10 Things I Love About Washington, DC.
Okay, so first things first. Here’s a link to my article in the Portsmouth Herald today.
Now that’s out of the way, here’s the real point of this blog post: DC and all of the things I love about it. Okay, so everyone who knows me knows New York is my first love. But DC is firmly holding the #2 spot.
1. The most obvious thing to love about DC of course comes first. The politics and the people here who live it and breathe it, day in day out. The sense of purpose and passion for issues, candidates, and parties. The fact that whether you’re sitting in a fancy restaurant or in a McDonald’s or a Chipotle, someone near you will probably be discussing and debating politics.
2. The fact that it’s near impossible to avoid people whose opinions are so vastly different to your own. For the first time, I have been paying closer attention to why people believe the things they believe, to why people’s opinions differ from mine. It’s impossible to not learn how better to deal with that. It’s impossible to not learn to see the part of people you can identify with, no matter how differently you view the world. It makes you realize that understanding them doesn’t mean changing your own opinion. And yeah, sometimes, over some issues, you feel like you could never possibly understand, but it makes you look for something about a person than you can understand, and you can decide from that point to focus on that. The people I live with for example. There are so many different opinions in our apartment, but I’m glad. It makes things more interesting.
William Howard Taft Bridge, Connecticut Avenue
3. The William Howard Taft Bridge. This bridge is about five seconds away from our apartment in the Woodley Park area. I walk over the bridge nearly every day to get to the BU office at Dupont Circle about 25 minutes away. Whether it’s early morning, the middle of the afternoon, dusk, or dark, I love it. There’s an amazing view of the Washington Cathedral in the distance and it’s gorgeous – particularly when it’s dark and the cathedral is lit up. Under the bridge is Rock Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River. Rock Creek Drive leads into Georgetown.
4. The Smithsonian Museums. Of the 17 Smithsonian Museums in DC, I have so far been to five. The Museum of the American Indian. Museum of American Art. The National Portrait Gallery. The Natural History Museum. The American History Museum. They’re all free, and all well worth seeing. Next up on my list of Smithsonians to visit are: The National Zoo (rain stopped me when I initially planned this), The Freer Gallery of Art, The Hirshhorn, and the Air and Space Museum. The fact that all are free makes the DC museum experience very inviting, compared to some cities where you end up paying ridiculous prices to enter museums.
The Newseum, Pennsylvania Ave.
5. The Newseum. Okay, so the Newseum is not free. Not even nearly free. It’s about $22 – probably the most expensive museum fee I’ve ever heard of – but it’s worth it. It’s an amazing, amazing museum. Particularly if you’re more than a little bit interested in journalism or politics, like myself. The most memorable pieces of the museum were the Berlin Wall pieces and the 9/11 exhibit which included a 12-minute long video of journalists speaking about their experiences that day. The quote on the wall in the room:
“Three kinds of people instinctively run toward danger — firefighters, police officers and journalists.”
Library of Congress Great Hall
6. Capitol Hill – and I don’t just mean the Capitol Building itself. I mean the Supreme Court building, the House and Senate Office buildings and the Library of Congress. But speaking of the Capitol building itself, I do love that individually. I think what I love most about it are the many, many tunnels running underneath the building that connect it to the House and Senate office buildings and the Library of Congress. It’s very complicated and I can’t imagine ever getting used to it. Something I never knew until recently…there’s a ‘Capitol Subway’ – literally, mini subway trains running under the Capitol. It’s pretty cool. The Library of Congress then, is probably the most gorgeous building I’ve ever been in. It is amazing. Now that I have a reader card, I think I should spend some time there. I don’t know whether the intellectual environment would help concentration levels, or whether the amazing architecture would just completely distract me!
7. Chipotle. So this isn’t specific to DC, but I’ve only ever experienced it in DC, so I will associate it with DC. As the website says, “it’s not just a burrito, it’s a foil-wrapped, hand-crafted, local farm supporting, food culture changing, cylinder of deliciousness.” So, basically, if I could get a chicken burrito with rice, peppers, onions, salsa sauce and cheese every day, I would. Plus, free drink refills! There’s a Chipotle about three seconds from the apartment which is really inconvenient / convenient (depending on which way you look at it!)
My raspberry sorbet in Busboys & Poets
8. Busboys & Poets. Best pizza. Best raspberry sorbet I’ve ever had. Amazing atmosphere. Nice fair-trade stuff for sale in a little store by the door.
9. Woodley Park / Adams Morgan. There’s really nothing not to like about these two neighbourhoods. Adams Morgan is about a ten minute walk away from the apartment. I really haven’t done anything there except walk around taking pictures, but that in itself is interesting enough. I love all of the murals on the walls and the unique little shops and restaurants. And as for Woodley, my favourite thing here is the Marilyn Monroe mural right over the Chipotle.
10. The Motorcades. Any time I see one, I’m still like ooh look, yay, a motorcade while everyone else is just like ooh, a motorcade, get out of my way. Like today for example, I was standing at the traffic lights in Woodley waiting to cross on to the Taft bridge to go to class and a motorcade passed by me and because I’m so easily entertained by motorcades, I took this video of it:
Do they blare their sirens like that? LoL, that is so ignorant. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, sweetie. I’m thinking that perhaps a spring break road trip to DC is in order.
Chipotle is amazing. I also would eat it every day if I could.
I like your #10! Last week was, from my location, the week of motorcades. I think it’s funny watching the people who are like, “psssssh, whatev. Just some President or diplomat.”
Thanks for this – as a native, I sometimes forget-take-for-granted that this city really is pretty cool.
be careful you don’t get run over by a motorcycle! i enjoy reading about all of your discoveries and things you enjoy on “Journalitico”.
keep warm!
David