Washington DC Friends
On our first morning in DC, we slept in and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, The Mayflower (1925). We love its auspicious history; presidents, prime ministers, and kings have attended meetings, state dinners, and more at the Mayflower. It was fun to stroll through the hotel’s beautiful spaces and watch the holiday decorations appear.
We hadn’t visited DC since 2021, so we were looking forward to seeing our friends Cheryl & James and Shaun & Surekha. We’ve known Cheryl, Shaun, and Surekha since college - we were all friends at Princeton Tower Club.
Cheryl had invited us to their home in Bethesda, so we took the Metro. It was a Sunday, so we had the train almost to ourselves. I remembered the loooooong Metro escalators (the tracks are very deep underground), but I had forgotten how nice the cars were. DC’s subway is so new and clean, compared to New York City’s.
Our friends surprised us with a delicious breakfast! Cheryl had made a frittata, and Shaun had brought over some freshly baked bread and homemade granola and yogurt. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone! Steve enjoyed playing with Cheryl and James’s friendly dog, Pippa.
It was a perfect day for a walk - sunny and cool - so we had a lovely walk along the canal near the house. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, stretching 180+ miles from D.C. to western Maryland, was built in 1830 and is now a National Historical Park. For nearly 100 years, the C&O canal was an important waterway for transporting coal from the Allegheny Mountains to the capital. There were 74 canal locks with resident lock keepers who operated the gates. Most of the lock houses had been swept away by floods, but a few have been restored. Cheryl and James once spent the night at Lock House 10.
It’s always a joy to spend time with these special friends. Another experience we all have in common is living abroad with our kids: Cheryl and James in Kuala Lumpur, Surekha and Shaun in Jakarta, and Steve and I in Buenos Aires. These adventures enriched our lives and shaped our world views.
