The beauties of Washington DC

I have just returned home from US where I was one week associated with work. The destinations for work was Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina and was an interesting roadtrip on its own but nothing I will blog about. However, since I flew in to DC it was given to me to spend the weekend there before catching up with colleagues. It was a very brief visit with just two nights and I already now have to say I really must go back one day since I did not have time to go to the district Gerogetown which I have heard so much about

The nicest part about this weekend was how surprisingly nice DC was. I had no big expectations more than seeing the Whitehouse and some monuments but did not expect the city to be so welcoming. The center of DC is green, have nice sidewalks and a pleasant river floating through the city. For 7 USD it is possible to rent a citybike which can be locked in any of the many bicycle racks meant for those. It is nice, safe and easy to bike around

Usually I don´t prioritize museums when I visit a city. I just like to be in the present. But you cannot go to DC without doing so since it is home to 19 excellent museums that are for free, and many more besides those. The once that are for free are the once belonging to the so called Smithsonian institute. A cluster of world class museums stretching along a long green area, called “The National Mall”, facing US Capitol in one end and the Washington monument in the other. I visited the Natural History and Air and Space museum. But they where so large and comprehensive that I just saw bits and pieces. The air was warm and I wanted to spend as much time as possible outside, biking around day and night, watching the spectacular monuments of this friendly city.

I also had some great dining experiences, among one, a bar meal at the famous Old Ebbitt Grill. This is the place where politicians and celebrities are supposed to be hanging. It was a very social place and I was not feeling alone a single moment. On my last day I did not have much time to spend exploring. I took my bike to the Dupont Circle area where I run into an organic morning marked whereafter I had breakfast watching this bohemian distric waking up.

Finally I need to let you know why there are so many people, foremost young girls, in t-shirts with print “Rock the Mall” on my pictures. As I asked one of them I learnt that the US girl scout association was celebrating 100 years this weekend and that thousands of girls (and mums & dads) invaded DC from all over the US to celebrate this. As much as it was annoying with the enormous crowds it was a pleasure to watch this chaos.

An absolutely wonderful short weekend