Cities that are the political hubs of their country, for example Canberra, often get criticized for being boring or dead outside of the working week. But I have to admit that I not only like Canberra, I think its a beautiful city with a great culture and plenty to do. So...that brings me to Washington DC. I thought DC was fantastic. Its incredibly historic, has some of the worlds best museums and art galleries, has public spaces that are straight out of the movies, and its just generally beautiful.Washington, for those not in the know, is an old city. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land in order to create a federal district, the District of Columbia. The land that was donated included the little historic villages of Georgetown and Alexandria which are now essentially suburbs of DC. The city was founded in 1791 as the United States capital and was named in honor of the first president, George Washington. But there is no doubt its primary purpose is politics. Everything is centered around that. Restaurants and bars have quirky names that play on themes associated with Capital Hill, the National Mall runs from the Lincoln Memorial right up to Capital Hill, and its just chock full of memorials to presidents, the civil rights movement, war veterans etc. Everywhere you look, you are reminded of being in "the Capital".
The architecture is all grand and monumental and is reminiscent of Rome and other wonderful European cities where the built environment portrays power and might.
But what I particularly loved about Washington was its walkability. We didn't stop. We spent several hours each day of our visit just walking the sites, the galleries and museums and what surprised me was how compact it really is. For example, we breakfasted near the White House, walked across the Potomac to Arlington, Virginia, had lunch in Georgetown, and made it back to our hotel in the afternoon for a cool drink before heading out for some great jazz in a Colombian restaurant down the road near Capital Hill. I loved it and of course, I didn't let a moment pass where a movie scene couldn't be re-enacted! We certainly had our Forrest/Jennie moment! I would happily go back again.
