We had an amazing staycation in Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. is one of my favorite cities in the world, but it took me a really long time to learn that. I grew up an hour from the capital of the US in Baltimore, and Washington was just a place we took field trips to and somehow ended up every so often when my father wanted nicer Iranian food than what we could get in our area. It wasn’t until I had many blessed opportunities to go to DC, fully paid for the programs I’ve done, that I began to appreciate the beauty of the city.

I originally book a weeklong trip to the city, but then I realized I honestly couldn’t afford it. Washington is pretty expensive when it comes to food, so I knew I couldn’t sustain a weeklong trip because of that. So I canceled my original AirBnB, booked a single weekend, and then invited my mother and sister to come along.

We had a cute little basement apartment in the heart of Capital Hill, which was a ten minute walk to the capital and about fifteen to the nearest subway station. I think we’re going to make this a yearly event now, except maybe in the fall because August is a tad too hot.

Here’s what we did in our two days at Washington!

Holocaust Museum, National Asian Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery

One of the highlights of the capital is the fact that almost all the public museums and landmarks are free to go to. So my mother and I took a noon Amtrak out of Baltimore and arrived in the city at 1 PM. We first ate a quick lunch at Union Station, then hopped on the subway to the Smithsonian stop. From there, we walked to our first destination: the Holocaust Museum.

My mother wanted to come here, so we spent about an hour and a half at the museum just looking around. The main floor has an exhibit on a child’s experience in the concentration camps, and the second floor has the remembrance hall along with a special exhibit on the ongoing Rohingya genocide happening in Myanmar.

My mother and I were confused wandering around, as we didn’t realize you had to take a special elevator to the main exhibit on the Holocaust, which spans four floors and is presented in chronological order of what happened in Europe.

All in all, I thought the Holocaust Museum was an important space, but my mother and I agreed that it was a one and done for us. When we went quite a few artifacts were missing for some reason, and so a lot of it was the photographs, imagery, and videos along the walls.

There were some interesting tidbits like the cars that they would bring the Jews into the camps in, as well as the Danish boat people escaped in. Really important museum, and I’m glad I went, but I wasn’t a fan considering I knew all of the history pretty well from research and wanted to see more artifacts.

We were running out of time this day and had originally planned to go to the National Gallery of Art, but instead headed over to the Asian Art Museum. I’ve been here before so I knew what to show my mother, and we did a speed run of the museum in about an hour.

The highlights for her were the Iranian art pieces like the Shahnameh, and the ancient luxury in Iran exhibit. She also enjoyed the Tibetan shrine room, which I found surprising. After Asian Art on this day, we caught an Uber home and prepared for our dinner plans at Rasika.

The next day, after my sister arrived, we went to the National Gallery of Art after our nice lunch in the Penn Quarter. We walked about twenty minutes south to get there, and spent about three hours in the museum.

I had no idea it was that massive, and we never got to the other buildings or the sculpture garden! This was one of my favorite stops though, as there as so much art to look through and a wide diversity, although it was mainly older European and American art. The architecture throughout the building is also gorgeous.

Library of Congress, the Capital, National Botanic Garden

We were staying right near the capital and could easily walk there, so on the Saturday morning, my mother and I picked up a bagel to split and drinks from Bullfrog Bagel in Capital Hill then walked to have breakfast outside Library of Congress. My sister was driving in from Baltimore and had parked at New Carrolton, so what we did was wait for her there as we ate, admiring the views of the buildings surrounding us.

When she came and we were swarmed by bees, we threw away our garbage and then were shocked to realize you had to book timed tickets to enter Library of Congress now.

So I booked 11:15 tickets because everything in the first hour of opening was completely booked, then we walked ten minutes south to the National Botanic Garden. Along the way we stopped multiple times for picture opportunities, as there are some nice sitting areas, and the walk takes you right past the Capital Building. Lots of good views in this area.

We spent about forty-five minutes taking pictures and wandering among the plants before we ended up walking back to Library of Congress. Library of Congress I had went to when I was back in high school for a field trip, and I remembered clearly how gorgeous the walls and ceilings were.

