A Birthday in DC

Dave was working in Washington DC for a couple of weeks and the weekend in the middle happened to be both his birthday and prime cherry blossom season.

So it was perfect for a weekend exploring the capital city.

I arrived off the megabus bus (which is equally miserable here as in the UK - note to self) at 8pm on Friday night just in time for birthday cocktails and an amazing meal. 

The view above was the first thing you see when you leave the station.

Whilst NY was only just beginning to show signs of life after a never-ending winter in DC it felt like Spring.

Since I'd never been before we had to tick off most of the big tourist sights. 

I loved seeing all the Presidential memorials and so many familiar sights from films and, of course, The West Wing (which I am now even more desperate to re-watch)

{Lincoln Memorial and sight of Martin Luther King's speech at the March on Washington}.

{Obligatory shots with Washington Monument in background, including scaffolding}

We actually just missed peak cherry blossom bloom (and were put off by the huge crowds) but still enjoyed a walk round the famous tidal basin 

{White House! And chocolate milkshake!}

{Library of Congress}

I definitely want to go back. The things we liked most were that all the museums were free (like London and very much unlike NYC). 

We managed to fit in a couple in our quick weekend but we really want to visit in winter and just do museums. 

Also the architecture was so different from New York and definitely felt more southern. 

We loved walking around Georgetown and the Capital District looking at all the amazing houses and old historic streets. 

Winter in the The Hamptons

February is most definitely off-season in The Hamptons.

However last Saturday a few of us were desperate to get out of the city and breathe some fresh air and a blustery, wintery visit to the beach seemed like a good way to blow away the cobwebs.

Six of us (plus our newest, tiniest friend Amelie) headed to the fishing village of Sag Harbor for a walk and seafood lunch followed by a visit to the famous millionaire summer spot of East Hampton for some more chilly beach exploring and eyeing up the many seaside mansions.

The upside of February in The Hamptons is that the drive took only 90 minutes on quiet roads, we didn't have to wait for a table for lunch and we had East Hampton beach entirely to ourselves.

The downside was it started snowing pretty much as soon as we hit the beach for our walk!

{He's behind you...}

{My first time seeing snow on the beach I think!}

{No, not quite like beach weather back home in Mallloca!}

{I definitely want to see this beach again in summer}

Despite the weather we ended the day feeling pretty relaxed and had a beautiful drive home at dusk, spotting some more incredible dream homes as well as 5 or 6 deer running through the snowy forest.

Central Park in the Snow

15 months into our New York adventure we've finally had the sort of snow I expected to be  a regular occurrence here.

We were sent home from work at 3 last Friday to await blizzard Nemo from the safety and warmth of our apartment.

(View from the apartment around 11pm)

 
(Upper West Side the following morning)


On Saturday morning of course we piled on as many clothing layers as possible and headed straight out for an afternoon in Central Park.

After a seriously long walk and lots of leaping around in some pretty deep and powdery snow we headed to our new favourite local spot Jacob's Pickles to defrost with some Matzo Ball Soup.