by Layla
It’s a funny feeling to leave one home in one country and travel towards another. It was as though we were in home limbo, placeless as we flew across the Atlantic. But then, with mounting excitement, we leapt from the taxi, and breathed a sigh of relief as we found that the home we’d chosen was indeed as nice as we hoped we remembered.
A vase of flowers awaited us at the door – from Roz’s friend Ali. And then, upon opening the door, a bottle of wine on our new dining table; pale velvety sofas; a comfortable bed; furniture galore, and furthermore, our ‘float’ (i.e. cutlery, towels, toasters etc – lent to us til our own arrive by ship) nicely distributed around the flat. We quickly put away our stuff (Roz revelling in smugness at her remembering to pack hangers), and went out to buy a few essential groceries. It was the day after thanksgiving, and the official start of the Christmas season. We walked along the bustling street to the festive tones of buskers to the exceptionally posh Dean and Delucca’s deli, where we spent about a million pounds on a little bread and cheese. And walking back to our flat, we marvelled at how we could possibly live in such a posh uber-Hampstead-y area.
Tempted to fall asleep, we soon forced ourselves out of our flat again – Roz had made reservations at an Italian restaurant. It was 2 minutes from our flat and delightful, but for the screeching violinist. Unclear whether this poor man would be acceptable to people not suffering from jetlag, but in our jetlagged state, we knew we’d have to leave. Luckily two seconds down the road was Il Canale, another lovely Italian restaurant, where we shared a pizza and toasted our new life with prosecco, and propped our eyes open as long as we could!
Up ridiculously early the next day, with a brilliant blue sky, we walked down the hill, a 5 minute walk past the canal to the river. It has a nice little landscaped park, and we walked along it, past restaurants and cocktail bars, and again pinched ourselves, trying to understand if this could really be us. The walkway goes on for miles, down to Capitol Hill. But after 10 minutes or so, we popped into the local café, Baked and Wired, and then – finding it lovely but more of a coffee than a breakfast place – proceeded to yet another posh and delightful venue, Leopold’s, for a tasty first breakfast in Georgetown.
Having purchased a few bits and bobs in a fancy furniture shop, and attempted to call our parents from the dodgy internet of the local bookshop, we returned home in time to receive our online shopping from Safeway, and then headed out for a stroll along the canal, followed by J Edgar at the cinema that’s a 5 minute walk from our new flat. Nice.
After the cinema we went out for dinner at yet another fancy Italian restaurant 5 minutes from our flat. This one is favoured by celebrities and presidents, and it was delicious, if rather mad with Christmas decorations. An excellent first full day in Washington.
On Sunday, we decided to venture out of Georgetown. First, Roz went for a run along the riverside, all the way past the Washington Monument, White House, and Capitol Hill, and came back feeling pleased with herself, and told me to change my clothes as it was practically summer. Sure enough, it was t-shirt weather. We set off on a walk to the weekly lovely farmers’ market at Dupont Circle, where we bought some cheese and sampled lots of tasty things, and then to Logan Circle where we visited furniture shops and had lunch in a delightful café called Cork – the food was amazing, and we each had a ‘mimosa flight’ which means three small drinks. Pleasing. We walked home and were happy to find it wasn’t very far away.
Later, Roz went for a massage to help regain serenity in anticipation of her new job starting the following day while I did some shopping, then we went next door to Barnes and Noble (I’m in denial about it closing in December) to hear former Time editor Walter Issacson talking about his Steve Jobs biography – really interesting.
Afterwards we went home, feeling very sleepy. Roz cooked us our first dinner at home in Georgetown, and then we fought our exhaustion to walk up the hill to a wine bar we’d heard of, Bistrot Lepic. We were rewarded with a funny, quirky little bar, champagne, and cheese. And so endeth our first weekend in DC.
Today we both went to Roz’s work for a few induction things, then I left to go to a talk by one of the key players in USAID about the US government’s global health strategy, during which I was too shy to talk to people and was most irate with myself, but it was an interesting event, and they had quite a good lunch… then I went to the Social Security office to get my lost number, which will facilitate lots of utilities etc. I rewarded myself with Starbucks and their free wifi. As I pottered home, with the details of various coffee mornings for ‘spouses’ in my bag, I worried that I could get used to this. Note to self: get out to work!
