After a successful outing to Alexandria and with time to spare, I decided to yet again try my luck and head out of Washington D.C. on the metro. Hmm, Bethesda, I’ve heard of that! And off I went! According to my guide book it was suppose to be “…a lively downtown area that still retains the atmosphere of a traditional town center” with “…streets and parks spotlight distinguished contemporary works in every style, by way of sculpture and stunning painted murals”. Sounds perfect! After finally finding my way to the “lively downtown area”, I was a bit bewildered… Where was the atmosphere? Where was the distinguished street art? Maybe I had taken a wrong turn, so I jumped on a free bus “tour”. No, I was where I should be. On my aimlessly walk around “town” I was lucky to stumble upon Bethesda Lane, which was the definite highlight – a cozy, and unfortunately short, street with some nice shops to look through. In essence, I came, I saw, I left with a new book in my bag and pancakes in my tummy. That was my day at Bethesda – sometimes you loose some 🙁
Website: bethesda.org
Note: Photo is by Payton Chung.
Hate when something like this happens! I am the one who want s to cover every town in a 100 miles radio and some of them end up being a let down. Now, some places are interesting during the weekends. The vibe is different during those days.
I used to be like that too 🙂 Now I have become more picky – due to more travel experience, trips like this Bethesda visit, and since I want to cover more areas in the same amount of time limited time is a factor as well. Yes, weekend/weekdays can be very different.
Some places I’ve been have been interesting to visit, but i wouldn’t love in them (Singapore). And some places are nice to live, but not especially interesting to visit. Bethesda seems like it a good be the latter. Suburbs with a “walkable town center” have been the trend in non-urban development for the past decade or so. So if you have decided you want to live in the suburbs but would like a place where you can park and walk to a few shops and restaurants on a Friday night, this probably fits the bill. But yeah, it might not make for much of a day out. This is why I take issue with like guidebooks and travel writers who feel they have to find a way to make every little nook and cranny sound charming/interesting/worthwhile. Not every nook and cranny is. At least not to everyone. tell me what it’s actually like and let me decide if it’s for me.
I totally hear you! Now I read guide books with that in the back of my mind.
Lol!
My sister lives very nearby and I remember going with her to BEthesda when she was having a meeting somewhere there. The area that we went to was lively, even for a weekday at 9am but then I’m not really into cities so I basically just spent the whole time in a huge BArnes and Nobles and camped myself there until my sister’s meeting was finished. Lol.
Ha ha, we went to the same Barnes & Noble! 🙂
You win some and you lose some when you travel. That is just the way it is. It sounds like your loss was disappointing but not catastrophic.
True! It’s rarely catastrophic, fortunately 🙂
At least you have a new book and had some pancakes 😉
😀