New York and Washington DC

We just spent 10 days on the east coast. I wanted Damien to be able to experience New York City and Washington DC before we left the US. I hadn't been to NYC since I was about 14. I lived in DC for two years, but hadn't been back for 8 years.
Except for the fact that Damien had a bit of a cold the whole time we loved the vacation. We were amazed by the intricate decor on the old Manhattan buildings and were humbled by the sense of history in Washington. We stayed in a cute old row house hotel called the Chelsea Inn in midtown Manhattan and a 200 year old house in Alexandria, Virginia owned by an ex-fashion designer who cooked up breakfast every morning.
Both cities were totally overwhelming and we really had to pick and choose what we did with our time. The first thing we did after taking the bus from La Guardia through Harlem, was to take a picture of Grant's tomb (I collect pictures that I take of US president's graves). After seeing the fire ravaged Cathedral of St. John and the Tom's Diner store front used in Seinfeld we stopped and had coffee and pastries at the Hungarian Pastry Shop. We thought we had died and gone to heaven!!! The cappucinos were perfect (which is impossible to find in Indy) and the pastries were made with tradition and love!
In New York we went to the Museum of Modern of Art, The Metropolitan Musuem of Art and the Guggenheim (not our favorite!). We met up with an old friend, Doug, and had lunch at Grand Central station. We braved the security and ticket lines to get to the top of the Empire State Building and took a walk in Central Park. We made the requisite stop in Times Square which seemed like a theme park and is a place you only need to see once I think. We walked past Rockafeller Center, 5th Ave., Radio City Music Hall, Ed Sullivan Theater and other famous landmarks.
The crowning experience in NYC had to be the food. I had made three reservations for our first three nights: Craft, Perilla, and Les Halles. Craft was a dining experience like I have never had. We choose the chef's tasting menu in order to get a litney of interesting dishes. Perilla was in Greenwich Village and was a little bit more intimate with very interesting dishes. Les Halles is a well known French place where we had massive plates of meat and sauerkraut. Overall I was able to try some dishes I had always wanted to try: truffles, escargot, foie gras (not moral highground so I probably won't get it again), and boudin noir. The boudin noir was my favorite although the escargot was excellent! I could go on and on about what we ate!
The last night we visited an area called "Curry Hill" where we had to make a tough decision as to which amazing looking Indian place to eat. We made a great choice!
We took Amtrak from Penn station to Union Station in DC. It was easy and convienient.
In DC I got to see where I used to live near the National Cathedral, we saw the National Gallery of Art, the Air and Space Museum (where we were forced to eat Mcdonalds!!!!! Yuck!!!!), and the Hirshhorn Museum. We were quite excited to see Steven Colbert's portait at the National Portait Gallery. Damien had to get his picture taken in front of the Australian Embassy at Dupont Circle. We found a wonderful little Malaysian restaurant near there and stuffed ourselves silly!
We had a great meal at a place called Vermillion near where we were staying in Alexandria. The food was artistically presented and the wine pairing was delicious! On our last full day the clouds parted and the blue skies created a beautiful background for walking around the memorials, monuments, the White House and Georgetown. I do have to mention the out-of-this-world dessert we had a chic but inexpensive Thai inspired dumpling restaurant in Georgetown called Bangkok Joe's. It was taro root jelly stuffed inside fried Indian roti bread with taro root ice cream and a taro root chip. I thought it sounded interesting and Damien was a bit dubious. It ended up being the single best dessert we had on the whole trip.
We had a great time and really recommend traveling in the off season. I can't imagine how crowded things would be in the summer!!
Overall my impressions of New York were: ornate, old, great pastries, small corner markets, people walking dogs, trash on the streets waiting to be picked up, riding the subway, friendly people, abundant restuarants, and diversity.