Last month I hopped on a plane (for the first time in two years!) and flew down to Washington D.C., to visit my friend Kate. It was my first ever time in D.C., which is a little embarrassing—  by my count I’ve been to 10 European capitals, but never the capital of my 👏own 👏 country 👏—but better late than never! 

I stayed for just 48 hours, so it was something of a whirlwind trip, but I really enjoyed it. In addition to hitting the main sights, we visited the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Gallery and the Air & Space Museum, wandered through Capitol Hill and Embassy Row, and rode the Metro (which I was extremely excited about). Kate is a coffee connoisseur, so I got to sample some of the best pastries + lattes that the DC metro area has to offer—and since one of the things we bonded about when we first met in Mannheim, six years ago, was books, we checked out a handful of bookstores as well (my favorite was Capitol Hill books). All in all, a great way to spend two days, and a great first visit—and now I can’t wait to go back (hopefully there won’t be…27 years in between visits)