Greater DC
I've always said that if I knew I was going to die tomorrow, I would want to take one last drive down George Washington Memorial Parkway to Mount Vernon. There is something so peaceful about having the Bay on the one side, and all of the natural wildlife areas - it's one of my favorite places in the world. Knowing that it's so close to such a major city makes it all the more lush.
My favorite vacation of all time was when I was 16 and my parents took me to Estriol, Portugal (outside of Lisbon). We stayed at the
Hotel Palacio, but unfortunately we didn't know that about 80% of the espionage during WWII happened at that hotel! Our suite was bigger than apartments I've lived in - two stories, huge balcony, floor to top of second story windows, sauna & jacuzzi in the suite, and most of the furniture (other than the beds) were well preserved antiques. The restaurant served the full seven courses, along with the wines, and used sterling and china. I'll admit that a lot of the passion I have in remembering this trip is from being so young, probably the only blonde in Portugal that week & a half, having men flirt with me continuously, and seeing so many luxurious palaces. The picture below is of the lobby, but the suite seen half-obscured by the flowers (second from the left) was ours. I'll have to dig up a photo of me while we were there.
My parents' section of the suite:
My part of the suite:
