I’m going to DC in a week and am trying to think of places I want to visit.
Any suggestions of out of the ordinary places?
On my list:
Canes vs. Caps
US Supreme Court
FBI
Pentagon
George Washington University (I will wear a protective mask)
I do not think you can see the FBI or the Penagon anymore. The museums are good and close together on the mall with Natural History and Am History my two favorites. You can call Sue Myrick’s office to get a private tour of the Capital. This is better than going through the Capital Tour Center as you will see a few more parts of the Capital. Ford’s Theature is a good trip to see where Lincoln was killed. It is about a 30 minute talk about the day he was shot. Bureau of Printing is ok, but not a must as it just where the money is printed. You can go to DC several times and see different things every time. They have a great zoo, but it is probably a little cold next week.
Have to hang out in Adams Morgan at least one night. Several cool bars and great restaurants. I second the American History and Natural History museums, and would add the Air & Space Museum. The Archives are cool…original copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Union Station is neat.
Arlington National Cemetery is moving. You can see R.E. Lee’s house, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK’s eternal flame.
How long are you going to be there?
I lived there for a bit, but didn’t spend nearly enough time looking around.
Hard to go wrong with the national museums, but they’ll be packed on the weekends so you may want to try to go during the week if possible.
U street area is good for nightlife, and getting some late-night greasy chili fries at Ben’s chili bowl has become something of a local tradition. During the day they have tours that tell a little bit about the African-American culture (jazz clubs, art, etc) that used to be centered there. Lots of good bars and clubs around there.
Dupont circle has a ton of restaurants, but they all seemed a bit pricy for what you get to me. But it’s a popular spot just because you’ve got a ton of choices for meals.
The Philip’s collection is a pretty good art museum that’s usually a little less crowded than the national museums.
I liked the WWII memorial, the Vietnam memorial, and the FDR memorial. I found the national building museum pretty interesting too, but they may still be renovating it.
One place I’ve heard was pretty cool is the Spy Musuem. It’s not on the Mall though.
All of the monuments on and around the Mall are really cool; the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial were actually my two favorites. The Vietnam Wall is really sobering.
I’ll echo what someone else said about Adams-Morgan. Last call in D.C. isn’t until 4:00, and the subways run pretty much 24/7. You have to walk a bit to the bars from the Metro station, but it’s worth it.
Anything on the Mall is pretty cool and worth seeing. If you’re able to, catch a show at the Kennedy Center, pretty neat venue and easy to get to from the metro. However, don’t eat dinner there, food is overpriced and not that good, in my opinion.
Most of the time you can get a tour of the Capitol with relative ease, just contact your congressional rep or senator this week with the date and time. I went through Richard Burr last time I was in D.C. and had a good tour.
There’s plenty of good bars in and around D.C. I recommend Clydes in Georgetown.
I don’t think the US Supreme Court is in session, but if by some chance it is, you can get in-line and go through a walk through while court is going on, where you can sit and listen to arguments for a few mins but don’t have to sit there for the entire session. Kind of neat to see!
Almost forgot, make sure you check out the Lincoln Memoral and the mall at night, it’s less crowded and makes for some neat pictures.