A Year (off) In the Life: Touring Washington DC

I must say that without a GPS, Washington DC is one of, if not the most difficult cities get around in by car. I've heard people say this about Charlotte, but Charlotte's got nothing on DC as far as crazy intersections, busy round-abouts and road blocks due to motorcades or security measures. During prior visits I have either had a local friend to drive, taken cabs or the metro, or simply hoofed it from point A to point B. But with unlimited in-and-out parking at the hotel and a GPS - and of course with my fearless Gary to do the driving - we did pretty darn well.

Only being in D.C. for 24 hours led to another *postcard vacation* - this is what I like to call our trips that only last a weekend or less, but where we still manage to see and do quite a lot in a very short time. I must say that the main reason for this trip was not recreational - it was definitely for business, but lucky for me (I guess) the "business" portion of the trip lasted exactly one hour and 10 minutes, but they put me (us) up in a very nice Jr. Suite (rack rate $720.00 per night baby! Woot!) in the newly renovated executive wing at the Wash Big M Hotel.

We maximized our time by arriving early enough on Sunday for a brief 1.5 mile hike through the lovely (but cold and very damp) West End and DuPont Circle neighborhoods, had brunch at a swanky French bistro (more on that in another post), a hike back to the hotel via a different route past numerous embassies and other beautiful old buildings - this one possibly longer than 1.5 miles earlier - or at least it felt like it to my aching feet. I was definitely not wearing my smart-girl shoes!

We took a nice late afternoon disco nap, then found a perfect little Korean restaurant for a late (9:30pm on a Sunday) dinner, followed by night-time sight seeing of the White House and the Monuments.

Monday morning my meeting took place in the restaurant of the hotel where we stayed - at 8am - and was done by 9:10. Back in the room, I puttered around nervously trying to decompress from the good but stressful meeting - and finally changed out of my now famous $500 suit (it looked gorgeous by the way) and walked a block for some good coffee and a too-long-in-the-hot-box sausage biscuit. At that point we decided to pack up and leave the hotel, but still wanted to get a bit more sight-seeing in.

Despite not wanting to look like a tourist at all costs, I have no problem taking a city tour on a bus/trolley/duck/carriage, etc. - as long as there's NO CHANCE I will run into someone I know. (Kidding. Sort of.) It's the best way to get an overview of a city - in my opinion. Usually best to take a city tour at the beginning of a trip, somehow I seem to take them towards the end of a trip. This time was no different, and the city tour by topless double-decker was the last thing we did before heading out of town.

I needed a pair of walking shoes, since I unintentionally left my tennis shoes at home. I got a pair of kicky little patent-leather loafers from a shop in Union Station - where we disembarked for our 2 1/2 hour tour.