Tours
During the day, open-sided Tourmobiles (tel 202/554-5100,
) connect the major museums and sites - allowing you to stop for as
long as you choose at any of a dozen different locations. An $18
one-day ticket covers downtown DC and Arlington Cemetery, while an
extra $25 gets you to Mount Vernon and back; tickets for the
three-hour "twilight tour," which departs from Union Station (daily
6.30pm), also run $18. All can be bought from the main office on
the Ellipse, just south of the White House, at kiosks on the Mall
and in Union Station or on the tram itself.
If you want to cycle or cruise along the Potomac
River or the historic C&O Canal, both Thompson's Boat Center,
2900 Virginia Ave NW at Rock Creek Parkway (tel 202/333-4861), near
the Watergate complex, and Fletcher's Boat House, 4940 Canal Rd NW,
two miles farther up the canal towpath (tel 202/244-0461), rent
touring bikes, rowboats and canoes. You could also get to know the
city on a three-hour cycling trip with Bike the Sites Inc ($40 per
person including bike and helmet; tel 202/966-8662); or call Better
Bikes (tel 202/293-2080), which will deliver rental bikes anywhere
in DC ($28-38 a day). In addition, mule-drawn canal boats ,
with costumed National Park Service guides, follow the old C&O
Canal from behind 30th and M streets in Georgetown on a hour-long
narrated cruise (April-Oct; $8; tel 202/653-5190). The city's best
walking tours are led by Anthony S. Pitch ($10; tel
301/294-9514), who ambles around Adams-Morgan and Georgetown most
Sunday mornings beginning at 11am.
In general, it's worth calling ahead to major sites for any
changes to tour procedures due to heightened security
concerns .
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