I last entered the District of Columbia when I was 21 years old. Now 52 years later I’ve arrived back. The only trouble is that I can remember very little about my first visit. I know I bought a present for my parents 25th anniversary and I walked around the Lincoln Memorial, but that’s about it. Remembering or not will not affect our stay this time.
We flew out of Heathrow on Friday 6th in the morning and landed after a very smooth flight at Dulles Airport at 3:15.
Dulles has a peculiar form of transport that conducts you from the plane’s exit to the customs and immigration. You enter a bus type vehicle that can rise up or down and can be entered from either end. A driver sits at one end.
Following this little journey we queued for 45 minutes in order to be processed by the immigration system. Eventually we passed through and caught a cab to our hotel in downtown Washington, The Sofitel. Sadie and Carrie greeted us enthusiastically, jumping up and down outside the hotel entrance. We walked in and entered the bar area where Alex and Greg sat consuming a bottle of wine. After a quick drink we checked in, popped into our room and returned to the bar.
Alex had booked the restaurant across the road for dinner Bobby Van’s. Like many US establishments they provided expensive food at remarkably low quality. I didn’t want a steak or anything else on the menu so I choose 2 side dishes, a loaded baked potato and mushroom and onions. It appeared to have been cooked by someone who didn’t care at all and was underpaid. Greg unnecessarily ordered an extra bottle of wine.
We left and back in our room, Maggi fell asleep and I struggled with the eSIM options to ensure we had data roaming. Simmoptions provided excellent support. Now it works and we are out of the clutches of O2 on our US trip.
Saturday 6th and I woke at 4 am stayed awake for 1 hour and then fell back to sleep. Maggi wandering around at 6:30 nudged me into getting up.
The pair of us strolled out of the hotel to find a coffee shop on this cold and sunny morning. It didn’t take us long. A limited choice of food and poor quality of coffee we left after a very short time. Inside the store 2 guys sat there as if this place represented their shelter. The nearest guy to us stank.
After our poor breakfast we walked down to the White House and passed the Treasury building, all in a similar classical style. We then returned to the hotel where we waited for Alex etc to show up.
llThe Reid-Fullers ate their breakfast and we headed off for the African-American Museum which Greg had booked. The building officially titled The National Museum of African American History and Culture and the current building was opened by Barack Obama in 2016 and is one of the Smithsonian Museums all around central Washington.
As we entered Greg walked over to the information desk and one of the assistants collared him, and subsequently the rest of us to tell us which parts of the museum we should visit. His story lasted for 10 minutes, in which he repeated himself endless times. Just handing us a map would have been adequate but not as friendly. Many, many visitors moved around the 6 storey building, but I never felt crowded out and unable to see the exhibits. If you wanted to see everything you would need to spend several days in the museum.
We wandered around the building and ended up on the top two floors where they showed how African Americans had made major contributions to US culture, in music, the arts and sports. The underground 3 floors are dedicated to slavery and the long and very slow, steps towards some sort of equality in the US.
Lunchtime arrived. We ate and then returned to the Softiel to collect our bags and find the AirBnB where we stay for the next 4 nights. The house, located in Georgetown, squeezed between two other properties mixes the old with the new. Someone has revamped the interior relatively cheaply. We have a dining table with 4 chairs but the place is rented out for 6 people. I don’t think landlords expect their tenants to cook in the houses as the utensils they provide are pretty rudimentary.
The kids like it because it has an enormous TV and plenty of space. Maggi and I have the basement which is really another flat.
After we had settled in Greg and Alex decided to do a little shopping, I wanted to buy a new cover for my phone so I toddled off to the nearby Apple Store and Maggi stayed in looking after the kids. As I walked down the main drag in Georgetown I knew Maggi would love it. The area has more in common with a European town than most American cities. No high rise buildings, shops all together and people walking from one independent store to another. I bought an almost identical replica of my existing iPhone cover with the help of the assistant.
Came back and watched Match of the Day at which point Alex and Family left to visit a friend while we stayed in. Except we went for a walk around the neighbourhood, which as predicted, Maggi loved. Bought some stuff in the nearby Safeway store and came home.