Dan arrived in Arlington at about 7pm on Friday night and we walked down the road to Clarendon to find a place for dinner. Much to my delight, Dan had never been to The Cheesecake Factory (my favorite restaurant in the whole world!), so we thought it our duty to take him there, so he can at least say he has been there once. One of my favorite things to do, now that we live in "the city" is to walk to and from our dates--whether they be out to dinner, or to the bookstore--there is something so great about being able to walk (especially with the great weather we've been having) and it sort of prolongs the event of the evening...you can walk as slowly or as quickly as you like, you can hold hands if you want to, and it gives you a lot more time to chat than you would have if you were to drive both ways. Anyway, when we got home from dinner, we watched a movie and then went to bed.
The next morning, the boys tried to fix our Tivo--something is amiss with our Internet connection, or something, so we haven't been able to get it working yet. This took a little longer than any of us planned on, and by the time that was done (still not fixed) and we were ready to face the day, it was noon! We didn't let this stop us from seeing and doing as much as we could--and we headed out and took the Metro down to Union Station in DC for lunch.
I LOVE Union Station--I don't know what it is about it...it could be the amazing architecture, or the fun shops and yummy restaurants, but I could really stay there all day long and be totally content. But, I don't think our guest would've liked that, so we pressed on.
After lunch, we walked from Union Station up to the Capitol. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go inside, but it was still pretty cool to walk around the grounds and look out over the lawn to see the Washington Monument and the rest of DC. The Capitol actually looks MUCH bigger when you are on the front steps than it does when you see it even from a few blocks away. When we had enough at the Capitol, we walked up the hill to the Library of Congress. We walked in and found that the last tour of the day was going to start in just a few minutes; because it was only 35 minutes long, and it was free, we decided to do it. This place was UNBELIEVABLE! The architecture was phenomenal, the artwork and sculptures inside were fantastic, and there were mosaics on the ceilings that were absolutely amazing! We had no idea we were walking into such a find! The tour turned out to be a little longer than 30 minutes, so we ended up bailing and cruised the exhibits we wanted to see on our own.
My favorite exhibit was called "Enduring Outrage" and featured political cartoons by HERBLOCK. Some of them were pretty old, and I was too young to understand the political history of what was going on, but it was still really interesting. We spent a little over and hour inside and walked away totally impressed--I decided that this would be a must-see for future visitors.
After the Library of Congress, we got back on the Metro and headed to Georgetown. We walked down M Street--another hot spot near DC that has every store you could ever want to go to! Boutiques, Bistros, Cafes, Antique Stores, Mainstream Shops--you name it, M Street's got it! Unfortunately, we were on a time crunch to make our next activity, so we didn't have time to go into these amazing stores. We walked down to the docks, where we boarded a water taxi that took us down the Potomac River from Georgetown to Old Towne Alexandria. This was what Michael had been looking forward to ALL DAY! The taxi took about 45 minutes and it really did offer spectacular views of the city--a much different perspective than you normally get. There was an automated tour guide who would give us snip-its of info as we passed by certain landmarks. However, we found that the better way to do the water taxi is to take it from Alexandria to Georgetown because as we passed by the monuments and landmarks that we wanted to learn about most, the tour guide would say, "I will have much more to say about this on the return trip." (We were only one-way passengers.) Boo.
When we got to Alexandria, the sun was just starting to set and we decided to have a quick dinner before we headed home, so that Dan could get on the road at a reasonable hour. We found a little Italian bistro and had some yummy pizza and then got back on the Metro and headed home. By the time we made it back to our apartment, we were completely exhausted! I pretty much hit the couch and didn't move again (until Mike woke me up to tell me it was time for bed).
So, guys, all this to say, if you come to visit, we will do our best to show you a good time!
4 comments:
Me me I'm a future visitor!!!
About the Tivo- do you guys have a land phone line? Because Tivo dosn't work without it. You don't have to have internet but you do need a phone line. You guys probably have that covered, but it was just a thought. O and you called them to get it going too right?
O yeah, and driving sucks. I could not be more envious that you guys get to walk or take the subway on dates. Ben and I dicussed this the other day, we are jealous of you guys. Now is the time in life to do it ya know?
sounds like an amazing time. when can I come?
Teesa--you come whenever you want!
Heid--no, we don't have a land line, but Mike is convinced that we can just use the Internet. Men! That is going to be his project this weekend (he doesn't know it yet!) And, you are right, now is the perfect time for Mike and I to live in the city--love it!
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