Surprised By A New City | Five Days In Washington D.C.

After all of the New York blog posts excitement, it’s now time for the city other city I visited in The States. I never thought I would visit this city but yes ladies and gentlemen, I did. I am talking about Washington D.C. (obviously because you already read that in the title). Anyways, I was really surprised by this city because I didn’t know what to expect and that’s when you are easily surprised. After reading this blog post, you will definitely would like to visit Washington D.C. as well…

SATURDAY 25 JULY | DAY ONE

Our first half a day in Washington was pretty boring. Around 12:00 PM we got a train at Penn Station in New York to Union Square Station in Washington. We would arrive around 3:00 PM, which actually turned out to be 3:30 PM and we had to check in to our hotel before 4:00 PM… It was a bit of a race against the clock but we got there on time so everything was okay haha.

Our hotel was called Loews Madison and this is such a fancy hotel! I thought the hotel in New York (especially two years ago) was fancy but this was even fancier. In the photo at the bottom you can see the lobby. Do you see how much room there is to sit? And look at all of the interior stuff, how pretty! The best thing was that we actually got two rooms (!) so my brother and I had our own queen size beds *insert heart eyes emoji here*.

After checking in and getting some rest after a long train ride, we decided to get something to eat. You may think New York is expensive but Washington is definitely not cheap… Especially around The White House. So we decided to walk the other way. This is when we ended up at P Street and we had dinner at Tortilla Coast. After dinner we walked around P Street for a little bit and I actually went in to Whole Foods for the first time in my life (and it was interesting experience because it was really busy).

The thing that I immediately noticed when we walked back to the hotel were all the flower beds. In The Netherlands you see this everywhere but since we just came from New York, it was nice to see some flowers now and then.

Oh and we also saw this church called the National City Christian Church and I really liked how this looked when the sun was setting. After that we went to bed and I slept like a baby in a queen size bed all just for me.

SUNDAY 26 JULY | DAY TWO

Sunday was our first full day in Washington! We didn’t make a planning for each we would be here like we did for New York. So on Sunday we decided to walk around the National Mall. Yes, I thought it was a shopping mall at first but no. The National Mall is the space between the Capitool and Washington Monument. In between are lots of different memorials and museums.

After walking for a little bit, we ended up at the World War II Monument. In The Netherlands you learn a lot about World War II in school and I thought this was always the most interesting part of the history class. So when we were at the monument, it makes you realize for a minute how fortunate I am to not live in a country where there is a war going on.

In the photo above you see the Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument. At one end of the Reflecting Pool is the World War II Monument and at the other end is the Lincoln Memorial. The Reflecting Pool gives you the ultimate photo opportunity because you can see the Washington Monument also in the water.

We walked all the way from the World War II Memorial to Lincoln Memorial. In The Netherlands we don’t really learn a lot about the presidents of The United States but of course I had heard of Lincoln. The memorial is located in this beautiful building, which you can see below in the photo. When the enter the building you see this big, white statue of Abraham Lincoln. At the left and right side of the building are his oath and the things he accomplished while being president.

Since it was very hot and humid on Sunday, we made sure to stay in the shade most of the time. We decided to walk around the Lincoln Memorial building because there was this cool breeze. And the best thing was, at the back of the building we cooled of for a bit and also enjoyed this beautiful view.

After getting some lunch, we visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and Martin Luther King Memorial. The Martin Luther King Memorial was very impressive. It’s this strong statue of Martin Luther King looking out over Washington. This memorial is located near all of these cherry blossom trees. At the moment they weren’t blooming but I guess that would look even more beautiful. We sat down underneath some trees to stay in the shade and we looked out over the water to see the Jefferson Memorial. Unfortunately we didn’t go there because it just was too hot to function…

While walking back to our hotel, we stopped at the White House for a little bit. If you see it in movies or on television it looks big but in real life, it’s pretty small. I had to zoom a lot before you could actually see the house properly, there is so much security (like a lot) and it is also kind of hidden with all the trees in front of it. Besides all of this, I still think it is a beautiful building/house to see.

MONDAY 27 JULY | DAY THREE

Since Sunday was a day full of memorials and lots of impressions, we decided to go to Georgetown on Monday! For breakfast we went to Bean & Bite, which is actually opposite our hotel. They have the best ham and cheese croissants *insert heart emoji here* and I had my first Fuji Water here. Fuji Water is something I always see on Tumblr 0r Weheartit and now I got to try it. I am not a water expert but I liked Fuji Water a lot better than the other ones haha.

I was super excited to go to Georgetown! We actually took a bus to Georgetown, which only costs one dollar (!) per person. How cheap! Anyways, when we arrived in Georgetown, the first thing I thought was that it kind of looked like Amsterdam. If you have ever been to Amsterdam, you might see that as well.

I used to watch a lot of programs on TLC, especially cooking or food shows. This show called DC Cupcakes was one of my favorite because I love cupcakes (of course). So when we were in Georgetown, I just had to visit their store. We got at Georgetown Cupcake around 10:00 AM and there was already a short line to get cupcakes. Since we were there, we got in line and got some cupcakes!

We all got a different kind of cupcake. My mom got Red Velvet, my dad got Coffee, Cookies & Cream, my brother got Chocolate Birthday and I got Vanilla Birthday. Let me tell you, these cupcakes were delicious. They are kind of small but since I never finish a cupcake because they are so big, I actually liked this. The price isn’t bad as well, all of the cupcakes cost three dollars.

Since it was so busy in the store, we took our cupcakes with us and after walking around for a bit, we found a spot to enjoy our cupcakes. It was near the water and the building (which you can see in the photo above) was our view on the other side. I thought this building was very photogenic, don’t you think?

