Last Days in DC and Onward to my Hometown.

10/25/21 and 10/26/21

Greetings –

Monday, October 25, 2021

We got off to a late start, but hopped on the metro to the Unconventional Diner… where we had a great brunch sharing one savory dish and one sweet one (figure the good balances with the other). The restaurant was near the convention center, hence the name! Then we took the train to Old Alexandria and strolled both the neighborhood and the main street. Forgot how charming (and somewhat unreal) Alexandria is — precious to the core. And a total contrast to the neighborhood where we had breakfast. But it was fun… 

By the time we got back to the hotel it was really raining.. Fortunately dinner was at Lapis (an Afghani restaurant) which was only about a half mile from the hotel, so we braved the downpour and walked to the restaurant. Lapis was another great find. Let’s see if I can remember the meal – I think we had sambusa samples (spinach, shrimp, beef with mint yogurt and chutneys); an eggplant dish with some kind of tomato glaze and mint; and… oh my, I cannot remember.. but I’d highly recommend Lapis. 

Tuesday, October 26, 2021 

Right after breakfast, we headed to Georgetown – a long (4 miles?) walk that meandered through many different parts of the city from the outer edges of Adams Morgan (where we are staying) through Dupont Circle and embassies to Rock Creek Park and on to the side streets and residential areas of Georgetown (which were very decorated for Halloween). Georgetown’s commercial area seems to have expanded (??) since my last trip to DC. We stopped for a simple lunch of salad and steak tartare at a nice place that we stumbled on. As soon as we came inside the host who seemed frazzled told us that if we order one of the large salads we’d need to wait about an hour. The salad chef just walked out and now the manager was trying her hand at salad making. The host also told us all the problems of staffing up since Covid… not a new or unique story. We then set out to walk back and get to the hotel before the ominous clouds burst. Walking back was more uphill and we were a bit challenged by the wind which was pretty strong and not on our backs. But we made it… giving us a total of more than 11 miles for the day. En route, we stumbled on a demonstration at the Sudanese embassy—very calm.

After some time to relax, we headed to dinner at Mintwood – an unplanned, last minute choice. Mintwood was about three blocks from the hotel and seemed like a good option in the rain. Turned out to be quite yummy. We had sweetbread appetizers followed by a very nicely prepared fish and great veggie side dishes. We then braved the pouring rain to get back to the hotel to pack and be ready to leave in the morning.

All my best –

Fern