3/25 We started the day in scenic Old Town Alexandria. Breakfast was at La Madeleine, which was as delicious as when Steph took me there last time I was in town. We stopped at the cute Spice and Tea Exchange, which had a lot of delicious smelling stuff. I grabbed small bags of raspberry sugar, mulling spices, and strawberry chocolate tea. We then headed to the Old Torpedo Factory. Melissa found an amazing glass artist, and we both could not help but bring home a small piece of her art.
Then it was time for high tea at the O Mansion. Steph had suggested this place because it was fun to explore. She had been a few times before and still had not found all 32 secret passageways. After tea time we set out on our adventure, helping Steph add a couple more hidden doorways to her list. The converted mansion was full of kitschy trinkets: a horder’s dream and a maid’s nightmare! Everything was for sale, and there were signs warning: “This is not a secret door, it has a handle,”or “this is not a secret passageway,” or “this is a secret door, but the room is occupied.”
Before sunset, we strolled in Georgetown near the waterfront.
We headed back to Alexandria to freshen up, before a big dinner at Hank’s OysterBar. It was delicious: from the oysters to the fried calamari to the mussels. Yum! I would definitely go again.
Happy Birthday Steph!
3/26 After breakfast at Steph’s house, we all headed into DC. She had a meeting for a few hours, so we entertained ourselves at the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum, which had a special exhibit on the Art of Video Games. Cool to see some of the portraits of Presidents past, and the inner courtyard was neat, with a modern wavy glass dome.
Melissa and I bought some delicious treats at CoCo Sala for Steph, our husbands, and labmates. We then headed to Dupont Circle again, to try to go to Looped, but failed. So instead we hopped on the Metro to meet with Steph for a late lunch at Nando’s. Back in Alexandria, we went to Steph’s favorite hot chocolate place for dessert. I felt bad leaving Steph on her bday, but she had to take Melissa to the airport, so I had dinner with Sridhar at District Commons in the Foggy Bottom area. The dinner was delicious, with warm pretzel bread and yummy mussels.
I chatted with Steph before we headed off to bed for my early flight the next morning. I miss Steph, Sridhar, and DC already!
3/27 Back at home, we met with our accountant, had late lunch/early dinner at Chez Maman (mussels for the 3rd day in a row!), and coffee with Erik in the city.
3/30 We planned a dinner date with Aileen and Gray, and finally got to meet the baby. It was nice to catch up with them, and we plan to go hiking with them in the near future.
3/31 This past weekend was pretty chill. Last minute, Maulik texted me that he was in town for a wedding, so we headed down to Fremont to have Thai food for lunch with him and his sister. It was great to catch up and hear about their recent travels.
Buddy was determined to go on a bike ride on Sunday, so we went to REI and got a bike for me! I spent the rest of the day in bed, but saved up energy for the crazy ride Buddy had in mind for Sunday. Later that afternoon, I got a special call from Barbara informing me of some HUGE news! She and Mike were engaged! So happy for her!
4/1 On Sunday we woke up for Palm Sunday mass, then had breakfast at Fat Apples (Buddy cannot seem to get enough of their waffles; I wish we could get ours to turn out so well!). Then it was time for our bike ride. We planned to go to the small overlook park at Tunnel Road near our house, as we had never found the geocache there. It was recently replaced, so we were successful this time around. Buddy, determined to find another geocache, suggested one in the Hiller Highlands: which is completely uphill. I had to walk my bike for a good part of the way, but the cache was found. The ride home was do-able, but in general the ride tired me out! After a short rest, we were off to lab to get some work done. The night ended with some House of Curries and Once Upon A Time. J Nice ending to a pretty relaxing weekend.  |
| Hiller Highland bike ride: 1.5 miles one-way, 3 miles round-trip |
No comments:
Post a Comment