Lodging in the clouds

There has been a little 'hole' in the updates, due to a very nice visit with Lars, Anne and Niels Sofus in Washington.

Thursday we had dinner in Annapolis, and found a very friendly and nice sushi restaurant, where Sebastian even had a bowl of noodles! We slept in a wonderful king sized bed, and woke up to the most fantastic breakfast: egg, bacon, homebacked bread and muffins, juice, coffee etc. We ate a lot, but had to leave a few pieces, which Sebastian could feed to the dog Boing - both he and the dog were so thrilled!

We were planning to see a bit more of Annapolis in the morning (Friday), but as we drove off through the city we decided to move on to Washington a bit earlier. This could give us a chance to see the National Museum of Natural History on Friday afternoon - a museum that we were sure we wanted to go and see. Friday afternoon could be a bit more quiet than during the weekend - we thought! As we entered we were met by a wall of noise and thousands of visitors. Too bad, because the exhibitions seemed to be great, but due to the crowds and the noise we only stayed for a little hour. We saw some great skelettons of dinosaurs, some fantastic fossils and a little dense exhibition on orchids. Sebastian prefered a stuffed brown bear and a tiny little stuffed mouse.

We passed Capitol Hill and the White House on our way to Lars and Annes house which is in Georgetown. We went to a playground with Lars and shopped for dinner. It was just SO nice after a couple of weeks in hotels to stay in a real home, cooking some nice food and meeting up with old friends. Lars and Anne has a beautiful and charming boy, Niels Sofus, who is 5 months old. Sebastian took a great interest in him - AND his toys!

Saturday we slept in and had a cosy and relaxing morning. We managed to get out of the door with the two boys at about noon, and took a long walk through some great shopping areas in Georgetown. We had a great lunch at Dean & Deluca and spent the afternoon in shop after shop. Entering home we had - yet again - more bags AND a giant pillow globe to carry back to Europe!

Lars had to go to a formal dinner at the Embassy, so Tue cooked a nice seafood dinner for Anne and I. We had a great evening discussing politics, kids and life! 

Sunday was rain, rain, rain and rain. After a full - full (both Tue and Lars had gone to the bakery!) breakfast, we therefore decided to make Sunday a mall day, and drove off the the fifth largest 'Tysons Corner' mall in the US. It was indeed large - enormous - and with a crazy, crazy playground at the upper level (see video-clip on the front page of this site). The place was so big that we almost felt a bit constipated and despite the endless number of shops we did not buy much. Something for Sebastian of course, but not much else ;-)

We returned back to Lars and Annes place and Sebastian had a great bath-tup tour before we all enjoyed a lovely dinner and the good company of Lars, Anne and Niels Sofus (who has just started eating squased carrots - see photosection). 

Monday morning we packed up and drove off south. We had found a B & B on the internet and knew not more of it than the tempting name: 'The Guesthouse in the Clouds'. It is a wonderful place, just next to the clouds!, a little north of Charlottesville. The last mile was a 27 degree steep uphill. First gear for 10 min. The car was certainly working hard. There is a burned smell from the engine everytime we park the car at the lodge. Due to a great bargin, we have a large lodge on our own, and have just eaten a great homecooked dinner (we have a kitchen!). Tomorrow we are planning to go and see Charlottesville, and will then stay on in our 'clouds lodge' for yet another night.