In which Layla and Roz move to Washington DC

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!