Jaunted weekend editor Victor Ozols escaped from New York over the Labor Day holiday for a blissful getaway to Washington D.C. He recounts the hits and misses of his time in the nation's capital in this three-part series.
After getting cleaned up from our museum adventure, we walked down M Street in Georgetown. I grew up in Northern Virginia but really couldn't claim any good knowledge of DC prior to this trip, so I actually thought Georgetown was the hip place to hang out. John pointed out the preponderance of "popped-collar douchebags" in G-town, and he was right, though they didn't particularly bother us. Adams Morgan and the U Street Corridor (with places like the Black Cat) are much hipper locales. But we didn't really care, and enjoyed our stroll through Georgetown, peering into several restaurants before finally deciding to dine at Ristorante Piccolo on 31st Street. Our meal was an enjoyable disaster.
Jaunted weekend editor Victor Ozols escaped from New York over the Labor Day holiday for a blissful getaway to Washington D.C. He recounts the hits and misses of his time in the nation's capital in this three-part series.
It's crucial to have a good place to get take-out coffee near your hotel, and the Renaissance M Street had a great one, an Illy coffee bar located just off the hotel lobby. Two large caffe filtros only cost $4.18 and got us plenty fired up for a day of museums. We drank our coffees and then walked past the White House to the Mall, snapping pictures and entertaining the idea of someday leaving New York and finding a place in D.C.
Our first stop was at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. It's great that all the Smithsonian museums are free. They just check your bags for bombs and stuff, but you don't need tickets or anything, just stroll your ass right on in the museum. In New York you'd have to pay like $15 for each adult ticket. That's a major point in D.C.'s favor.
Jaunted weekend editor Victor Ozols escaped from New York over the Labor Day holiday for a blissful getaway to Washington D.C. He recounts the hits and misses of his time in the nation's capital in this three-part series.
We just got back from a weekend in Washington D.C. so I figure I should write a review in the style of those "36 Hours In ... " pieces from the New York Times Travel Section, except mine will take place over 48 hours, making Jaunted 12 hours better than the Gray Lady. We took Amtrak from Penn Station to Union Station on Friday (one-way fare = $125) and I'll skip the part where we dropped the baby off with my folks in Virginia and start with check-in at the Renaissance M Street in Washington D.C. The weather was hot, we were relieved of parental duties for two days, and felt ready to go crack-house crazy (just a metaphor: no actual crack houses involved).
Eder Rojas, a 19-year-old former Compass Airlines flight attendant accused of starting a fire in an airplane's lavatory while in flight, has slipped away from a Fargo halfway house and skipped a court appearance that was scheduled for Friday. Authorities have no idea where he is, but if there was any doubt in the court of public opinion that Rojas has a couple of screws loose in his noggin and shouldn't have a position of authority on an aircraft, it's pretty much gone now. Just like Rojas.
The charges stem from a May 7 flight from Minneapolis to Regina, during which Rojas allegedly used a lighter to set fire to some paper towels in the plane's lavatory because he was upset at having to work the route. The fire was extinguished and the plane diverted to Fargo with no injuries but plenty of white knuckles. You don't want a fire on your airplane.
It makes us wonder, were there no warning signs during his hiring and training process of his (allegedly) unstable mind? Did anybody in the chain of command get a feeling that Rojas was a little bit "off" and might not be the best fit for a job in which people's lives are on the line every day? We're 100% behind every measure that protects people from workplace bias, but in a position where so much is on the line, we'd hope that any glimmer of destructive behavior in a candidate would be addressed aggressively.
We used to go [to Six Flags] every year for high school field trips.... It's an interesting place, let's put it at that. Oh yeah, and too many people in bikinis and cut-off shorts who shouldn't be wearing bikinis and cut-off shorts.
Short week. Summer. Friday. Yeah, we're about ready to start the weekend, too. But before we head out for some adventures, we're taking a little inspiration from this awesome "photo-romain" of New York City.
Meanwhile, for those of you dreading a Saturday and Sunday in front of the computer, have no fear: Weekend Editor Victor Ozols has a special something planned for the next couple days!
To fans of the New England Patriots, a new season means a new chance to go undefeated and make Eli Manning's Boy Scout face go far, far away. For us, it's an opportunity to see if Foxboro retailers' bid to liven up the town around Gillette Stadium actually works.
The regular-season home opener for the Pats is Sunday. Since Patriot Place hasn't opened yet, if you hit our hot spots now maybe you won't need glove warmers--'cause you'll be holding hands with someone who isn't Pat Patriot!
