Washington, D.C.
Capitol Bollards
The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.
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Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Washington, D.C.
Site of the Union Station Train Crash
A 1,100-ton train fell through the floor in 1953. Workers got it patched up in just 72 hours.
Washington, D.C.
White House Helipad
Disks are rolled out onto the south lawn to absorb the impact of Marine One's wheels like giant coffee coasters.
Washington, D.C.
Inaugural Parade Center Line
A line of blue paint marks the route of the inaugural parade.
Washington, D.C.
Rayburn House Office Building
One critic described it as "middle Mussolini, early Ramses, and late Neiman-Marcus." Another called it an architectural "natural disaster."
Washington, D.C.
Georgetown Waterfront
The little-known, 300-year history of the area includes former lives as a bustling tobacco port, parking lot, and industrial dump.
Washington, D.C.
Potomac Park Flood Levee
This mysterious structure by the Washington Monument is a flood barrier designed to protect the White House against rising waters.
Washington, D.C.
Churchill and Mandela Call and Response
When it comes to handsignals (and colonialism) rock always beats scissors.
Washington, D.C.
The K-9 of the Korean War Veterans Memorial
Those with a sharp eye can find the hidden image of a German Shepherd on the memorial's Mural Wall.
Washington, D.C.
Old Stone House
The oldest building in the District of Columbia was preserved because of a mistaken connection to George Washington.
Washington, D.C.
Letelier-Moffitt Monument
A diminutive memorial marks the site of a successful assassination by a right-wing death squad in America's capital.
Washington, D.C.
Knife Edge
Architecture lovers won’t stop touching the National Gallery's 19.5 degree marble prow.
Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Book Conveyor Tunnel
A fantastic array of trays and cables once whisked books over to the Capitol at 600 feet per minute.
Washington, D.C.
U.S. Naval Observatory Library
A hoard of sky catalogs, astrophysical journals, even the works of Galileo and Copernicus.
Washington, D.C.
National Cathedral Bell Tower
There’s a special club house at the top for the bell ringers.
Washington, D.C.
District of Columbia Center Point
A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.
Washington, D.C.
Kilroy Was Here
There’s a hidden military meme engraved on the World War II Memorial.
Washington, D.C.
Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega
The "lovely red Vega" of the legendary record-settling pilot.
Washington, D.C.
Owney the Postal Dog
A traveling postal dog covered 48 states and more than 140,000 miles, and he lives on as taxidermy, patched up with a rabbit's foot and a pig's ear.
Washington, D.C.
Grace Hopper's Bug
A computer bug so primitive it was an actual insect.
Washington, D.C.
Renwick Gallery
The first purpose-built art gallery in the United States is once again open as a center of craft arts.
Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Card Catalog
A nostalgic bibliographic gem.
Washington, D.C.
The Old Patent Model Museum
During the Industrial Revolution this “Temple of Invention” was full of intricate miniature machines and gadgets.
Washington, D.C.
Summerhouse
A hidden gem on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
