What Can You Do at the Westin Georgetown?

If you're staying at the Westin, you're either out-of-town traveler or you're an in-town lush who's smart enough to plan on stumbling to your room at the party's end. If you are in-town, we recommend you have a game plan for sleeping in a bed that does not involve you driving home, so that you can fully enjoy the open bar. Since it's our wedding night, we hope you'll understand that we'll be unable to answer the door when you knock. But please, feel free to sleep in front of our door.

Will and I love the Westin and we hope you do too. In our former lives as professional wanderers and unwanted advice givers (aka "high value, management and technology consultants"), the Westin was our literal home away from home. For many years, we traveled weekly to our client's cities and stayed Monday through Thursday at the closest Westin. Heck, we probably spent more hours there than we lived at home.

While at the Westin Georgetown, we recommend several things:

1. Sink into your Heavenly Bed - 10 layers of luxury blankets, sheets, and pillows. You don't even have to sleep (though that is highly recommended since it's Trang's favorite activity and this weekend is 50% about Trang). Just enjoy lounging in our favorite hotel bed.

2. Shape up at the WestinWORKOUT® Gym. It's free, and if you're willing to risk athlete's foot, they'll even loan you a pair of New Balance sneakers.

3. Swim a few morning laps in the outdoor pool. If Will can cook, I mean swim, you can too.

4. Savor a meal at the Blue Duck Tavern. Especially if you're coming from abroad, it truly showcases the best of American cooking and interior design. Chef Brian McBride has just left, but his hallmark methods of roasting, braising, preserving, and smoking meat are still part of the restaurant. The Blue Duck Tavern is inside the Park Hyatt and directly across M street from the Westin.

5. Sample rare teas at the Tea Cellar, also located inside the Park Hyatt. They serve 50+ rare and limited production, single-estate teas from China, Japan, Sri Lanka and the Himalayas. They serve tea every day from 2:30 pm to midnight.

6. Sip cocktails and wine at the Westend Bistro, located in the Ritz Carlton, Washington DC. To get there, leave the Westin's main entrance and turn right onto M street. Walk two blocks east on M Street and turn right at 22nd. The Westend has $3 happy hour from 5 to 7pm Monday through Friday. For the Ritz, that's a deal.
6. Shop in Georgetown. We'd elaborate on this one, but clearly that discussion is for the "What can you do in Georgetown" post.