We had a 10:35am train out of NYC to Washington, DC, Monday morning, July 1. It was a simple walk up 8th Ave to 33rd Street to the Moynihan Train Hall across the street from Penn Station.

We got settled in and went out for a walk and an early dinner. We were pretty hungry since we didn’t get a lunch. We made our way to the Dupont Circle neighborhood and stopped at Annie’s, an institution in these parts since 1948.

It was good food at reasonable prices. Ash had the salmon; I had a sirloin stir fry that hit the spot.

The top photo is the outside of Erick’s condo. Beautiful building from the 1800’s, typical of much of the architecture I’ve seen so far. Erick’s unit is the top floor. Notice Zeus very comfortable on the porch. This is not his first time here and he knew exactly where we were when the Lyft pulled up.

We went out for coffee Tuesday morning to Colombe, a coffeeshop a few blocks away that Ash likes to visit when he’s here.

Ash and I ventured out without Zeus around 10:30am. We walked into the main part of the city, heading to the National Mall. We passed a lot of interesting architecture and landmarks on the way. The first two photos here are of Franklin Square – the park portion of it was beautiful with the city all around it. And I snapped our first glimpses of the Capitol and Washington Monument – one on one side, one on the other – as we crossed the National Mall.

After lunch we walked a good length of the mall, almost to the National Monument, to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. All of the Smithsonian museums are free, but sometimes you need and appointment to get in. This was one of those times, and we were right on time for our 1:30pm slot. Erick had joined us at this point.

This museum is HUGE – like 7 levels – and we spent a couple of hours there and only scratched the surface on the first three starting at the bottom, which began with the beginnings of the slave trade and brought you to somewhat contemporary times as you made your way up. It’s a lot but impossible to not recognize how much – and how little – things have changed over 400 years. We have a long way to go still as a country and at this moment it feels like we’re moving backwards. But that’s another post.

After the museum, we dropped Ken off at the metro station so he could make his way back to Delaware – about a 2-hour train ride.

We started to walk back to Erick’s and made one stop for some iced tea and to visit briefly with a friend of Ash’s who he’s missed the last few trips. Then continued the trek back home. We ended up walking 9 miles this day.

What does DC have that we can’t get at home? At least not in a shop like this? Jeni’s ice cream! A favorite of mine from when I spent a lot of time in Columbus, OH, I can only get it if I want to spend a ridiculous amount of money for a pint at certain stores back home. And then only a couple of flavor options.

So we took advantage of this as we had to pass it on our way back to Erick’s. They had a nice seating area on the 2nd level which was empty except for us. We went classic: Brambleberry Crisp, Brown Butter Almond Brittle, and some buttery gooey pie thing that was great.