The next president....(Washington D.C.)

Four days in Washington: the capital that apart from being the political heart of the US has also become the creative and entrepreneurial heart after Obama came into office in 2008. I am not making this up; several American travel magazines I read during this trip are warmly recommending a visit to this city that has shifted from being cold and political to modern, vibrant and young in only four years time. While I haven't been to D.C. before, I totally agree on that atmosphere. The city is super clean, cozy, easy to get around and has lovely neighborhoods, such as historic Georgetown where you'll find the nicest houses, coffee places and shops that remind me a little bit of London. 

Of course, there are all the monuments and memorials that take an entire day to photograph but there also hundreds of (huge) museums that are all free to enter so even on a rainy day, there's absolutely no need to be bored in Washington! After we flashed our biggest smiles in front of the White House, I better understood this joke that circulated on the net right after the elections: 

Q: Why is Ann Romney so happy her husband didn't become the new US president? 

A: Because she didn't feel like moving into a smaller house. 

I expected one of the most powerful men on earth to live in a gigantic mansion but we've seen bigger ones when driving through Texas! 

We couch surfed with a couple of journalists (how very appropriate for D.C.) and promised them to take care of their two cats when they would be away for a wedding at the weekend. So for two entire days we had our own house, cooked our own meals and cleaned out Rudy and Catstein's litter boxes. Getting accustomed to sedentic life again!

And the next president of the US is... French!