Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of Health - attract intelligentsia from around the world. The local high schools are often
packed with the children of scientists and consultants staffing some of the world's most
prestigious think tanks.
All of this has spawned a culture that is, in turns, as sophisticated as a journalists'
book club, as linked to the land as bluegrass festivals in Virginia and as hooked into the
main vein of urban America as Tupac Shakur, go-go, Baltimore Club and DC Hardcore.
And, of course, there's always politics, a subject continually simmering under the surface
here.
WASHINGTON, DC
This is a terrifically exciting city. Whatever you think it may be, Washington, DC is
more. A workaholic capital? Absolutely; look at the interns scrabbling across Capitol
Hill, the think-tank staff angling for a fellowship and the lobbyist on their smartphone. A
study in monumental dignity? Yes; see the wide boulevards, iconic memorials, countless
museums and idyllic vistas over the Potomac.
And then, DC is much more than a mere museum piece or marble backdrop to nightly
news reports. It's home to tree-lined neighborhoods and a vibrant theater scene, with eth-
nically diverse restaurants, large numbers of immigrants and a dynamism percolating just
beneath the surface. The city has a growing number of markets, historic cobblestoned
streets and more overachieving and talented types than any city of this size deserves.
It also has an underclass, which lives in poverty and high crime (although these met-
rics have improved), and it has a high price tag. DC has undergone extensive gentrifica-
tion since the late 1990s. With the exception of a few outlier years, crime has dropped as
the cost of living has increased, although this has been accompanied by displacement of
many area African Americans to the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. The cost of living in
DC is among the highest in the nation, and coupled with waves of politcally motivated
transplants, the city has a reputation as a place more geared towards transients than fam-
ilies. But it is nevertheless family-friendly if you're visiting with children, and DC's res-
idential outer areas and Beltway suburbs provide a home base for those who want to live
amid the capital's undeniable intellectual and cultural energy.
