Mr. Roth Goes to Washington

(and Mrs. Roth, too)

A break was definitely needed. A respite from work, from kids, from dishes, from the dog, from laundry. Two days with no agenda and no screen time. Yes, a break was needed, and a break we had.

Thanks to my folks, Shelley and I were able to leave our real-lives behind and visit Washington D.C. as tourists for the weekend. A fairly short drive to Shady Grove followed by a fairly short Metro ride to Dupont Circle (doors open right side), topped off with a fairly short walk had us to our hotel in plenty of time to visit the Brickskeller for a beer before taking advantage of the complimentary wine.

The gentle rain did not detract from a photowalking expedition to some monuments and memorials. Washington and Lincoln were nice, but the World War II memorial was just fantastic. Here are some shots from that night.

We dinnered at Al Tiramisu, where judging by the photos on the wall, is as popular with famous folk as is Bullock's BBQ in Durham, NC. Despite the fact that they did not ask me to pose, it was still a very good dinner.

On Saturday morning, we walked to Georgetown, stopping along the way for breakfast at Bread and Chocolate European Bakery, where I had both in the form of Pfannkuchen and hot chocolate.

We headed to the Capitol on Saturday afternoon to see where the magic happens. There were many strange and interesting protesters on the scene, exercising their rights.

There were also soft-pretzel vendors working the crowd, exercising their rights to make money off people exercising their rights. What could be more American? Not dinner, since we ate at The Dubliner Irish pub. It was then back to the Mall for some more nighttime photowalking. All together it was a great and much needed respite. More photos on Zooomr (and Shelley's Zooomr too).