Our Neighborhood

We've been in DC for a week now and are loving it! I wanted to write a bit about where we're living. We're in the Foxhall Village/Palisades neighborhood in the Georgetown University area. It is very beautiful, full of trees and adorable brick houses that look like they came from an English countryside. Surprisingly Wade thinks they are attractive as well. He wonders how he can befriend someone who lives in one in order to analyze the inside. Most people have huge rose bushes in their front yards which are in full bloom and smell wonderful. Actually all of DC (well from what we've seen so far) is gorgeous. From the plane, we could barely see the city until we got very close to landing due the tree coverage. There seems to be far more trees here than in Minneapolis. There also many parks and trails, both nearby us and throughout the city.

I've been surprised by how nice the people are here! We seem to be striking up conversations on the street or bus with random strangers everyday. If we stop just to converse about which is the best direction to go, almost always someone stops and gives us directions. We got caught in a thunderstorm on Wednesday while waiting for the bus, and some young guy stopped and offered us a ride. We didn't accept since we didn't want to get the seats in his expensive car wet (its seems that everyone drives very nice cars in our neighborhood and downtown), but all the same it was very kind of him.

The apartment we sublet is nice and wonderfully situated. There is a bus stop right outside the front door and it actually only a 15 minute walk to the Georgetown Medical Center. We're feeling pretty established already: we have a library card, a Safeway discount card (a grocery store just a few blocks away), and a membership at the local video rental store. I'd say we have a good grasp of the bus and metro systems, and have already purchased SmartTrip cards so we don't have to carry change around. Our apartment currently doesn't have Internet, but that should be set up by the end of this week, and both the library and the University have free wireless.

One bad thing is the weather. It is so hot and humid!! I feel like I'm swimming every time I step outside. On my first day I walked up to the hospital; I was wearing a light, long sleeve, button up blouse. When I got there I was surprised to discover that I had sweat through my shirt where my elbows bend. I've never had "elbow pit" wetness before. Gross! Hopefully my body will adjust soon.This is our apartment building. Below are some of the houses in our neighborhood.

This last picture is a portion of Wisconsin Avenue, which is the cute street full of neat shops, restaurants, and bars.