Alyssa's City Tour: Washington D.C.
While passing through the USA after our Korean wedding, we made a pitstop to visit my alma mater - Georgetown. Its been a few years since I've been back and I really wanted to show DJ the U.S. capital. I always rant and rave to him about D.C. and how it is one of my favorite cities. It is just so clean and manageable.
Having grown up in the tristate area, with New York as my go-to city, D.C. just seems so...normal. People are nice, smart and friendly. Also, "Washingtonians" tend to always be politically correct. While NYC is extremely diverse and people don't give a f*** what you think, DC people genuinely respect you for your differences. I find that as an interracial couple, we are looked at with more respect in D.C. and welcomed without any judgement.
The majority of my friends, classmates and colleagues work for the government, on Capitol Hill, or for an international agency and almost all of them mention that their co-workers are all from different countries. They are globally aware and open-minded. I've been living in rural Guatemala for 5 years, so friendlier smaller cities are my preference.
Since I've given this tour a lot in the past, I will break it down for you in case you ever plan to visit the city! In just 24 hours you can actually see a lot:
Day 1: Georgetown, Shopping and Waterfront Dining
Take it easy on your first day in D.C. Georgetown's campus is beautiful on its own to just take a stroll. Not to mention the entire neighborhood is lined with cute row houses and in the fall, they are perfectly decorated for the season providing a great backdrop for your photos. Of course we hit up M street to do some window shopping. You can find just about anything on M street, from vintage wears to luxury brand names. We had delicious coffee at Grace Street Coffee Roasters, walked along the canals down to the waterfront. From there you will encounter a bunch of restaurants on the water, just keep in mind they're pricey but ultimately you're paying for the view - and it's kind of worth it. You can spend the entire day walking around and enjoying Georgetown's historic neighborhood with its charming cobblestone sidewalks and peaceful tree-lined side streets.
Day 2: National Mall, Monuments and Museums
Checking out the historic monuments and famous sites is quite easy to do in just one day. The National Mall is beautifully constructed and easy to navigate. We started at the White House and made went all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial. On that route, you pass by the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. You can also easily see the Korean and Vietnam memorial sites nearby the Lincoln Memorial. Be sure to use the Circulator, if you don't have a bus pass, they accept dollars and its just $1 per person. Actually, we tried to use a $5 because we didn't have smaller change (we didn't mind losing the $2) but every Circulator driver let us ride for free so we didn't lose any money. So kind!
The bus is also so clean, has large windows so you can see clearly the sites and it stops near every major landmark. Perfect for tourists! We took it to the National Gallery to soak in some artwork. Unfortunately, we were quite surprised to find out that the audio equipment did not offer Korean. They had Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish available. Luckily the art and architecture spoke for itself.
xx
Alyssa
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