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!