Destination: Washington, D.C. (Brunch Culture & Visiting the Renwick Gallery– PART 1)

“1.8 Renwick” by Janet Echelman (2015) at the Renwick Gallery (April 2025)

Last spring, my partner and I spent a quick, extended weekend in Washington, D.C. We were there to attend a wedding of my partner’s friend, so we decided to make it a little trip to sightsee and explore the US capital. I hadn’t been back to D.C. since I was a teenager, so I was interested in returning and checking out the capital and all of the country’s history and culture.

Technically, Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia, for short) is not a state, but a special-designated federal district located within the state of Virginia. Originally the land of the Piscataway and Anacostine people, D.C. was selected as the country’s capital following previous cities– New York City and Philadelphia– serving as the capital. Given that the former capitals were in US states (New York and Pennsylvania, respectively), Washington, D.C. was created as an independent entity to prevent one state from having too much power over others.

Despite its small size of 68.34 square miles (177 squared km), D.C. is home to 131 neighborhoods and almost 700,000 residents. Besides being the center of the federal government, D.C. is also home to plenty of non-profit organizations and university students (especially Georgetown University). Considering the capital is vastly-diverse, D.C. is very liberal in the middle of red states– I was surprised to see signs, even a protest, against the current government administration throughout town during my stay, which goes to show that the capital’s government does not necessarily reflect the same opinions of its people.

My partner and I took a direct flight over from Los Angeles– we boarded and took off at 9h30, and it was a smooth, uneventful four-and-a-half hour journey over. We landed into Washington Dulles International Airport at 17h00 local time– as the airport is technically in Virginia, we took the metro into D.C., which took about 45 to 50 minutes, given it was rush hour when we arrived. Soon enough, we got off at our stop, and walked over to check into our hotel, located near Georgetown.

Welcome to D.C.!

Taking the metro in

We were absolutely starving upon arrival, so we dropped off our luggage in the room and headed out to grab dinner. It was a Thursday night, and restaurants were absolutely packed– apparently, D.C. has a notable food scene and reservations are a must at many places. We didn’t have reservations, but we were able to get seated within 15 minutes.

To be honest, the food was average: I ordered a fried chicken sandwich (on the dry side) and my partner got a mushroom flatbread (decent, but way too rich). We also split a cherry blossom cheesecake, which sounded really cool since we were in town during D.C.’s cherry blossom season– however, it ended up just being a cherry cheesecake, no hint of cherry blossom whatsoever. Although just-okay, the meal did fill us up, and we were ready to crash by the time we returned to our hotel after a long day of travel.

First dinner in town

“Cherry blossom” cheesecake

As there was a three-hour time difference, it was a slight struggle to wake up the next day. However, we managed to get out of bed at 9h00 local time (6h00 in Los Angeles) to head to our brunch reservations– I’d put in reservations the night before, having learned that it was imperative to do so. Strangely, we still had to wait about 10 minutes to get seated (despite seeing many unoccupied seats in the restaurants), but in any case, we got seated and were excited to try the brunch scene in D.C., as we’d heard it was a solid one.

Unfortunately, just like our dinner the previous night, our brunch was mediocre as well. I opted for the eggs Benedict with crab cakes, which I found tasty enough, but very salty. The cayenne-cinnamon latte I had was not very good, and overall, it was pretty expensive for otherwise mid-quality. It was a shame, but at least we were full and ready to start our sightseeing of D.C. for the day.

Eggs Benedict with crab cakes and hash browns

We headed to the Renwick Gallery, one of the many Smithsonian museums throughout D.C. that offers free admission to visitors. My partner and I always appreciate free stuff, so we went in to check out the collection of decorative arts from the 19th to 21st centuries. It was a fairly-small museum, so it didn’t take more than an hour to go through the exhibits. I especially enjoyed the temporary exhibit on Black quilters, with colorful, complex, and political designs centered on “Black Lives Matter.” Very insightful!

Renwick Gallery staircase

Black quilters exhibit

“Black Lives Matter”

That concluded our first morning in D.C. For the sake of this post getting too long, I’ll save the rest of the day for the following post. Until then! 🙂

— Rebecca