USA / Washington DC / Joe’s Cafe / 4th of July – Happy birthday toooo youuu

It’s the 4th of July today, USA’s birthday.

I haven’t been to the States in years.

I am like a child that has just been able to see for the first time after a ground breaking operation and everything thrills me.

So cool how you can advertise how evil you are right on your numberplate here.

Guess they haven’t heard about the law of attraction – and thank God for that, this gave me a really good giggle, it’s the kinda thing I would put on my car. Except mine would just be me and the 2 kitties. Enter violins.

We catch up with Selma, Anita’s Turkish friend who also remembers me from university in Ankara – we were in the same department during the same time. Small little world. This brings us to Sterling, Virginia.

Joe’s Cafe 

I am discovering that in the States you Yelp anything you need. We need breakfast. Yelp tells us we should go to Joe’s Cafe. Yelp seems to be pretty good at what it does.

Joe’s Cafe looks like someone pressed the ‘pause’ button in the 60’s, just like in the movies. The service was great, the food delicious and plentiful (need to get used to mammoth portions in the States).

We had the pleasure of meeting Joe personally and he was equally awesome. It is super nice to meet sweet Selma and talk about Ankara and the university, especially how cold and snowy it got. Ankara is blessed with 4 beautiful seasons and coming from a desert like Dubai where we only have 2 seasons (as us locals say: summer and hell) the beauty of each and every season was always much appreciated.

Two thumbs up to this establishment.

4th July & fireworks 

I have known Riz for a loong, long time and he is a very dear friend to me. He travels and travels and travels and it is always a pleasure to catch up with him anywhere. He happens to be based in Washington and has invited myself and Anita over for dinner. Dessert is watching the fireworks from his terrace which is right in the middle of all the action. I absolutely adore his little girl Ms. Z so tonight is a triple treat for my happy heart.

This is probably the most heart-warming love-letter I have ever received (see how I worded that? In actual fact it is probably one of the only love letters I have ever received. Shhhhh 😉 ).

Yippeeee fireworks! We are surrounded from all angles and it is delightful!

Happy birthday USA! We would love to stay up and celebrate all night but we have a full day of hiking tomorrow!
SO looking forward to it!
Nighty y’all 🙂