knycx_journeying

Holding the visitor’s guide leaflet in my hands it says “Welcome, a powerful place”. I was inspired the moment I stepped out of the Union Station, overlooking the crossroad of politics and culture, and history and style. Washington D.C., the capital of the United States, is a place where the United States flags are flying everywhere, manifesting the value of freedom of the country. Most famous landmarks of the city are clustered around the National Mall (or simply, “the Mall”) and Memorial Parks, stretching over 4 kilometers long. In my opinion, it takes at least 3 days for a first-timer to have an overview of what the cities have to offer (Not to mention the time required to complete visiting all the Smithsonian’s museums), and at least a week to soak in the power the city imposes. The volume of information might be a little bit overwhelming but here is a list of the must-sees in the city and that’s what I did. I hope it would give you some ideas for your visits, too!
For the photos and more about the places, you are welcome to visit: https://knycxjourneying.com/2017/07/...rful-place-dc/

National Gallery of Art is my favorite museum and the Museums is divided into east and west wings and the volume of artworks housed in these buildings are spectacular. The gallery has a collection of 137 million objects which includes not only Western European Fine Arts but also American Art from the 18th-century beyond. The list of notable artists could go on and on…, with French and British classical artists to some modern big names, plus American artists like Edward Hicks, Thomas Cole, John Singleton Copley, Edward Savage, and much more! You must at least recognize some well-known paintings in there, like Johannes Vermeer’s “Woman Holding a Balance” in 1664, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Ginevra de’ Benci” in 1478, and Raphael’s “Portrait of Bindo Altoviti” in 1515…
More, the galleries and garden courts of the museum are just stunning and make the visit so much more pleasurable.

More about my Top *10* favorite classical art galleries in the world, you are welcome to visit:
https://knycxjourneying.com/2016/04/...t-galleries-1/

**Getting Around**
Washington DC HOHO BusWashington DC has three airports and it is also serviced by Amtrak and regional rail service. It is interesting to know that the city is in a grid pattern and the streets are named alphabetically from south to north, and numerically east to west. Let say C Street NW is in the north of the Pennsylvania Avenue NW, the next street in the north would be D Street NW, E street NW and so on. The city is pedestrian friendly and the city metro is easy to use as well.
Washington DC AmtrakI visited DC on a very hot summer day and like anywhere on the east coast when it’s hot, it’s really hot. Instead of walking from one place to the other under immense heat, tourists may consider taking the Hop-on-hop-off double decker bus that takes passengers to all the major attractions in the city. However, check out the bus schedule because sometimes it might take about 30 minutes to wait for a bus!

BigRuss

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Like h-ll it does. It has two. BWI may have "Washington" in the name but it's Baltimore's airport and it's farther from BWI to DC than from Long Beach to Los Angeles.

yestravel

I have lived in the DC area my entire life and I do consider BWI when flying. It often has lower priced flights. It takes maybe 10-15 minutes longer to get there than to get to IAD. And I'm guessing here but I would think for people iving on the Hill its probablly a touch closer than IAD.

NewbE

Yes, it all depends on where you live. For a tourist, I would think BWI would only make sense if the savings is significant. Or if one wants to visit Baltimore (Charm City!), of course.

Bit of DC trivia: there are no J, X, Y or Z Streets.

NewbE

Savings ARE significant, I meant. Argh!

DeniseLMA

I lived in Northern Virginia and used BWI all the time. Many times it is cheaper than Reagan or Dulles.

It's also not that hard to take the light rail from BWI and catch a train into DC.