After finishing a delicious cupcake, I was ready to walk around some more and do some shopping. As you can see on the photos below, some of the houses there are painted in funny colors and they have these stairs. I took so many photos of just the houses, it’s ridiculous haha.

Georgetown isn’t only for shopping, there are also some sights to see. One of them is the Old Stone House. This is oldest unchanged building in Washington D.C. I think it’s funny that this building is just in the middle of Georgetown and it has been there since the 18th century.

I didn’t do a lot of damage in Georgetown but we did went in some very cute stores. One of the things my brother wanted to buy was a phone case, so we went to the Apple Store. I thought it would be funny to put up my blog on some of the computers haha. Bad ass, I know.

Two of the cute stores we found were Anthropologie and Madewell. I had seen Anthropologie in New York as well but we didn’t go in. This time we did and it was such a big store. On the top floor they had clothing items and when you went a floor down, they had all kinds of interior pieces. Of course I bought something there (oops haha), which you will see in my post on Sunday… And the photos below are from Madewell! The interior of this store was so cute and I did like their clothes but didn’t end up buying anything.

We ended our day in Georgetown at the Washington Harbour. We thought it would be bigger than it was, but it was really pretty. We walked around for a bit and saw some pretty large boats. Of course we got hungry while walking there, so we went in to a food place to get something to eat. When we wanted to leave, it started raining and thundering so hard. I had never experienced this before. It lasted for about an hour and a half…

After it stopped raining, we got the bus back to our hotel and rested there for a bit. Around dinner time we thought we should get something to eat. We went back to P Street and had dinner at Commissary. Definitely a recommendation if you are in the neighborhood.

TUESDAY 28 JULY | DAY FOUR

This would be our last full day in Washington *insert sad face emoji here*. The last couple of days my mom kept talking about wanting to go to Arlington National Cemetery because it would be good for us to see. I was curious to see what it would look like because apparently it would be really big.

After we had breakfast, we took the metro train (yes they have a metro train here) to Arlington National Cemetery. It was really really warm this day, so walking around the whole cemetery wasn’t really an option. When we got there, you could get tickets to go on a tour bus and get on or off whenever you wanted.

On this bus we heard that there would be 26 (!) funerals at Arlington today. This meant not every part of the cemetery is open to the public. One thing we really wanted to see was the changing of the guard. But we would see that at the end of the tour. Our first stop was John F. Kennedy Gravesite.

The temperature kept going up so after seeing the gravesite, we went on the bus again to the next stop. This was already the changing of the guards and the Memorial Amphitheater. The guards change every half hour during the summer but since it wasn’t time yet, we first went in to the Memorial Amphitheater. This was so beautiful. Everything was made out of marble and it was really big.

The changing of the guard all happened in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tomb guard marches up and down on the black mat and takes 21 steps each time. When he reaches the 21 step, he turns, does some sharp arm moves and does this again. Our tour guide said one of the guards put a thermometer in his suit and it got up to 50 °C…

Our bodies couldn’t really handle the heat so we decided to go back to the visitors centre and then make a plan for the rest of the day. When we got back back to the visitors centre we thought we should get the metro train back to our hotel but get out one stop earlier so we could go to Macy’s. First we got some lunch at Starbuck (basic, I know haha) and then went in to Macy’s. We didn’t stay there very long because everyone got really tired because of the hot weather. We went back to our hotel, got up to date with the world because we had WiFi and then went to P Street (again, yes) to have dinner. After that we had to pack all of our stuff again because the next day we would fly home again…

WEDNESDAY 29 JULY | DAY FIVE

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Same for this holiday. I already had a lovely time in New York and now also in Washington. Most of the time when I go on holiday, I have one day where I just feel like going home. But on this holiday I didn’t had that feeling once.

Wednesday would be another travel day but we still wanted to walk around the neighborhood for a bit because we still had a couple of hours before we had to go to the airport. At first we had breakfast at Bean & Bite again. I wish they had a place like this at home but unfortunately they don’t.

Yes, we went to the White House again but this time to the back of the building. There was a lot more security (with scary dogs) at this side and there was a fence placed before the big fence. Security much? Anyways, I liked the back of the building better than the front because it was a lot closer and it looks more like a normal type of house (even though it is the White House haha).

I think this post was full of “it was too hot to function” and “it was so warm outside”. I am sorry about that but this day was even worse haha. In New York I got used to the weather and it wasn’t that humid there. But in Washington it was already boiling hot and humid around 10:00 AM. Well, since my mom, my brother and I didn’t feel like doing anything because of the weather, we walked back to the hotel and made a stop at Starbuck to get an iced tea (they are so good!).

When we finally got to the hotel, we sat down, enjoyed our lovely iced tea and finally cooled down a bit. The funny thing was, they were filming something for a television show in the lobby. I still don’t know what it was for but I was definitely in the shot haha.

After a while my dad met up with us and we got some lunch. This time we went to the other place opposite our hotel called Peet’s. As you can see in the photo above, they have huge (and I mean HUGE) chocolate chip cookies. These were definitely enough to have for lunch.

Unfortunately it was time to go to the airport… Our taxi driver was really interested in what Europe is like, our politics and stuff like that haha. It was a funny drive to the airport. And then it was time to leave again. I had such a lovely week and a half in New York and Washington. It kind of felt like home (even though I didn’t have my bed with me). I think I will be back in the future because I want to spent more time in New York and Washington to explore the cities even better. Have you ever been to Washington D.C? Did you enjoy the photo diaries from my trip?

Love,

Neeltje