Arriving late into Washington DC’s Union station, we wandered out of the building and were met by armed police. Apparently that’s normal for the President’s back yard.
We had booked into the Capital View hostel, a short but very warm 10-minute walk from the station. I was quite excited about the hostel as hostelworld.com, where I had reserved our two-night stay, had only great things to say about the accommodation. However, when we arrived and knocked on the door, a surly young lady answered, told us we “needed a reservation” and went to slam the door in our faces. Off to a bad start, and once we had convinced her we had a reservation and made it inside the door, things did not really improve. The building was undergoing badly needed renovations so the place was a bit of a mess overall, with building materials littered around the floors, the roof caving in in the bathrooms and a smashed window in our room. The entire hostel is “shoe-free” and you are made to take off your footwear each time you enter and place them in a show cupboard, which was just bizarre.
Anyway, we had a relatively good night sleep, all things considered, and woke up early in order to try and hit up all of the amazing things Washington, DC has to offer.
We walked to the suburb of Capitol Hill in order to go to Pound café after hearing their coffee was worth the 45-minute walk. We grabbed a delicious breakfast of a jammed-packed croissant each and a large latte, or course. From there we spent the entire day wandering around sights such as the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, the Washington National Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the White House and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
Overall, Washington DC is one of the cleanest, most well-groomed and interesting cities I’ve ever travelled to. As I said, we only spent two nights in DC before heading off, but to truly experience what it has to offer, we could have easily spent more time there. As a tourist along the east coast, Washington DC is a must visit destination.
the wanderlust letters 