East Coast Adventures: Washington D.C. (Part 1)

From Philadelphia, I said goodbye to Liz and Charlie (I'm sure they are missing me) and caught a bus to Washington D.C. I tried really hard to take in the scenery on the trip, I even sat right at the front for a panoramic view. But I slept for Australia, as always, and before I knew it I was in Washington D.C. I was going to stay at Hosteling International, which I'd pre-booked, but after 45 MINUTES waiting for the elevator to my top-floor room there (I am not even exaggerating, I waited with my pack on for 45 minutes before they finally agreed to see if the elevator was broken, which it was) I got a refund and went down the road. I stayed at DC Lofty, which was a really lovely hostel. So my recommendation, don't stay at Hosteling International in Washington, stay at DC Lofty.

By a stroke of luck/coincidence, my friend Reece was also in Washington D.C. at the time. Reece was in the U.S. as the Youth Ambassador for the City of Perth. If you want to read a proper blog about traveling to the U.S., I recommend you visit Reece's. Reece, I discovered, is my perfect travel buddy. Whereas I had rocked up without any plans or even ideas about what I would do there (so there's the White House, and um...), he had it all covered. I am going to put this down to the fact that he was there a few days before me, and that he had an obligation to the City of Perth to be productive with his time. Reece and I also have many shared interests including beautiful houses and gardens, nice eats and a generally leftist opinion on all topics.

I recommend making the most of the bike rentals in Washington D.C., $5 for 24 hours! We did a great night-tour of the monuments and war memorials, with Reece as my trusty guide. We also tried to bike-chase the President's motorcade but we never found the epicenter of all the sirens. So close! We ate delicious food at fancy places, visited museums, did a tour of the library and also attended a book launch (read: free lunch). A busy couple of days, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really like Washington D.C., and will be heading back there in a couple of days. I could easily pass a lot of time there.

All this productive blogging is exhausting me (I have the flu). Here's the photos...