24 HOURS IN WASHINGTON, D.C. - Classic Meets Chic

A month ago, I visited Washington, D.C. My reason for visiting the city was to see the San Jose Sharks play the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena, but I took advantage of the visit and did a few other things while there. Today I am detailing my 24 hours in Washington, D.C.

I have been to Washington, D.C. a few different times as it is only a 4 hour drive from Pittsburgh. It is a unique city given all of the monuments and tourist attractions such as the White House and other government buildings. We drove down on a Saturday morning and arrived in the afternoon. Despite being the first weekend in January, it was a warm 60 degrees so it made touring the city a bit better (although I could have done without the rain.)

Sights

We drove straight to the area of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and parked along the street and paid at a meter. It may take some circling and driving around for a bit, but you can find street parking in this area. We were able to find a spot right beside the Statue of Albert Einstein. We walked over to the Lincoln Memorial and got some pictures of the memorial and from the steps. This area always offers a great view of the Washington Memorial and the Reflecting Pool.

We walked alongside the Reflecting Pool down towards the Washington Monument. Along the way there are plenty of other monuments, such as the Korean War Veterans Memorial. I always think this memorial is so unique compared to some of the others. Another lovely monument is the World War II monument which features a fountain. It is a bit of a walk to the Washington Monument (about a mile) but is definitely walkable. Just do yourself a favor and wear comfortable shoes and not heeled boots like me!

At this point, the rain started to pick up, so instead of continuing to walk, we took an Uber down to Capitol Hill. Here you can get close-up shots of the Capitol Building, which is such a pretty building. We started to walk towards the White House, but the rain started to get heavier so we took another Uber to our car and just headed to the hotel.

Hotel

Since the focus of our trip was the hockey game, we wanted to stay as close to the arena as possible. We stayed at the POD DC Hotel, which was a quick 3 minute walk to the arena. The POD DC Hotel is a very nice hotel with the friendliest staff I have ever encountered at a hotel. The rooms are small – very small- but that is why it is called the Pod. Since there is such small space in this area of the city, the rooms are small to account for that. We didn’t spend too much time in the room so it being small had no effect on us, but they are modern and clean and feature great views of the city through the large floor-to-ceiling windows.

The thing I loved most about the hotel is it features a great little cafe and coffee bar in the lobby called The Crimson Diner. We had breakfast there and it was very good and reasonably priced. The menu also features lunch and dinner as well as cocktails.

While I didn’t visit either, the hotel has a rooftop bar called the Crimson View which is open year-round, and it also has a whiskey bar in the basement. If you don’t feel like leaving the hotel, both of these are great options. Overall, I would highly recommend this hotel for a trip for two!

Eat and Drink

Staying near Capital One Arena and in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, there are tons of restaurants and bars nearby. I always feel bad that my travel guides usually don’t include hip and trendy restaurants featuring fine dining, but Adam and I are so easy-going and don’t require elaborate meals or trying out new cuisines. Instead, for dinner we kept it simple and sought out Shake Shack which we both love. Pittsburgh doesn’t have one so if we are ever near one, we take advantage. We wanted to grab a few drinks, so we went to the restaurant and bar Cuba Libre. This restaurant is very large and is Cuban-themed. We just sat at the bar and each had a drink. I love a good rum drink and the drinks here were fine, but not worth me seeking out again in the future.

After closing out, we then headed to Denson Liquor Bar. Denson Liquor Bar is a small, cozy bar that is down a flight of steps. The bar has a moody vibe with dim lights and a pretty illuminated bar. After waiting for a few minutes, we did get two seats at the bar. The menu has plenty of different drinks to choose from, and we both enjoyed the drinks we had, and also really enjoyed the atmosphere.

Sharks-Capitals Game

The game was the main event of our trip to D.C. I have talked about how we travel all over to see the San Jose Sharks play at every arena, and seeing them play at Capital One Arena was our 23rd arena. The arena is nice and has good sight lines, and despite an absolute crushing Sharks overtime loss, it was still good to cross another arena off of our list.