If you are aware of the architectural designs that were common in Europe, specifically in palaces and churches, that’s what the inside of LoC looks like. It’s absolutely stunning. We were in LoC for about an hour just wandering around and taking a look at the exhibits. When we went, there was an American photography one, the Gutenberg Bible, communal and activist groups in the US, and the classic one they have about Jefferson’s book collection.

Georgetown and Capital Hill

We were staying in Capital Hill, and because DC is very much a walking city (unless you want to drive, which honestly is easier in the long run but hard to find parking), my mother and I took many walks. This is a residential neighborhood outside of the main streets, and when we got dinner the first night, we ended up walking thirty minutes back home just to take in the views.

The Capital Building at sunset is gorgeous, if I will say so myself. But all in all, we had a ton of fun looking at the architecture and statues we’d pass by on our long walk home. Lots to see in the mundane parts of DC even!

We went to Georgetown with my sister on the second night. We got an Uber there because it was so much easier than hiking from Foggy Bottom, although my mother and I were down to walk. There, we ate cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcakes and then walked to the waterfront area.

A free salsa class was going on so we watched all these people dancing, which was so fun even though none of us were dancing with them. Once that was over, we walked along the water, stopped to admire the Potomac and views of the Kennedy Center, and then walked through the Georgetown Harbor area.

My sister’s foot hurt, so we got an Uber home, which gave us such nice views of the Washington Monument and the Smithsonians.

D.C.’s food scene is incredible (but expensive).

Depending on where you’re at in DC, the prices are going to be differing. We were mainly in the touristy areas, so that meant food was much pricier. I also have a tendency to eat at nicer restaurants (by my definition, nicer is ~$20 a plate), so in the two days we were there, we spent about $300 in food, Ubers, and metro. The museums and landmarks were all free because they’re federal or Smithsonians. Here’s a breakdown of where we ate:

Chopt in Union Station. A salad and wrap place that my mother and I stumbled upon when looking for something light. We ended up splitting a Santa Fe wrap and it was delicious! It tasted so fresh.
Rasika. This has been on my list for so long, and I took my mother the first night after we checked into our AirBnB. When it’s worth the hype, I mean it. We ordered the palak chaat to start, which is crispy fried spinach with spices, tomatoes, and onions. I wanted so much more of it by the end. We then got chicken biryani, plain naan, and dal makhani. The chicken biryani was coated in a bread layer and was so moist and tender. The dal was flavorful and creamy—some of the best I’ve had. Together, we were deeply impressed—they even had us eating the raita, or yogurt, with our food. And we dislike yogurt. The service was also a 10/10, but make a reservation—we were seated by the host stand and heard them telling people the restaurant was completely full at 6:30 PM.
Bullfrog Bagels. This was recommended by our AirBnB host, but it was just okay. My mother and I split a bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel, and it was so buttery it was greasy. I don’t think I’d go back for that one specifically, but might try one of their lighter bagels.
Baan Siam. This was the highest rated Asian restaurant on Yelp here, so I made us a 1:15 reservation. My mother and sister ordered the fried rices (garlic shrimp and Tom Yum), and I happily ordered the chicken kha soi. We all got Thai teas, which were pretty nice, and then we had our entrees less than five minutes later. My mother loved her Tom Yum fried rice, and I thought the kha soi was delicious and so full of flavor. The chicken was also very tender, making it easy to eat and swallow. Highly recommend Baan Siam.
Georgetown Cupcakes. We stopped here. just to see if the hype and notorious fame was legit. We waited in line for about twenty minutes to get our cupcakes. My mother ordered a classic chocolate and vanilla, I got a red velvet cupcake, and my sister got the banana split. We thought they were pretty standard cupcakes. They weren’t incredible or anything.
Belga Cafe. This was near the subway stop we had to take home, and was open early enough for us as we were leaving to go in. Honestly, the food was just okay here. I ordered the poached pear waffles and did not like them—the waffle was really hard and the pears were too rich with wine. My mother and sister ordered the strawberry waffles and they were much better. However, it was pretty pricy if we’re going to be honest. Almost $20 a waffle is steep.

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