Day 3: Today we're going to Washington DC

11th April 2022

I woke up again at 3:30 am. Jetlag is real 🙈 I fall asleep again for a short while, but by 5:30 am the night is over. My husband wakes up around 6:30 am and the kids sleep until 7:30 am.

At 8 am we go for breakfast and we're disappointed: plastic cutlery again, along with paper plates and a noticeably smaller selection at the buffet. They have scrambled eggs with meatballs and potatoes; porridge; waffles to make yourself; 2 types of toast with butter, honey or jam, muffins and apples.

Well, starting tomorrow we won't have breakfast anymore and we'll have to make it ourselves. I eat some scrambled eggs and a cinnamon waffle with syrup.

At 9:30 am we leave the Hampton Inn and quickly go shopping at Aldi (yes, Aldi!) next door for the next few days.

Today we're going to Washington, where we have an apartment for the next few days and we'll have to take care of ourselves.

In addition to drinks, mostly fruits and vegetables go into the shopping cart, as well as pasta and tomato sauce - that always works - and a lot of snacks like cookies and pretzels.

Shortly after 10 am we're back at the outlet because we still want to go to Nike and Adidas. Yesterday, the line at the entrance was so long that we didn't feel like waiting anymore. Unfortunately, the store opens at 11 am today, not like yesterday at 10 am. Too bad. We also didn't want to wait, so we start heading towards Washington DC.

The drive is long, we're stuck in traffic multiple times and the area is far from beautiful. You can't exactly say it's scenic.

After a quick snack stop at noon on the highway (we have French fries 🙈 and a latte macchiato), we reach Washington DC, The Wharf, around 4:30 pm. We receive the key at the reception of our apartment in the Channel Building.

After bringing our suitcases to the 12th floor and quickly inspecting the apartment, we look for a parking spot.

As I researched in advance, free parking in Washington is virtually impossible. But my husband didn't believe me and now has to drive along numerous streets just to realize that you can't park there. I told him so....

So bringing a car to Washington is a punishment. I admit that I didn't research this point well enough. It would have been wise to drop off the car at Abby's today and rent it again at the end of the week - if that were possible. As I said, I unfortunately didn't research it...

But there's nothing we can do, we now unfortunately have a car for the next few days that we won't use/can't use, so we now have to pay a lot of money to park it.

He drives completely annoyed to our 'The Wharf' parking garage. Well, the car will just stay there until Saturday now... cost of 180 $...

We explore 'The Wharf', a beautiful promenade on the Potomac, with restaurants and bars. We really like it here.

We have dinner at 'The Brighton' (they have delicious vegetarian coconut curry) and then go to bed around 8:30 pm.

Unfortunately, the two double beds in our apartment are anything but comfortable: sagging mattresses and beds that squeak and creak with every turn. How are we supposed to sleep!? The cleanliness is also not taken very seriously here. The bathrooms haven't been cleaned well and the trash from the previous tenants is still in the trash can. 🙈🤢 Okay, it will be commented with a negative review. The furnishings are also plain. We do have a dishwasher and enough tabs, but only one set of plates, NO cereal bowls or anything like that, a few glasses and ONE wine glass. A sponge, cloth, dish soap, etc. are also missing, unfortunately the landlord didn't point that out to us. Well, the dishwasher will just run twice a day 🙈

But the location of the apartment is great, right on the Wharf with many restaurants and bars. We like that. We look out the window into the courtyard with raised beds, seating areas, and a pool, and we can also see the Spy Museum.

Let's see what we'll explore around here tomorrow.