Even if you slept through high school civics and have less than zero interest in national politics, visiting Washington, D.C. (pop. 565,000) is still an unforgettable experience. The monuments and monoliths that line the city’s many grand avenues embody nearly two centuries of American political history, and museums show off everything from ancient art to the first flying machines. Best of all, almost everything is free, though there are a few caveats every would-be tourist should know. Parts of D.C. can be dangerous after dark, and the weather here varies tremendously, from freezing cold in winter to swelteringly hot and humid in summer (though both spring and fall can be lovely).
Sometime during your visit to D.C., you ought to spend a few hours at the National Museum of American History (daily; free; 202/357-2700), on Constitution Avenue between 12th and 14th Streets. Part of the huge Smithsonian Institution, this huge and endearingly quirky museum is the best example of its role as the “Nation’s Attic,” displaying a little of everything: the giant flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star-Spangled Banner,” the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz, even a 40-foot stretch of historic Route 66, part of the massive “America on the Move” transportation exhibit.
In recent years, a trio of impressive and sometimes controversial museums and monuments have opened along the National Mall, ranging from the stunning new National Museum of the American Indian, closest to the Capitol, through the somber National World War II Memorial at the base of the Washington Monument. At the west end of the Mall, the eight-acre FDR Memorial traces the journey of our longest-serving U.S. President from his elite childhood through his mid-life affliction by polio, up through the Great Depression and World War II.
If you’re not the most serious student of historical globalpolitik, your favorite memory of visiting Washington may turn out to be the same as mine: watching workers pushing wheelbarrows full of money across the floors of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (Mon.–Fri. 9 am–2 pm; 202/622-2000; free), south of the Mall at 14th and C Streets SW. This high-security printing plant is where all your hard-earned cash—some $300 billion a year—is born. Postage stamps, too.
After many decades, major league baseball returned to the capital in 2005 when the former Montreal Expos moved here to become the Washington Nationals (202/675-NATS).