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Wednesday 2 November 2011
In which Layla and Roz hunt for a new home in Georgetown
by Layla
With Roz off to work, I got my first taste of being a lady of leisure. I pottered around the hotel, then wandered down Connecticut Avenue to Dupont Circle, where I was to meet a director of global health policy at a think tank. She was lovely, though alas no jobs are available at the moment. But we had a really useful discussion about my options in DC, and some interesting mental health chat. Afterwards, somewhat confused about what to do, I gravitated to a little lunch place and read my book over salad.
I then decided to walk to Georgetown. I had scheduled three house viewings that afternoon, and I wanted to get there early to try to get a bit more of a feel for the area. Walking along M street, I turned left, and after a block, found myself crossing a bridge over the canal. The canal is quite picturesque and has a walking path that apparently extends for almost 200 miles, into Maryland. Nice. I kept walking down the hill for another couple of blocks and found myself under a flyover, and next to a road. My first instinct was 'urgh' but then I looked... to my left was a multiplex cinema! And straight across the road, there was the Potomac River, with lovely views, a boathouse, and a riverside park, here.
After pausing to read my book, I walked a bit more around Georgetown, past pretty shops and cupcake vendors, wondering if I was posh enough to live here, til it was time to view my first property of the day. Which may turn out to be the one we take! It's just off the main street, in a little courtyard, and is a new type building, rather than a traditional row house as we'd hoped. It's all white walls and shiny wooden floors, with the second bedroom being on a mezzanine, and two long, thin balconies overlooking rooftops and the pretty buildings of M street. Very modern, very nice condition. And bicycle parking. But do we want a modern flat? Do we want to live in Georgetown? I progressed to meet the wife of Roz's predecessor, who showed me their house, a nice little rowhouse, though quite dark and in less good condition (and further up the hill). Finally, having met up with Roz, we saw the third house, a bigger rowhouse, in moderately good condition, with likely fussy landlords. And then, flummoxed, we progressed to an Italian restaurant where we wrote down the pros and cons of living in Georgetown, over pizza.
Then we returned to the original flat so that Roz could see it. It still looked good, but we remained unsure. Do we want to live in Georgetown? In a modern flat? We walked back to Dupont (25 minutes), and continued to muse over G&Ts in Kramer Books, then wine and cheese in Veritas before bed...
Georgetown photos here
With Roz off to work, I got my first taste of being a lady of leisure. I pottered around the hotel, then wandered down Connecticut Avenue to Dupont Circle, where I was to meet a director of global health policy at a think tank. She was lovely, though alas no jobs are available at the moment. But we had a really useful discussion about my options in DC, and some interesting mental health chat. Afterwards, somewhat confused about what to do, I gravitated to a little lunch place and read my book over salad.
I then decided to walk to Georgetown. I had scheduled three house viewings that afternoon, and I wanted to get there early to try to get a bit more of a feel for the area. Walking along M street, I turned left, and after a block, found myself crossing a bridge over the canal. The canal is quite picturesque and has a walking path that apparently extends for almost 200 miles, into Maryland. Nice. I kept walking down the hill for another couple of blocks and found myself under a flyover, and next to a road. My first instinct was 'urgh' but then I looked... to my left was a multiplex cinema! And straight across the road, there was the Potomac River, with lovely views, a boathouse, and a riverside park, here.
After pausing to read my book, I walked a bit more around Georgetown, past pretty shops and cupcake vendors, wondering if I was posh enough to live here, til it was time to view my first property of the day. Which may turn out to be the one we take! It's just off the main street, in a little courtyard, and is a new type building, rather than a traditional row house as we'd hoped. It's all white walls and shiny wooden floors, with the second bedroom being on a mezzanine, and two long, thin balconies overlooking rooftops and the pretty buildings of M street. Very modern, very nice condition. And bicycle parking. But do we want a modern flat? Do we want to live in Georgetown? I progressed to meet the wife of Roz's predecessor, who showed me their house, a nice little rowhouse, though quite dark and in less good condition (and further up the hill). Finally, having met up with Roz, we saw the third house, a bigger rowhouse, in moderately good condition, with likely fussy landlords. And then, flummoxed, we progressed to an Italian restaurant where we wrote down the pros and cons of living in Georgetown, over pizza.
