Since I've been here in New York, I've actually barely gotten out of the city – mostly, of course, because there's so much to do and see here, but also because bachelor's work and other commitments just haven't left time for it. But now it was really about time and my friend and I decided to spend a long weekend in Washington, D.C. to spend.
I've been to Washington before, when I was here in New York for a week in 2014, but I still wanted to go again. One day just wasn't enough for me personally, and I felt like I didn't see that much besides the Memorials.
The White House& Monuments | Washington, D.C.
Since the hotel was directly at the White House, I wanted to go there of course directly – and this time I took tourist photos at the front and also again on the back, that sat last time temporally simply no longer in it. Since we were both pretty tired and didn't feel like walking much, I thought we would use the time to explore the city center. Already the last time I was in Washington, I noticed that there is relatively little going on, and especially if you are used to the big city New York, it is even more blatant.
Arriving in downtown Washington, I was disappointed: no cafes where you can have a drink, hardly any stores (and that, when I actually wanted to take advantage of the Memorial Day Sale…) and there was hardly anyone on the road. At some point we returned frustrated to the hotel, changed clothes and started looking for a small restaurant – and luckily we found one very fast, near the Capitol. Those who follow me on Snapchat (alexschokokamel) know that even the president drove by there (at least that's what I thought until the waitress enlightened us that there weren't enough police there for that, and besides, he was on his way to Miami).
Day 2 – National Mall& Georgetown
After we checked out a few rooftop bars in the evening (but the view wasn't so great that we wanted to accept overpriced drinks), we walked along the National Mall the next day.
Just like last time, the Lincoln Memorial was simply the most impressive for me, when you stand in front of it like this, you just feel incredibly small. In contrast to the rest of the city, there was a lot going on, even though a huge thunderstorm was expected (which somehow never came). If you've ever been to Washington, you know that it can take quite a while to walk the National Mall from Lincoln to the Capitol and back, especially if you take your time. By the way, I find it crass how many war memorials there are, actually you'd think mankind would have learned something over time…
In the afternoon I wanted to explore a part of the city that I didn't have time for last time, so I went to Georgetown. And with that we also found the stores we missed downtown! After a little bit of strolling and shopping we had a pizza for dinner and then we went back to the hotel. On the way there I had the idea that I would like to visit the National Mall in the dark, especially the Lincoln Memorial. And that was really worth it!
Arlington Cemetery& Iwo Jima Memorial
Although we were already heading back to New York around noon on Monday, we didn't want to let the morning go to waste and take advantage of the good weather once again. That's why we biked to the Iwo Jima Memorial, walked from there over the Arlington Cemetery (actually only a small part of it, because there just wasn't enough time) and finally even drove to the Pentagon. These were again things that were simply not possible at all or only very briefly in 2014 due to time constraints, and I really liked the morning.
After checking out of the hotel, we made our way to China Town, from where our bus departed, taking us back to beautiful New York.
Part 2 with more info about hotel, bus& Co will be there next week, when I hopefully have a bit more time again, because the bachelor thesis is finally finished!