October in DC has been delightful so far.
Kicking it off, we enjoyed two shows at the Bentzen Ball comedy festival - most entertaining, and my first time in the lovely-but-freezing Lincoln Theatre. I notice SpeakeasyDC is having their annual Top Shelf event there in January - a selection of their top stories of the year. Tickets are on sale now. Anyway, I really enjoyed lots of the Bentzen Ball comedians and considered it an excellent start to the month. DC is getting increasingly good at comedy.
Another excellent start was the Australian Embassy's winemakers event, which I was lucky to be invited to. Many excellent Australian wines were enjoyed.
We also made it to the first night of Absolutely (perhaps) at the Source Theatre - the first time I've seen that space fully decked out with an elaborate set. I think I'm the wrong person to review farce-style plays as I'm not generally a fan. I will say this play, about extracting truth from gossip was entertaining, in a silly sort of way. On the other hand, A Streetcar Named Desire was more substantial and high quality, though less cheerful. We really love National Theatre Live, screened from London. Look out for Frankenstein, Skylight and Of Mice And Men showing soon - they all got great reviews in London and the DC experience is delightful. And I enjoyed the British movie One Chance, about a boy from a poor family who becomes an oprah singer. Heartwarming and amusing too.
October of course brings the fun of walking along the streets of Georgetown to admire the impressive Halloween house decor (I particularly recommend N and O between Rose Park and Wisconsin... And the house at 31st and Q).
And your post-Halloween-decor-admiring jaunt is about to be enhanced by coffeeshops - After Peacock is due to reopen any day now, and so is the brand new social good business, Dog Tag Bakery, which looks (from me pressing my nose against the window last weekend) like it could become one of my favorite local spots in Georgetown.
In terms of walks, we've been venturing further afield. We did more of the Rock Creek Valley Trail which is a truly beautiful 5 mile-ish trail and a great way to enjoy the fall leaves. Again, we took an Uber up to Boundary Bridge, then walked down to Tryst in Adams Morgan for a well-earned and delightful lunch. We also got a friend to drive us to the slightly obscure Mason Neck State Park. Not only can you kayak (which we didn't), you can do an easy and charming few miles of hiking, including around the extremely scenic peninsula jutting into the Potomac, including a lovely boardwalk area. We had a very pleasant 90 minute walk. And Dumbarton Oaks is looking particularly beautiful with some amazing flowers, and the Lovers Lane pond has a new sound installation.
What's coming up and sounds cool this week
Sat 18 and Sun 19th Oct - it's the Decade of Docs in Our City film festival.
Tue 21st Oct - You're spoilt for choice tonight. See Art Spiegelman's Wordless at the Lisner Auditorium which sounds quirky and fascinating. Or hear DC's top chefs tell stories at National Geographic. Or head to Ice Cream Jubilee at Navy Yard for ice cream tasting and a talk on the science of ice cream.
Wed 22nd Oct - There's gypsy jazz, storytelling, fiction and painting at this month's Little Salon, or else Meg Wolitzer, who wrote The Interestings, which I really enjoyed, is talking books at the Jewish Literature Festival.
Sat 25th Oct - If you're looking for a genuinely hipster-pretentious/arthouse-cool Halloween-esque entertainment you could do worse than Not So Silent Cinema with their classic German-Expressionist horror film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, complete with new score.
Mon 27th Oct - Ri Ra in Georgetown has started doing free Irish-themed book events. Tonight it's Eimear McBride.
Kicking it off, we enjoyed two shows at the Bentzen Ball comedy festival - most entertaining, and my first time in the lovely-but-freezing Lincoln Theatre. I notice SpeakeasyDC is having their annual Top Shelf event there in January - a selection of their top stories of the year. Tickets are on sale now. Anyway, I really enjoyed lots of the Bentzen Ball comedians and considered it an excellent start to the month. DC is getting increasingly good at comedy.
Another excellent start was the Australian Embassy's winemakers event, which I was lucky to be invited to. Many excellent Australian wines were enjoyed.
We also made it to the first night of Absolutely (perhaps) at the Source Theatre - the first time I've seen that space fully decked out with an elaborate set. I think I'm the wrong person to review farce-style plays as I'm not generally a fan. I will say this play, about extracting truth from gossip was entertaining, in a silly sort of way. On the other hand, A Streetcar Named Desire was more substantial and high quality, though less cheerful. We really love National Theatre Live, screened from London. Look out for Frankenstein, Skylight and Of Mice And Men showing soon - they all got great reviews in London and the DC experience is delightful. And I enjoyed the British movie One Chance, about a boy from a poor family who becomes an oprah singer. Heartwarming and amusing too.
October of course brings the fun of walking along the streets of Georgetown to admire the impressive Halloween house decor (I particularly recommend N and O between Rose Park and Wisconsin... And the house at 31st and Q).
And your post-Halloween-decor-admiring jaunt is about to be enhanced by coffeeshops - After Peacock is due to reopen any day now, and so is the brand new social good business, Dog Tag Bakery, which looks (from me pressing my nose against the window last weekend) like it could become one of my favorite local spots in Georgetown.
In terms of walks, we've been venturing further afield. We did more of the Rock Creek Valley Trail which is a truly beautiful 5 mile-ish trail and a great way to enjoy the fall leaves. Again, we took an Uber up to Boundary Bridge, then walked down to Tryst in Adams Morgan for a well-earned and delightful lunch. We also got a friend to drive us to the slightly obscure Mason Neck State Park. Not only can you kayak (which we didn't), you can do an easy and charming few miles of hiking, including around the extremely scenic peninsula jutting into the Potomac, including a lovely boardwalk area. We had a very pleasant 90 minute walk. And Dumbarton Oaks is looking particularly beautiful with some amazing flowers, and the Lovers Lane pond has a new sound installation.
What's coming up and sounds cool this week
Sat 18 and Sun 19th Oct - it's the Decade of Docs in Our City film festival.
Tue 21st Oct - You're spoilt for choice tonight. See Art Spiegelman's Wordless at the Lisner Auditorium which sounds quirky and fascinating. Or hear DC's top chefs tell stories at National Geographic. Or head to Ice Cream Jubilee at Navy Yard for ice cream tasting and a talk on the science of ice cream.
Wed 22nd Oct - There's gypsy jazz, storytelling, fiction and painting at this month's Little Salon, or else Meg Wolitzer, who wrote The Interestings, which I really enjoyed, is talking books at the Jewish Literature Festival.
Sat 25th Oct - If you're looking for a genuinely hipster-pretentious/arthouse-cool Halloween-esque entertainment you could do worse than Not So Silent Cinema with their classic German-Expressionist horror film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, complete with new score.
Mon 27th Oct - Ri Ra in Georgetown has started doing free Irish-themed book events. Tonight it's Eimear McBride.