During my weekend from hell ^[1], the Mysterious M and I managed to break away and get downtown to attend a great photo outing hosted by the Washington Photo Safari ^[2] on Saturday afternoon. The subject was the historic Willard Hotel ^[3], which reopened in 1986 after being closed for nearly 18 years. Its renovations have maintained and (I think) enhanced the architectural beauty of the building; the history of the hotel is equally enriching (see the Wikipedia entry here ^[4]). The atmosphere inside was fascinating – we hung around in the lobby for about half an hour afterwards just people-watching; even for a cold January Saturday, the place had a quiet electric vibe that really caught your attention.

Anyway, the safari – hosted by David Luria – gave us access to the lobby, Peacock Alley (afternoon tea area, complete with harpist!), the Willard Room (formal dining), and the Jenny Lind suite – a 950 square foot two-level suite with a stunning view of the Monument from the massive bathtub. My wife and I managed several fantastic shots throughout the safari – I even grabbed several exposure styles of a few scenes so I can try my (inexperienced) hand at HDR when I have a few hours handy.

It was a very pleasant afternoon diversion and quite economical, to boot. We did end up at Finemondo ^[5] for dinner – an interesting experience in and of itself, which is probably worthy of another entry in the near future.