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An ingeniously symbolic building houses documents depicting the Holocaust in Europe before and during World War II, grimly detailing the surveillance and the loss of individual rights faced by Jews, political objectors, gypsies, homosexuals, and the handicapped. Moving eyewitness accounts, photographs, and artifacts tell the story, from “Nazi Assault,” to “Last Chapter”.

The 20th century’s love affair with flight, from its intrepid beginnings to the mastery of space travel, is explored in this wonderful museum.

This intersection is surrounded by the main shopping, entertainment, dining, and bar-crawling areas of Georgetown. The attractive shops of Georgetown Park include hundreds of retailers selling cool urban clothes, jewelry, fine wine, art and antiques, and countless other specialties. Restaurant food of every description is available, from modern gourmet to street window kebabs.

Probably the most famous shopping area in the city, partly because of the hundreds of shops but also for the pervasive sense of style. Fashion shops are especially numerous, but antiques, art, books, records, electronics, wine, and other products are found here. The main area is between K and T and 27th and 38th streets, NW, especially on Wisconsin Avenue, NW, and M Street, NW.

The New York-originated gourmet food store is about as luxurious as a grocery store can get. The salad bar is superb, and the ready-made meals have brought success to countless Georgetown dinner parties.

This venerable institution sits on its hill overlooking Georgetown and the Potomac like a medieval citadel, its stone towers seemingly brooding with age. Yet the university is one of the most progressive in the country. Among the many interesting buildings here is the 1875 Healy Hall, built in an elaborate Flemish Renaissance style with surprising spiral adornment. Visitors can obtain campus maps and suggestions for strolls from the booth at the main gates.

Elegant Georgetown House

The most elegant and familiar of all the world’s political residences, the White House has witnessed some of the most consequential decisions of modern history .

Symbolizing both government power and the control of that power by the people, the Capitol crowns the east end of the National Mall (see Events in the US Capitol’s History).

Opened in 1907, this magnificent Beaux Arts building is still a fully functional transportation hub. The lofty barrel-vaulted concourse, decorated with 70 lbs (32 kg) of gleaming gold leaf, is one of the great public spaces in the city – the Washington Monument, laid on its side, would easily fit within its length. Over 23 million people pass through the station each year. A $160 million restoration, completed in 1988, made the terminal an important retail and entertainment center, with over 130 shops, numerous restaurants, and a 9-screen cinema, as well as expanding its transportation role.

The FBI tour has been a favorite with visitors since it was launched in 1937. Visitors on the one-hour tour learn about the history and goals of the bureau, pass through working laboratories analyzing forensic evidence, then watch a demonstration of officers training in the use of firearms. Although tours by members of the public are no longer allowed at the time of writing, this situation is expected to change in 2006. If you would like to visit, call ahead to make inquiries.

This stark remembrance features a black polished wall on which are carved the names of those who died during the Vietnam War. Controversial when it opened, because of its minimalism and because it failed to glorify the war, the memorial has become one of the world’s most popular. Its creator, Maya Lin, was a 21-year-old Chinese-American student when she completed the design. More traditional statues were added in 1984.

The 19 stainless steel sculptures in this memorial to the 1953 Korean “police action” wrenchingly evoke the realities of war.

Words of the Declaration of Independence are engraved on the wall here.

The inclusion of FDR’s dog in the statuary indicates the human scale of this tribute.

The marble vision dominates Lincoln’s memorial.

The view from the 555 ft high (170 m) monument (see Jefferson Memorial) is spectacular. The ride in the elevator is interesting because high-tech windows become transparent or opaque in a wink.

Four million people each year visit these rolling lawns studded with the headstones of America’s war dead. A moving and reflective experience.