Our hotel is not as good as the reviews led us to
believe. Although the price was right,
the hotel needs MAJOR renovations and has terrible insulation in the walls –
our neighbors are so noisy they woke us up last night. But, it has comfy beds, TV, and a shower, the
three things we need most after our long days of walking. So, it will do.
"That IS the superior view room that you paid extra for."
"Really?"
We did spend some time at the rooftop pool, which is on our
floor and has 2 stories of rooms surrounding its perimeter. It’s quite pretty, and refreshing after a hot
day. We also made it to Capitol Hill,
which is a spectacular sight to behold.
Since it was the first building/monument we saw, we were amazed by the
granite walls, huge statues, and gorgeous water features. It is so green here, understandable with the
high humidity.
We skipped the Intrepid
Air & Space museum in New York, so we made a point to get to the Smithsonian
version here. It was filled with
airplanes, rockets, and other weapons and vehicles from throughout
history. The size of the space shuttles
was crazy! There were dedicated rooms to
the various wars, including uniforms, airplanes, weapons, and historical
photographs of the times. We loved
it. Did you know that the Smithsonian
museums are free? Well, as Brian would
say, we’ve already paid for them with our taxes. Hmmm . . . is he Dave’s son? J
After the museum, we went back to the hotel to change for
dinner and bought tickets to the Big Bus, which is a hot-on-hop-off tour
shuttle that goes all over the city. We
caught it just outside of our hotel, and rode it to the White House drop off
location, which was just a block from the restaurant I made our reservation
for. Our day was rounded out at the Old
Ebbitt Grill, a recommendation from a colleague based in D.C., and a good
recommendation at that. The restaurant
was charming, like an old-time tavern, with great service and even better
food. I enjoyed their flagship dish –
crab cakes, Brian downed a 14-oz ribeye, and Sarah had a delicious petite
filet. We finished off with a shared crème
brulee, which was absolutely perfect. Of,
course.
After dinner, we attempted to find the White House, and eventually succeeded unknowingly walking the wrong direction around an entire city block, finally finding it just around the corner (the other way) from our restaurant. The South Lawn view was directly across from our restaurant, and we had walked right past it the first time. It’s surprisingly dark here at night! The delay was worth it, as a great thunder and lightning storm rolling in giving us a beautiful backdrop for the beautiful building.
A taxi took us back to the hotel, thankfully, since our feet
were ridiculously sore and tired. Sleep
came easily, and we were glad that our noisy neighbors must have checked out
because it was much quieter this time around.