Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ment, head to this little-visited 1899 Romanesque Revival building, whose 315ft obser-
vation tower gives great downtown panoramas. Down below, there's a floodlit atrium
and international food court.
Ford's Theatre
HISTORIC SITE
( 202-426-6924;
www.fords.org
;
511 10th St NW; tours $2.50; 9am-4:30pm; Metro Center,
Gallery Place-Chinatown)
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abra-
ham Lincoln in his box seat here. The theater still operates today; you can also take a
tour of the theater and learn about the events that transpired on that fateful April night.
There's a restored
Lincoln Museum
devoted to Lincoln's presidency that you can see as
part of the tour. Arrive early to get a ticket, as limited numbers are admitted each day.
You can also use your ticket to explore the nearby
Petersen House
(516 10th St),
where
Lincoln eventually gave up the ghost.
Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences
MUSEUM
(
www.koshland-science-museum.org
; cnr 6th & E Sts NW; adult/child $7/4; 10am-6pm Wed-
Mon; ; Judiciary Sq, Gallery Place-Chinatown)
A big, kid-friendly complex of hands-on,
educational fun with (as you would expect) a science-oriented focus.
STEVEN F UDVAR-HAZY CENTER
The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum's
Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center
(
www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy
;
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway; 10am-5:30pm, to 6:30pm late
May-early Sep; )
, located in Chantilly near Dulles airport, is a huge hangar
filled with surplus planes and spacecraft that wouldn't fit at the museum's DC loca-
tion. Highlights include the space shuttle Enterprise,the B-29 Enola Gay,SR-71
Blackbirdand a Concorde supersonic airliner. While the museum is free, parking
costs $15.
White House & Foggy Bottom
An expansive park called the Ellipse borders the Mall; on the east side is the power-
broker block of Pennsylvania Ave. Foggy Bottom was named for the mists that belched
