DK Travel : Washington, D.C. : Places of interest

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library

This handsome building was dedicated in 1972 as a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. and as a public library. In the lobby is a mural by Don Miller depicting the life of Dr. King and the civil rights movement.
MCI Center

While the MCI Center is principally a sports arena, it has also become an unofficial community center. It draws crowds night after night with college and professional sports events, big-name concerts, circuses, figure skating performances, and other events (see MCI Sports Center).
MCI Sports Center

Children love the energetic events here. The Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus performs here, along with touring ice skating spectaculars, professional wrestling, hockey games and many top-name pop and rock acts. The food is better than usual at an arena and, naturally, is geared toward kids (see MCI Center).
Middleburg

In the heart of Virginia hunt country, Middleburg is a captivating little town. Its seasonal farmers market, local horse races, and its antique shops, galleries, and fine restaurants draw visitors from all over.
Mount Vernon

Without a doubt the finest current view of George Washington the man, and of the agrarian plantation life that was an important stream leading to the revolutionary break with Great Britain.
N Street

Little attractions and oddities abound on this street, which is noted for its exemplary architecture. Best seen from the sidewalk on 28th Street, NW, the house at No. 2726 has an outstanding mosaic by Marc Chagall, a friend of the former owner. The elegant Federal house at No. 3038 was home to Ambassador Averill Harriman, who lent the house to Jacqueline Kennedy after her husband’s assassination. She later bought the elaborate 1794 Thomas Beall house across the street. Lessons in 19th-century architecture can be learned from the Federal houses at Nos. 3327 and 3339, the Second-Empire home at No. 3025–7, and the Victorian homes of Wheatley Row at Nos. 3041–45.
National Air and Space Museum

Kids’ dreams are founded on and inspired by these ravishing soaring devices and spectacular rockets, while their parents and grandparents can reminisce over the early days of aviation and see how far we’ve come. End the visit by treating children to a scoop of the freeze-dried ice cream.
National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

This new display and restoration center for some of the museum’s magnificent collection of the artifacts of flight (see National Air and Space Museum) opened in December 2003 near Dulles International Airport. Two giant hangars with accompanying support buildings provide over 760,000 sq ft (70,611 sq m) of much needed extra display space.
National Aquarium

The star attraction for children here is the 2pm feedings: sharks on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, piranha on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and alligators on Fridays. The aquarium houses about 300 specimens in its glass tanks, and provides easy-to-understand informative material about freshwater habitats and the oceans and the marine life they support. Inquisitive little visitors always surround the touch tank. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful, and children’s questions are handled with aplomb.
National Aquarium

One of the oldest aquariums in the world (1873). Sharks, alligators, piranha, and nearly 300 other species are housed here, and there are preservation programs that help other fish in the wild.