Exploring Georgetown and walking down Embassy Row

I awoke on Monday morning awake and refreshed after a very deep sleep at 5.00 a.m. A really good time, matching my normal time of waking at home. When at home I start the day with Radio 5 Live - Morning Reports and Wake up to Money before turning over to the Today programme at 6.00. Here in Washington I got up brewed a cup of coffee in the coffee machine, showered etc, avoiding the range of TV breakfast programmes here. I then headed out to St Stephen's Church which had Mass at 6.30 a.m.

After Mass I came back to the room and posted Sunday's photos on Flickr, then we left the Hotel at 8.00 a.m. We had decided that today we should explore Georgetown and the surrounding areas, as apart from M street, the main road, we had not explored its history. Georgetown was established early in the colonial period in, what was then, the province of Maryland. Some debate rages about whether Georgetown was named for King George the second, then reigning, or for the men who established it, who were also both called George. When the colonies rebelled the province of Maryland became the State of Maryland and later Georgetown was acquired by Washington to establish the federal capital district (the District of Colombia).

Our route was as per the map:


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We began by walking down to Washington Harbour and into the Georgetown Riverside Park, this is a lovely area, beside the Potomac, which was a post-industrial wasteland, but has been renovated to be a recreation facility. It was quiet as we walked along at this hour of the morning, but later in the day the area was bustling. 

At the end of the park we walked up to a sight we had read about on Trip Adviser the Steps used in the iconic film of my teen years 'The Exorcist'. They brought back memories of being 16 and pretending to be 18 to get into the film! At the top of the steps (there were 75, so lots of puffing was involved in climbing them) was 1600, Prospect Street, the house used in the same film.

From there we walked up hill to the entrance of Georgetown University a picturesque campus with lots of old buildings and pleasant lawns shaded by trees. The university also has open free wi-fi so I couldn't help checking an e-mail or two as we sat in the shade of one of the trees. (note I'm to frugal to pay roaming charges on a phone, so my connection is limited to wi-fi).

Next we walked a couple of blocks to Saxbey's Coffee where we had coffee and I had egg and cheese with sausage on a bagel and Drew had egg and cheese with bacon on an English muffin. The cafe was student focused, but the snack was just what we wanted before carrying on our journey.

We walked back down towards M street via the street where JFK lived prior to his inauguration. Then it was on to see, the former, Farmers and Mechanics Bank, now the PNC Bank. This is an iconic building often seen on material promoting Georgetown  From there we went to the Old Stone House, the oldest building in Georgetown and one of the oldest in the region. Unlike many historic sites this was a normal house, built in the 1760s, not a grand palace or government office.

Looking back at the map above, you will see that we next walked quite a distance, what the map does not reveal, is quite how steep that walk was, but it was worth it as it led to the Episcopal National Cathedral high above Georgetown  The route took us through lots of streets with lovely houses that look as if they would be expensive, but finally we got to the Cathedral at Midday, so had to wait awhile as they have a Midday service. Once that was complete we went inside and Drew started taking a whole set of photos of stained glass. We have a friend, Robin, who is a fan of stained glass, so Drew regularly provides a good selection of photos which can be seen on Flickr. I sat quietly and read about the cathedral while Drew ran around taking photos. I say quietly, but the cathedral organist, Christopher Betts, a Brit, was giving a brief recital playing Elgar's Nimrod and Widor's Toccata. 

Following the music and the 57 photos we left the cathedral and headed back down the hill. I normally like to pick a route that takes us back a different way from that from which we came. In this case it meant going down Massachusetts Avenue. Not having planned this part of the journey, I had no idea what was in store. Having left the Episcopal Cathedral we soon came to the Greek Orthodox one and the Russian Orthodox one. After these we were walking down, what I can only describe as Embassy Alley. With embassy's of a huge numbers of countries, including the UK embassy. Drew delighted in taking loads of photos of them. His way of getting some reading time, as I was left trying to match photo with embassy, I'm not sure I got them all right - check them out on Flickr starting from here.

Finally after another hour or so we came down to the level ground near Dupont Circle and found a cafe for lunch. I had ham and provolone sandwich and Drew a turkey panini with mustard, they were home-made and very tasty. The place also did large 'bowls' (as they called them) of tea - a range of 24 teas, of which I chose - China Black - perhaps the least exciting, but just perfect refreshment for this hot afternoon. From there is was back to the hotel at around 4.00 to get cool and refreshed before the evening.