Then we returned to the original flat so that Roz could see it. It still looked good, but we remained unsure. Do we want to live in Georgetown? In a modern flat? We walked back to Dupont (25 minutes), and continued to muse over G&Ts in Kramer Books, then wine and cheese in Veritas before bed...
Georgetown photos here
Tuesday 1 November 2011
In which Roz and Layla explore DC, fail to find a home, and spend their anniversary dining with Roz's future boss
by Layla
On Sunday we were delightfully awoken by sunlight streaming in the window. We got up, put on our sturdy walking shoes (well, not really, but that would have been appropriate!) and set out to explore DC. Which is a far more pleasant occupation in the sunshine! Roz had booked brunch at a cool chocolate-themed restaurant, Coco Sala, which has prize-winning brunches. It turned out to be in the same area as yesterday's conference, but we took a long, meandering route past what we thought to be one of the apartments we were going to look at the following day, set in a lovely street, then down past the Dupont Circle area to the Logan Circle area. The houses were lovely, and the wide streets were lined by cute little cafes and suchlike local amenities. We were entirely sold on the area.
After a delicious brunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for Roz and a cheese souffle for me, we set off for more walking. We headed south to hit the famous Mall, a long stretch of grass, lined by Smithsonian museums, with Capitol Hill at one end, and the Lincoln Memorial at the other, and the Washington Monument in the middle. It felt very Washington as we strolled down the paths, avoiding the final runners in a marathon being run that day. We veered left and saw the Potomac River for the first time, glistening in the sunlight. After a stop for a drink at a sunny outdoor cafe (how bizarre to think of the previous day's snow!), we walked up through an area called Foggy Bottom (which seemed fairly dull other than its comedy name, and it being the home of several of the organisations where I hope to one day work!), and crossed over a bridge to Georgetown.
We were very intrigued to see Georgetown - it has been built up as a mythical area in our minds, very posh and picturesque, full of rich people, the streets possibly lacking in soul, but making up for it in charm, though we would not be able to afford so much as a coffee. We weren't quite sure what to expect, and I'm not sure we've really got the measure of it yet, but we walked down M Street, the main drag. Sure enough, lovely buildings, posh designer shops, a nice Barnes and Noble bookshop (where we had cookies and drinks), and Georgetown University at the bottom of the road. Roz acquired two lovely new pairs of boots, and we had a meander in a couple of mini-shopping malls.
After that, we'd hoped to view a flat but the owner cancelled, so we returned to our hotel for a rest - our feet were aching after all that walking! And then it was out again, this time to Adams Morgan. For some unknown reason I'd believed that Adams Morgan was a scary, rough neighbourhood. In fact it's arty, ethnically diverse, and quite pleasant other than being up a bit of a hill. We went to a Nepalese restaurant called Himalaya (where Roz eavesdropped on our neighbours' conversations and gained further evidence of DC being a city for clever people), and wandered around the main street before heading back to our hotel and falling asleep at a shamefully early hour.
So I only had myself to blame when I woke up resolutely at 5am! Roz eventually joined me in wakefulness, and we walked to a really delightful cafe in Adams Morgan called Tryst, where we had a 2nd wedding anniversary breakfast - bagels, yoghurt, granola. We loved it. And then we marched down the hill to meet our 'realtor', which is an estate agent. We saw four properties, all of which were no good. It was interesting to see them, but increasingly dispiriting... particularly when the one we'd rather pinned our hopes on turned out to be in a building for which the first floor was given over to a mental health clinic. We interspersed them with lunch at a brilliant political type cafe called Bus Boys and Poets at U Street, an 'up and coming', hip and edgy area of the city. Loved the cafe. So many cool venues in DC.
