Grace St NW

Georgetown

Georgetown

Georgetown Waterfront

Pizza Pizza

Bird on the Potomac

Potomac

Georgetown Waterfront Park

Georgetown Waterfront

Water Taxi on the Potomac

Photos: Georgetown Waterfront Park

The Park is about 1/3 finished. Looking great for being a former parking lot less than three years ago. I'm sure workers an residents alike can't wait until this project is completed. So far, so good.

The $99,000 Inauguration Package and Some Predictions

Feeling like an entrepreneur? Want to make something for (almost) nothing? Don't mind feeling like an opportunist? Try selling your apartment floor for the Presidential Inauguration.

My parents and many, many of my friends want to come up to DC, but none of them can find a room, surprise. I have friends who would never visit DC because of traffic, crime, "its boring," too far, New York's cooler, too close, traffic (again), too conservative/liberal or whatever reason they could come up with. Now these same people now want to join the rest of the Western world in trying to secure tickets and lodging to the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. My parents live within driving distance, but they would like to stay in a hotel. Most hotels are sold out from here to Manassas and Baltimore (that is not a joke). But there is one package they might be interested in: The Ritz-Carleton Red, White, Blue and Green Inauguration Package. Its for the location in Georgetown, on South Street.

It costs $99,000.00. Yes, ninety nine thousand United States dollars, zero cents. What might you get for the nearly tenth of a million dollars? Well

• Four-night stay in a Presidential Suite
• First Class Round trip airline tickets
• 24-hour on-call chauffeur in luxury hybrid vehicle
• Gucci luggage set to last a lifetime
• Seating for two at the Inaugural parade
• Two tickets to one of the official Inaugural balls
• Private dinner in the Chimney Stack dining room, featuring all-organic menu and organic wine pairing (up to 8 people)
• In-room Eco-Friendly Bath and Body Works Spa Gift Basket
• Eco Lux in room amenities including organic slippers and monogrammed bath robes
• Four night stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman including round trip first class airline transfers from Washington, D. C. to Grand Cayman

Basically , the R-C put together a package centered around sustainable travel and living coupled with the fact that, oh, a certain someone will be starting a certain jobbie job that day. Other pieces of the puzzle include TerraPasses to offset the carbon omissions incurred during your airplane flights, a post-inauguration vacation on Grand Cayman Island, and a "sustainable" custom set of luggage by Gucci. I have no idea what sustainable luggage looks like, but I hope they aren't made of leather! Maybe they are made of recycled old luggage or something. You also get chauffeured around town in a hybrid vehicle all week and two tickets to an inaugural ball and the inaugural parade. I'm guessing the parent company to R-C has made a few political donations, at least enough to have guaranteed tickets to the parade and a ball.

It has been virtually impossible for the normal people to get a hold of tickets. I've tried calling our Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton and my parents tried their Representative, neither with any luck. There are 250,000 official tickets available, each and everyone to be distributed through the Inaugural Committee and members if the United States Congress. My best guess is that they'll provide another venue--the Mall, Verizon Center, Nationals Park, etc-- in order to accommodate the masses with live feed video screens. I predict more than 1.5 million visitors for the inauguration. I also predict a new Metro rail daily ridership record, surpassing the 854,638 riders set on July 11, 2008.

DC will be packed and buzzing more than usual during Inauguration week. Its also likely to be in a deep freeze. I attended events at the 2005 Inauguration and most of the week was spent in sub freezing, icy conditions. Outside events were nearly unbearable, leaving participants numb from head to toe between the low temperatures and the listless presenters playing mostly to tele cameras and not to the crowds.

My floor may have a few bodies on it that January week. I am open to hosting my friends, fly by night DC fans or no. We will have a good time and I can try to show them that we in DC are indeed always cool, new President or not. Obviously, I'd never charge anyone! Are you hosting anyone? Are you renting your place out? Are you getting out of town to avoid the crowds? Just curious.

Out and About: House of Sweden

Its in Georgetown. Beautiful space. Even better programming. Good people watching. I recently saw Theresa Andersson, Tobias Froberg and Ane Brun there. Goodness. Great performances in a great performance space. The HOS occasionally showcases Swedish artists/musicians and lectures on various topics related to the Scandinavian nation. A nice little Washington-insider gem. 2900 K St NW

Georgetown from the Kennedy Center

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal: Georgetown

Coffee/Riot: Baked & Wired

Coffee shops, cafes, whatever you prefer to call them, DC has its fair share of spots that serve up the caffeinated, addictive beverage in some form or another. Some are bakeries, others more restaurant-like, and others are self-identified coffee shops. I'll take on the dubious task of chronicling some of my favorite coffee spots in the city. Of course its not a dubious task, but in order to really examine the reasons behind their greatness (as decided by me) of any specific location, I'll deliberately visit each one, including a couple I've never been too, on a quest to uncover what's so unique and cool about them. If you have suggestions, well, suggest away. I know DC residents are sometimes fiercely loyal to their favorite coffee joints, so I'll mostly be heaping praise, and being posi. On the other hand, I appreciate coffee of varying quality, so all you purist can start your own blog. Previous Coffee/Riot posts: Sticky Fingers.

Baked & Wired

My long time favorite Georgetown coffee spot, Baked & Wired is one of the few bearable places to sit and relax on the busy M Street corridor. Located on the quiet Thomas Jefferson Street NW, B & W serves up some of the best coffee I've had in the city. A sign near the cappuccino machine reads: "Yo! It takes time to prepare a quality drink... thanks for understanding." Hear, hear. They always come through on the quality part. And I've never waited an extraordinary amount of time for a drink. The new set up has you ordering your drinks at the coffee bar and crossing a threshold to pay for the drink. This, of course after you've had a chance to peruse the baked offerings.

Like Sticky Fingers, B & W is as known for its baked goods as it is for the coffee. While I drank my unbelievably savory soy latte at the small bar, customer after customer entered and tried to decide which cupcakes to take home. One woman expressed that she deserved a strawberry cupcake after a tough weekend; just one though. Another ordered 5 red velvet (which was the run away favorite that day) for a special occasion, I think a birthday. Mostly everyone who came in appeared to be a regular, although a few, unawares-looking shoppers stopped in and ordered coffee. B & W shares space with a design firm. The bakery recently expanded though and the share is less obvious. Looks and feels better for the change. There are now a few couches and more original art hanging on the walls, with the new bar making it even easier to hang out and read, study, or contemplate the art without being bothered. And like any coffee shop, the staff can make or break a visit. The staff at B & W are pretty awesome. I was treated very well, having my stupid questions about the mango ceylon tea answered nicely (it IS caffeinated). And every indecisive cupcake buyer was treated with patience and non-pretentiousness. A relaxing and simple visit made complete by the quality of the offerings and setting. Thumbs up.

Baked & Wired is located at 1052 Thomas Jefferson Street NW. Its open 7 days a week.