Read yesterday’s post here.

Day Twelve: Free umbrella anyone?

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I decided to skip my tour for today - and I’m so glad I did. I got up early - ish, because I actually fell asleep rather late - and had breakfast at my B&B. The place is quite nice, but breakfast isn’t a patch on the first place I stayed (ie. respectively, basic breakfast foods vs homemade foods), although the host here is very friendly and we chatted about the current health policy plans Obama is trying to pass. 

As I knew I was going to spend the day doing nothing, I just went back to my room and wrote up yesterday’s post. Then I fell asleep - thrilling I know, but it’s very rare of me to fall asleep whilst doing something, so that proves that yesterday’s little panic attack was the result of exhaustion and hunger: and I really do know better than to let that happen.

Anyway, by the time I woke up it was time for dinner. So I headed out to California Pizza Kitchen, a place my sister recommended. The following is mainly for her… I had a pear and gorgonzola pizza, plus a red velvet cake (I splurged). The pizza was good, although not as good as the Tomato Brothers (in Queensland) which I still have fond memories of from about 10-15 years ago.

Some interesting sculptures in gardens along the way to Dupont Circle; this is a donkey. More pics of sculptures, Dupont, and my pizza can be found on Flickr

Backtrack a little: to get to CPK is a fair walk from my B&B, about 15-20 minutes, and I pass through Dupont Circle to get there. It’s dirzzling rain, but not enough to bother me (I don’t have an umbrella or a raincoat with me). Just after I cross over the circle, I stop to give my feet a bit of a rest; just happened to stop next to a divinely looking cupcake shop, and at this point it’s pouring. I decide to sit outside at a small table under the awning, wait until I stops raining, I wait a few minutes and it doesn’t let up, when two women walk out of the cupcake shop. One of them walks up to me and offers me her small umbrella; she said someone did it for her once, so she’s ‘passing it on’, as it were. How cool! That totally makes me feel better, and I think I thanked her about three times before leaving with my free umbrella.

So yeah, I have dinner and walk back and it starts raining again. By the time I got back to my B&B my shoes (light flimsy summer shoes, totally not waterproof) are soaked through, the bottom of my pants are sopping… when I get to my room and pull out my keys, I realise that my bag is also so water-logged it’s got puddles. Luckily nothing inside the bag got too wet.

I’m really glad I didn’t do anything today. I’ve eaten proper meals - over eaten almost - had some decent sleep, and relaxed. The difference between my mood yesterday and my mood today is astronomical. 

Tomorrow is my final full day in DC/America. This time I’m sticking with the planned activities; a cruise to Mt Vernon, the home of George Washington. Should be interesting… plus, it’s my favourite activity to do whilst away from home (and will hopefully make up for missing out on ferry rides in Perth). 

Read next day’s post here.