Because the city was built from scratch, Washington's regular
town plan is easy to grasp. Centered on Capitol Hill and its
governmental monoliths, the District is divided into four
quadrants - northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest.
Dozens of broad avenues , all named after states, run
diagonally across a standard grid of streets , meeting up at
monumental traffic circles like Dupont Circle. North-south streets
are numbered, east-west ones are lettered. There's no J Street, an
intentional slight to early Supreme Court Justice John Jay, or X, Y
or Z Street. I Street is often written Eye Street. Be sure to note
the relevant two-letter code in any address (NW, NE, SW,
SE), which shows its quadrant; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW is a
long way from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave SE.
Until you get your bearings, stick to the established tourist
trail; almost all the most famous sights are on Capitol Hill
or in the comparatively affluent northwest quarter. To the west of
the Capitol, the broad, green Mall holds monuments to
presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin D.
Roosevelt , as well as the White House , official home
of the current president. Also here are the bulk of the city's many
marvelous museums, including the national collections of the
Smithsonian Institution .
However, there is more to Washington than an endless succession
of museums and monuments, and it's well worth your time to search
out the many attractive neighborhoods . Despite its
reputation, most of the city is in surprisingly good shape, with
row after row of nineteenth-century brick-fronted houses set along
leafy boulevards. Between the Mall and the main spine of
Pennsylvania Avenue - the parade route connecting Capitol
Hill to the White House - the Neoclassical buildings of the
Federal Triangle offer a sobering contrast to the rest of
the city's neighborhoods. North and east of here, what's known as
Old Downtown has been revitalized after years of neglect,
and now features new plazas, galleries and restaurants alongside
its traditional attractions, like the FBI Building, Old Post Office
and the theater associated with President Lincoln's assassination.
The area around the MCI Center , particularly along Seventh
St NW, is fast developing as an entertainment and nightlife scene,
with a good selection of bars and restaurants. The oldest area,
Georgetown , where popular bars and restaurants now line M
Street and Wisconsin Avenue above the Potomac River ,
actually precedes the establishment of the District. Georgetown is
a fifteen-minute walk from the Foggy Bottom -GWU Metro but its
Federal-era and Victorian townhouses and the towpath along the
C&O Canal make it a fine target for a day's poking
about. Other neighborhoods to check out - especially for eating and
drinking - are Dupont Circle at Massachusetts, Connecticut
and New Hampshire avenues, which pulls a dynamic mix of urban
professionals of all stripes, and the gentrifying Latin immigrant
community of Adams-Morgan , a favored destination of the
weekend party crowd that's a short walk from Dupont Circle up 18th
Street at Columbia Road.
Most DC visitors also take the short Metro ride to
Arlington in Virginia to see the National Cemetery,
President John F. Kennedy's burial place and the Pentagon.