Thomas Jefferson and I go way back, so to speak. When I first read about his four year sojourn in Paris on the eve of the French Revolution, we bonded via our love of all things Francophile. When I started to read his works, I began to admire the audacity of his mind. And when I found myself at Monticello, his beloved home in Charlottesville, Virginia on a research fellowship I fell in love with the same green hills he had ridden on, the beautiful vegetable gardens he had planted and the lush countryside he had so admired during his lifetime.
So, when I found myself in Washington, DC staying at "The Jefferson", a unique Relais & Chateaux property that defies the generic definition of hotel, I started to find the Jeffersonian string of coincidences that had brought me there almost uncanny...everything I thought I had once looked up to in this intriguing founding father was nothing compared to my newly found unbounded enthusiasm for the third President of the United States.
Staying at "The Jefferson" is like being personally invited in the great man's home...only better. The sumptuous decor is 1780 meets 2012 with all the intricate detailing of a Classical structure and all the modern amenities to make it worthwhile. Framed letters in the founding father's own hand are elegantly displayed along the walls along with white marble busts of the man himself. Delicate drawings of Monticello are woven into the crisp decor, modern luxury and history at the service of one another.
On any evening, important Washington types sit in luxuriously draped alcoves over a power lunch at Plume, the hotel's critically acclaimed restaurant sipping on Madeira wines dating from as far back as 1810 that Jefferson himself would have undoubtedly approved of. Discreet elegance is the goal throughout the lobby, the library and the many private spaces available to guests for business meetings. But make no mistake, The Jefferson harbors no generic overtones similar to the many conference style hotels...oh no, that is not the vibe here. Au contraire, guests will experience all the glamour of secret service like privacy and all the perks of royal treatment, or perhaps I should say presidential treatment...
The House Car aka a Luxury SUV will take you to dinner or wherever else you need to go, while suited men with earpieces hover over you as if to watch over your safety...take that, Mr. President! But enough talking...a picture is worth a thousand words!
The impressive Lobby
The Greenhouse...Breakfast or High Tea anyone?
Every corner was exquisitely decorated
The Bedrooms...Oh TJ (Short for Thomas Jefferson) how I miss you!
This wasn't my room but it looks pretty damn gorgeous!!!
Check out the drawing of Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's beloved home in Virginia) on the pillowcase...god really is in the details...
Plume, the highly acclaimed restaurant on property. Checkout the mural at the back: it's a drawing of the vegetable garden and beyond at Monticello...to the left is Montalto...
A private alcove at the Plume Restaurant...elegant, discreet...I'm in love with this place!
The Lobby
One of many private rooms...small, intimate and ultra-luxurious. Wood paneled walls, plush leather sofas, state of the art technology...the detailing was fabulous...notice the Native Indian drawings on the walls, Thomas Jefferson also collected Native artifacts, drawings and the like...
The attention to detail at The Jefferson is incredible. If you want to be pampered in D.C. this is THE address! I don't think I could ever stay at another hotel in this nation's capital...in fact, I would rather stay home than betray my love for The Jefferson, a palatial property that defies description...
