Jill got back from Chicago Thursday. Yesterday, I took the day off and I surprised her by taking her to the the National Gallery of Art to see the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition. A very extensive collection of his art, including many contemporaries (I didn’t know he worked with Van Gogh for two years). We got there around 1PM, and I planned on us spending 2 hours there, and maybe another hour in the museum. Nope, we were out of there by a little after 2 (including going to my favorite spot, the tunnel between the two buildings and the waterfall).
I thought it would be appropriate to go to Cafe Tolouse (with the giant mural of Aristide Bruant on it) in Adams Morgan to get some drinks. We got a cab from the Metro station (’cause we’d just missed a bus) and got there around 3, only to find they didn’t open until 6. We went to Tryst nearby to regroup. We had some beers (I had a Guiness with a shot of espresso) and split a salad.
We decided we’d like to go to the Brickskeller, because even though I’d been there twice, the line was so long I’d given up both times. We took the L2 from 18th Street to Dupont Circle, then walked to the Brick. Jill had an Old Peculier, and I had Heather Grozet Gooseberry Ale. I was going to try the Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale, but Jill had had enough for the moment.
We were hoping to try the new draft bar at the Brick, but it wouldn’t open for another two hours, so we went to their sister place, R.F.D. As usual, we both got a pint of Magic Hat #9, and I enjoyed a raspberry framboise as well. Since we were in Chinatown, we went to Tony Cheng’s Seafood Restaurant for dinner. We’d tried once before to get in (before a show at the MCI Center of course), and had given up and gone downstairs to their Mongolian restaurant. Jill got moo-shu pork and crab wontons, and I had sliced duck and egg drop soup. I was telling Jill before we got our food that I didn’t have a favorite Chinese restaurant, and after we ate, I still didn’t. It wasn’t bad, just not great.
We’d had enough of bars by then (and our feet hurt), so we headed back home – after stopping at Trader Joe’s (milk and miscellaneous) and Target (we’re tent shopping, but still can’t find a good cheap tent I can stand up in).