Astrid Riecken
America's most famous address has served as residence, office, reception site, and world embassy for every U.S. president since John Adams. Unless you reserve a tour months in advance, you can't get too close to The White House, but it's worth the trip just to peer through the gates at this iconic structure.
Local outdoor enthusiasts love to lose themselves on the miles of hiking trails that wind beneath this park's lush-leaved trees, so thick in spots that civilization seems a distant memory. The 1,750-acre valley is also home to a nature center, planetarium, several historic buildings, and an abundance of wildlife.
The wonders of the natural world take center stage at the National Museum of Natural History, home to over 125 million artifacts. Dare the curse of the glittering Hope Diamond (among other stellar gems), visit the colorful Butterfly Garden, take in the museum's fearsome dinosaur skeletons, or gape at the lobby's famed giant wooly mammoth and other interactive animal dioramas.
From the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, the view--of the Reflecting Pool, the Vietnam and World War II memorials, the Washington Monument, and, in the distance, the Capitol Building--is monumental, especially at sunset. It might leave a lump in the throat of even the most cynical onlooker.
D.C. becomes another world in spring, when its famous Japanese cherry blossoms peak, framing some of the city's most famous monuments in a sea of pink. Even politicans lose their pallor beneath the clouds of flowers along the Tidal Basin, a gift from the city of Tokyo in 1912.
A leader in the care, breeding, and exhibition of animals, the delightful National Zoological Park occupies 163 beautifully landscaped acres and is home to over 400 species. The zoo's endangered giant pandas are the star attraction, but an equally entertaining supporting cast includes cheetahs, zebras, camels, elephants, antelopes, kangaroos, giraffes, and, of course, lions, tigers, and bears.
Viewed from afar--especially when lit up at night--the Capitol is almost palatial in its grandeur. Inside, the home of America's legislative branch is equally majestic, with a richly embellished interior featuring hundreds of paintings and sculptures. If you can swing a gallery pass, don't miss the opportunity to watch legislators in action (or inaction, as the case may be).
One of the world's finest repositories of Western art, the museum's collection ranges from the early Renaissance (da Vinci & Raphael) to the contemporary (Lichtenstein). The neoclassical West Building is home to the heavy hitters you studied in Art History 101. The I.M. Pei-designed East Building showcases 20th-century art; don't miss the famed Alexander Calder mobile in the atrium.
This ain't your local library. The country's most comprehensive collection of archival material consists of a mind-boggling 142 million items, ranging from books to manuscripts to movies. The renaissance-style Jefferson Building, dominated by the ornate Great Hall and Main Reading Room, is a fitting home for a very rare copy of the historic Gutenberg Bible.