this time at the nearby Afterwords Cafe (a bookshop with a cafe). I had the excellent Spring Veggie Risotto and then no room for dessert.
Friday, being our last full day, we decided to head out on the Metro again, this time to the Natural History Museum. This was crowded, but good. We saw skeletons and gemstones galore. My favourite bit, though, was the butterfly area which Ryan and I paid to see.
One of the butterflies landed on Ryan.
Afterwards, we had our final dinner at the Bistro Du Coin (a French cafe). I had the main course version of Merguez grillées version Bistrot (which is Grilled spicy sausages made with lamb & beef served over couscous and Mediterranean-spiced vegetables) it was good, but over-generous on the sausage! Again, I didn't manage dessert.
Saturday we headed off to Union Station to drop off the car and catch a train to New York. Whilst air-conditioned, we were not very impressed with the station. There wasn't much seating and the business of getting the train itself involved bureaucracy, queues and much waiting around. The actual journey was decent though - we got to see a fair amount of countryside.
bateleur and I shared.We headed out in the afternoon to look around and find some food. We ended up at Pizza Studio which produced excellent pizzas. We didn't bother with a third meal - just bought some Krispy Kremes instead which we took back to the hotel to eat.
Wednesday was much hotter (a problem that persisted for the rest of our Washington stay). We had breakfast at the hotel, which was OK, but rather pricey. After eating, having been promised that museums were air conditioned, we braved the Metro and headed for the National Air and Space Museum. This turned out to be both excellent and free. There was plenty to see: films, displays and air and space craft.
That evening, we went to see
condign and Pallavi. condign got us drinks and nibbles (a rather fine G&T in my case) and then they took us to dinner at Busboys and Poets which Pallavi described as "a very DC-as-a-city place". I had the Shrimp and Chicken Chorizo Pasta which was excellent and Bea had some sweet potato fries which we admired.Thursday we had breakfast at Panera Bread which was essentially a bakery cafe with bagels and toasted sandwiches and free wi-fi (we liked it enough to go back Friday and Saturday). Then the duo decided that they'd had enough of the heat, but
bateleur and I headed for the Phillips Collection which was three minutes from our hotel. This is "America's First Museum of Modern Art" and it is situated in the rather lovely Phillips house. It turned out to be much better than we were expecting and even included a painting I recognised - Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir. Also, it was free. Thursday evening, the duo were persuaded out for food, this time at the nearby Afterwords Cafe (a bookshop with a cafe). I had the excellent Spring Veggie Risotto and then no room for dessert.Friday, being our last full day, we decided to head out on the Metro again, this time to the Natural History Museum. This was crowded, but good. We saw skeletons and gemstones galore. My favourite bit, though, was the butterfly area which Ryan and I paid to see.
One of the butterflies landed on Ryan.
Afterwards, we had our final dinner at the Bistro Du Coin (a French cafe). I had the main course version of Merguez grillées version Bistrot (which is Grilled spicy sausages made with lamb & beef served over couscous and Mediterranean-spiced vegetables) it was good, but over-generous on the sausage! Again, I didn't manage dessert.
Saturday we headed off to Union Station to drop off the car and catch a train to New York. Whilst air-conditioned, we were not very impressed with the station. There wasn't much seating and the business of getting the train itself involved bureaucracy, queues and much waiting around. The actual journey was decent though - we got to see a fair amount of countryside.