Home and the neighbourhood

Slight pause in posting as busy at work.

Thought I would post about where we're living, in case anyone's wondering... We're in a top floor flat in an apartment building built in the early 1900s, refurbished completely before we moved in - so a nice mix of old features and new fixtures. The most absurd of the latter being a built-in wine cooler! I have stocked it up with plenty of beers (and some Riesling for Nic). The main room is huge, with the kitchen open to one side and double doors out to the balcony at the end. Bedrooms a good size too, so Peck and Rusling will be very comfortable together when they come to stay. And after two months of freezing cold water in the mornings, my hunch that they plumbed the shower in wrongly has proved correct - if only I'd said something sooner...

The area we're in is called Kalorama, in northwest DC. It's handy for work (a 15 minute walk or, sadly more commonly, a five minute drive), near a Metro station, a park (Rock Creek Park, that runs all the way from downtown Washington to a long way north of here) and plenty of places for going out in the evening. 18th street in Adams Morgan starts at the other end of our street and is just lots of bars, cafes and restaurants. I was told that it was the place to go if you weren't 21, but as Billy's father found out a couple of week's ago, they are in fact strict on ID (they wouldn't let him in, which made him very happy!). Fine bar crawl territory. Going south, Dupont Circle has some slightly more swanky bars and restaurants. And going west, Woodley Park has some nice restaurants and the zoo. So pretty happy here. The other option would have been a house, further out, but I wasn't too keen on a long commute or being miles from shops, bars etc.

The Kalorama area is higher up than downtown DC, apparently built on once they had trams that could go up the hillside. And then it was popular as being less muggy than the rest of DC (for those who don't know, DC was apparently built on a swamp!).

There's more at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalorama_Heights

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/wash/dc45.htm

No, I haven't seen Clinton or Rumsfeld. For Tit Hallers (of the Peck years), you'll be pleased to know that Jari and I live about 500 yards away from each other - he and Isabel are in an apartment just the other side of the Duke Ellington Bridge. Have seen them a few times now, and Nic obviously happy to find some fun fellow-Germans.

Right, off now to try to make the TV work - we had to buy a big heavy gadget that converts US voltage to UK voltage, and I am not sure what I am doing - no more posts means I have probably electrocuted myself or shorted all the fuses.