Gwendolyn

My husband and I are planning a small vacation to DC during the last full week of February. We will drive to the city, park the car until we leave, and take the Metro all around the city. We are looking for a hotel with parking, an indoor heated pool and small gym, comfortable rooms-- although they don't need to be lavish, and perhaps breakfast. We do not have children, and are therefore not looking for a "family type" of hotel. We aren't looking for something extravagant or fancy, just something clean, quiet, and reasonably priced. We are comfortable with chains. We stayed in Crystal City years ago at an Omni or Hilton (I can't remember)and that was nice... although I remember very little about proximity to the Metro. We plan on taking in all of the major sites and attractions on the mall, and would love to see perhaps a play and visit other galleries in the area as well. Ideas for this would be great, too! Also, does anyone know of any vegetarian or vegetarian friendly restaurants (not vegan-- eggs and cheese are okay) in the area that are worth checking out? Thank you in advance for all of your advice!

larry

For hotels, check out the washington monarch in the du pont area, it has a great gym and pool. I am sure others will have many thoughts on hotels (you can do a search and find many threads on this topic).
As far as restaurants, in Georgtown there is Harmony Cafe, which offers many vegetarian chinese entrees, including a vegetarian version of most traditional animal-based chinese entrees (sweet & sour chicken, moo shoo pork--everything!!!). They use TVP and its pretty interesting if you never had it before, pretty tasty also (hey--just about anything tastes great if you deep fry it). You can also find a variety of vegetarian options at diverse ethnic choices (Indian (try Bombay Palace); Ethiopian (try Red Sea); Italian (for not too pricey I like News Cafe in G'town or Luigi's Downtown); Sushi (Sakana in dupont circle has a lot of vegetarian options). More upscale selections can be found at New Heights. Nora's (focus on organic ingrediants) is also upscale and can usually be counted on for some good choices, but call to see what's on menu. For a wide variety of vegetarian choices also check out The Cheesecake Factory near the MD border, it may be a 15 minute ride from downtown but is worth it. Don't go on the weekend unless you want to wait up to an hour for a table.

Joy in VA

If you like Thai or Vietnamese food, there are several great & moderately priced restaurants on Connecticut Avenue right across the street from the Woodley Park-Zoo Metro stop. This block is near two large hotels that do lots of convention business, and there are quite a few good restaurants of varying cuisines here. I really like the Vietnamese restaurant there & eat there once or twice whenever I am on a trip to the area.

gwendolyn

I checked into some websites about the Monarch. It looks wonderful-- the price that I found was $115 a night. That seems very reasonable for a hotel of this type-- am I correct? It looked to be about 5 blocks from the closest Metro from the online maps that I pulled up. A silly question, but are they "long" blocks or "short" blocks. The site also claimed to be within walking distance of the mall... correct?? How close are they talking??Also, thanks for the veggie restaurant ideas--I'm a big fan of TVP! Your advise is getting me well on my way.

Larry

That seems to be a great price for the Monarch (on 24th St, NW, right?). The price could be a winter sale, as things don't really pick up again untilCherry Blossom time. Hey, if its bitter cold--cabs are pretty cheap, and you will have your car. The hotel is under 10 minutes to metro stops at Foggy Bottom or Dupont. It is a short walk to the mall, about ten minutes beyond Foggy Bottom Metro to the Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials. The mall then goes about 1.5 miles to the Capitol Building, with the Washigton Monmument and then Smithsonian stops along the way.

Let me know it you have other questions. enjoy!

BTW-The Johnny Rockets in Georgetown has a great veggie burger for a quick/cheap meal (I usually order 2).

lisa

Gwendolyn: If you do a search on this forum under DC using the word "vegetarian" you should bring up a very lenghthy post from 1999 -- I advised someone last year of a bunch of options and got an e-mail back from someone saying they went to a bunch of the places and liked them. Don't know about hotels with pools except in the higher price ranges.

Gwendolyn

Rats! The great rate was a government rate, it would be almost double for a mere civilian.... I'm still searching. Thanks for the tips about vegetarian eateries. Knowing places to go to in advance always make my trip so much more enjoyable.