District of Cheap

Since the weather prevented us from visiting Philadelphia, Alex and I decided to explore DC. Though rent may be expensive around these parts, having a fun weekend does not have to be.

We started off Saturday with a quick pit stop at IKEA to pick up a few things we needed for our respective apartments. I love the deals on housing and organizational knick-knacks in the marketplace and Swedish meatballs with ligonberry sauce in their cafe. I think I am part Swedish at heart.

Next we headed to downtown to go to the National Portrait Gallery. I am not a huge art museum fan, but this is one of my favorites in the DC. And like most DC museums, it is free. The Gallery has all the famous portraits of the Presidents you find in your American history books, as well as great rotating exhibits. Currently, the Gallery has an exhibit: Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture. It was actually really cool, and my favorite was a huge portrait of Ice-T (aka Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola from Law & Order SVU). And of course there is the famous Stephen Colbert portrait up by the bathroom.

After a busy morning, we decided to cancel our dinner reservations at Zola to head back to my apartment to watch the UCLA game and cook dinner. We also took advantage of the Red Box, to rent American Gangster for $1. Good movie, great movie rental idea.

We capped off the weekend by heading to the National Cathedral. This was the first time that I had been to an Episcopal service, which was pretty close to a Catholic one. Though I was sad I missed Rev. Wallis at the 10am mass, Rev. Steven Charelston gave a powerful sermon on the religious obligation to fight global warming. So good. (more tomorrow)

Even if you do not go to a service, I highly recommend visiting the Catheral, which is the 2nd largest in the US and 6th largest world-wide. The architecture and gardens are stunning, as are the 360 degree views from the observatory level.

Finally, we went across the street to 2 Amy's, the famous Neapolitan Pizzaria officially certified by the Italian government. I had always wanted to go, and I figured out explor DC was the perfect time to try. The atmosphere was really fun and the pizza was delizioso! The pizza Alex and I shared was light and airy, with fresh ingredients. I felt like I was in Italy.

I learned that as much fun it is to explore new cities, there is always new things to explore in your own city. Especially if you live in DC, where most attractions are free.