After our final, unsuccessful flat viewing, we trudged up the hill back to Tryst to raise our spirits with some smoothies, then headed back to the hotel to glam up and walk to Roz's new boss's house for a welcome dinner party, which was lovely. Afterwards, we popped into the Veritas wine bar near our hotel for a final anniversary glass of champagne. A lovely day.
And now Roz is off to work, and I have an appointment to meet a potential work person, and several Georgetown flat appointments... wish me luck!
On Sunday we were delightfully awoken by sunlight streaming in the window. We got up, put on our sturdy walking shoes (well, not really, but that would have been appropriate!) and set out to explore DC. Which is a far more pleasant occupation in the sunshine! Roz had booked brunch at a cool chocolate-themed restaurant, Coco Sala, which has prize-winning brunches. It turned out to be in the same area as yesterday's conference, but we took a long, meandering route past what we thought to be one of the apartments we were going to look at the following day, set in a lovely street, then down past the Dupont Circle area to the Logan Circle area. The houses were lovely, and the wide streets were lined by cute little cafes and suchlike local amenities. We were entirely sold on the area.
After a delicious brunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for Roz and a cheese souffle for me, we set off for more walking. We headed south to hit the famous Mall, a long stretch of grass, lined by Smithsonian museums, with Capitol Hill at one end, and the Lincoln Memorial at the other, and the Washington Monument in the middle. It felt very Washington as we strolled down the paths, avoiding the final runners in a marathon being run that day. We veered left and saw the Potomac River for the first time, glistening in the sunlight. After a stop for a drink at a sunny outdoor cafe (how bizarre to think of the previous day's snow!), we walked up through an area called Foggy Bottom (which seemed fairly dull other than its comedy name, and it being the home of several of the organisations where I hope to one day work!), and crossed over a bridge to Georgetown.
We were very intrigued to see Georgetown - it has been built up as a mythical area in our minds, very posh and picturesque, full of rich people, the streets possibly lacking in soul, but making up for it in charm, though we would not be able to afford so much as a coffee. We weren't quite sure what to expect, and I'm not sure we've really got the measure of it yet, but we walked down M Street, the main drag. Sure enough, lovely buildings, posh designer shops, a nice Barnes and Noble bookshop (where we had cookies and drinks), and Georgetown University at the bottom of the road. Roz acquired two lovely new pairs of boots, and we had a meander in a couple of mini-shopping malls.
After that, we'd hoped to view a flat but the owner cancelled, so we returned to our hotel for a rest - our feet were aching after all that walking! And then it was out again, this time to Adams Morgan. For some unknown reason I'd believed that Adams Morgan was a scary, rough neighbourhood. In fact it's arty, ethnically diverse, and quite pleasant other than being up a bit of a hill. We went to a Nepalese restaurant called Himalaya (where Roz eavesdropped on our neighbours' conversations and gained further evidence of DC being a city for clever people), and wandered around the main street before heading back to our hotel and falling asleep at a shamefully early hour.
So I only had myself to blame when I woke up resolutely at 5am! Roz eventually joined me in wakefulness, and we walked to a really delightful cafe in Adams Morgan called Tryst, where we had a 2nd wedding anniversary breakfast - bagels, yoghurt, granola. We loved it. And then we marched down the hill to meet our 'realtor', which is an estate agent. We saw four properties, all of which were no good. It was interesting to see them, but increasingly dispiriting... particularly when the one we'd rather pinned our hopes on turned out to be in a building for which the first floor was given over to a mental health clinic. We interspersed them with lunch at a brilliant political type cafe called Bus Boys and Poets at U Street, an 'up and coming', hip and edgy area of the city. Loved the cafe. So many cool venues in DC.
After our final, unsuccessful flat viewing, we trudged up the hill back to Tryst to raise our spirits with some smoothies, then headed back to the hotel to glam up and walk to Roz's new boss's house for a welcome dinner party, which was lovely. Afterwards, we popped into the Veritas wine bar near our hotel for a final anniversary glass of champagne. A lovely day.
And now Roz is off to work, and I have an appointment to meet a potential work person, and several Georgetown flat appointments... wish me luck!
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