Weekend get away to the national capital. Lot’s of large memorial buildings, museums and galleries to get through along the National Mall, but what was up with the pool out the front of the Lincoln memorial being drained? We did our fair share of walking around town the weather was nice enough so it was quite pleasant. Chinatown was strange, it just felt like an area designated as such so all the shops had Chinese signage it didn’t have the hustle, feel or smell of a real chinatown!
Getting there and away: Took an Amtrak train from Penn Station, NYC. Took about 3.5 hours and was painless enough you don’t have to deal with getting to the airport and get to pass through a bunch of cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore. A tad pricier than we thought, I’m sure you can get cheaper deals booking way in advance.
Accomodation: Hotel Rouge in Dupont Circle not far from downtown. Looked nice enough on the internet. Boutiquey hotel, rooms were a decent size, beds comfortable, rooms a bit scruffy in places and some naff artwork on the walls. Rooms were quite noisy from the street traffic on one side and air con units on the other. Wouldn’t stay there again.
Eats & Drinks:
Posto – good decently priced Italian bistro fare, if the bread was anything to go by i’m sure the pizza’s would have been pretty good. Nice selection of salumi and selection of wines.
Hook – Excellent seafood restaurant, the crudo are a nice way to start the meal. Everything tasted super fresh and it was nice to see a whole fish on the menu. Extensive wine list and great service and priced accordingly.
Art & Soul yep Oprah’s ex personal chef. We got some brunch in and I had my first chicken and waffles. It was rather good, not my last though not something you want to take on every weekend, even though i love fried chicken. The bloody mary came with a bunch of accompaniments including some candied bacon. Definitely play with the sweet & savoury combination’s. The garlicky pan bread almost tipped us over the carbohydrate ledge.
Jaleo – we stopped in for a snack before the long ride back to NYC. Good quality tapas the menu is lengthy but everything we got from the seafood stew, calamari were well executed.
POV Roof Terrace at the W hotel – tried to stop in on Saturday night and there was a huge line to head up there. We decided to come by after brunch Sunday and it’s a hotel bar with a view over the White House. You do get to see security agents on top of thewhich is a novelty and a panoramic view of the Washington Monuments (the obelisk).
