History UsefulNotes / WashingtonDC

* National Cathedral: America's unofficial giant interdenominational cathedral--nominally run by the Episcopal[[note]]That is, Anglican[[/note]] Church, but open to all--built entirely in [[MedievalStasis Gothic Revival]] stile. It sits on the highest point in the city. There's another moon rock in the stained glass windows, along with dozens of other nooks and crannies. They recently [[ChildhoodMemoryDemolitionTeam got rid of the stonecarvers' workshop]] to make room for a parking garage. It has a [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] gargoyle. President UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson is buried here in an elegant sarcophagus inside the church, as is his second wife Edith. The ashes of UsefulNotes/HelenKeller and Anne Sullivan, her teacher, are also interred here, as are Admiral George Dewey (hero of the Spanish-American War) and World War II-era Secretary of State Cordell Hull.

** The Smithsonian Castle: America's [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative most famous visitor center]]. Hidden in the basement is an actual institution of learning populated by the academics lucky enough to do research work in the various museums. There are also [[BeneathTheEarth two underground museums]] of Asian and African art most people don't know about.

** The Air and Space Museum: touchable piece of the moon, lot of stuff on flight, UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, a Pershing II and RT-21M/SS-20 side-by-side. At approximately seven million visitors a year, it is the most popular museum on the mall (and quite possibly in the world). It has a sister museum, the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, in Chantilly, Virginia, near Dulles Airport, which contains items like the ''Enola Gay'', the ''SR-71 Blackbird'' and the Space Shuttle ''Discovery''.

* [[BigLabyrinthineBuilding The National Gallery Of Art]]: has all the Old Masters in the US that aren't in some other museum like [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity the Met]]. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT part of the Smithsonian Institution, and is in fact it's own deal (for the Smithsonian's art galleries, see above). So huge, it has an underground complex with an [[InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt airport-style moving sidewalk]]. Be sure and touch the [[AlienGeometries world's sharpest corner]] on a building: the Modern Wing designed by I.M. Pei is shaped like a [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} maze of isosceles triangles]].

** Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is the closest to town, and serves as a hub for American Airlines.[[note]]Formerly a US Airways hub prior to their merger with American in 2014[[/note]] Just like the Pentagon, it's directly across the river in Arlington, VA. It used to be just "Washington National Airport", but was renamed by Congress in TheNineties (the name change was unpopular in certain circles because of Reagan's breaking of an air traffic controllers' strike in TheEighties). Prior to the opening of the Dulles extension of the Silver Line in November 2022, it was the only airport in the DC area with direct rail access via the Metro. This is the airport of choice for Congresspeople entering and leaving town (indeed, it's seen as one of their perks), but also has a limited number of flights available due to noise concerns and the difficult approach to the runway, which requires avoiding skyscrapers in Rosslyn and Crystal City while trying ''not'' to crash into the Potomac and avoid heavily restricted airspace nearby. As such, it commands higher ticket prices and isn't quite as busy as the outlying airports. National has a perimeter rule in effect, which means that flights from the airport can mostly only operate to destinations within 1,250 statute miles.[[note]]This rule was imposed in the 1960s with the intention of pushing long-haul traffic to use the newly-opened Dulles International Airport instead, under the belief that Dulles couldn't thrive unless National was restricted in this way. Initially, the perimeter was limited to 650 miles, but was expanded to the current 1,250 mile distance in the 1980s. Since then, Congress has passed exemptions that allow up to 40 daily flights (20 roundtrips) to destinations beyond the perimeter.[[/note]] Also, it's strictly a ''national'' airport; there are no U.S. Customs facilities at the airport, so most international flights must use BWI or Dulles.[[note]]With the exception of a limited number of flights that operate to UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, Ottawa, and [[UsefulNotes/TheBahamas Nassau]]. Because these cities' airports have U.S. customs and immigration preclearance facilities (where one goes through customs before boarding the flight), flights from these cities to the U.S. are treated as domestic arrivals. (This means that theoretically, flights to and from UsefulNotes/{{Dublin}} and Shannon Airports in UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}, which also have these facilities, could also come here, but various other considerations have prevented this.)[[/note]]

Washington is also one of only 12 cities in the U.S. to have sports teams from all four major league sports: for basketball, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Wizards]] (formerly the Bullets, before the owners realized the awkwardness in glorifying guns in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the nation), for baseball, the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Nationals]] (nickname: the Nats; formerly the UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} Expos before they moved to DC in 2004), for hockey, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Capitals]] (nickname: the Caps), and for football, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Commanders]] (formerly the "Redskins" before team ownership finally acquiesced to decades of indigenous protests, and then simply "Washington Football Team" for two seasons; now likely to change names [[IHaveManyNames yet again]] since the name "Commanders" is a relic of hated former team ownership). The city and its surrounding area are also home to teams in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer (D.C. United), the WNBA (the Washington Mystics), and the National Women's Soccer League (the Washington Spirit). Of these teams, the Washington Commanders actually play in Maryland; all of the others play all home games in the District proper.[[note]]The Spirit is a more complicated case. Through 2018, they played solely in Maryland. In 2019, they moved two home games to D.C. United's home field in the District. In 2020, they planned to evenly divide their home matches between Maryland, Virginia, and DC (though COVID-19 got in the way, and they didn't play any games in Maryland). Finally, in 2021, they left Maryland entirely, splitting home games between DC and Virginia until moving all home games to United's stadium in 2023. Do note that the Commanders and Caps have their operational headquarters in Virginia, and D.C. United has its training facilities (which the Spirit also use) there as well.[[/note]]

*** Quite famous for its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (properly known as the Tomb of the Unknowns) which currently holds remains of three unknown soldiers: one from each World War and one from Korea. It also held a soldier from the Vietnam War until his remains were positively identified in the 90s and his body was given its own burial. The guards of the Tomb, known as Sentinels, are known for their '''extremely''' precise adherence to procedure, especially in the Changing of the Guards ceremony. The mat they walk on during their patrols at the tomb actually has heel prints worn into it because the Sentinels walk the same steps '''every time.''' The Changing of the Guard is quite a sight to behold. The Sentinels are known for remaining at the tomb no matter the conditions, and not even hurricanes have forced them from their post.[[labelnote:NB]] Their orders in cases of extreme weather are basically to withdraw to a safer location if they believe they will come to harm otherwise. This is left to the judgement of the Sentinel on duty. So far, none of the conditions they’ve faced have been judged sufficiently perilous.[[/labelnote]] Serving as one of the Sentinels is one of the highest honors a member of the US Army can have. Oh, and a word of advice? Show the utmost respect when you're at the tomb. The Sentinels do not take kindly to people disrespecting those buried there and will not hesitate to call out someone who steps beyond the barriers or speaks loudly or disrespectfully, and in fact a hush falls over the crowd during the changing of the guard; it's ''that'' solemn.

Washington is also one of only 12 cities in the U.S. to have sports teams from all four major league sports: for basketball, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Wizards]] (formerly the Bullets, before the owners realized the awkwardness in glorifying guns in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the nation), for baseball, the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Nationals]] (nickname: the Nats; formerly the UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} Expos before they moved to DC in 2004), for hockey, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Capitals]] (nickname: the Caps), and for football, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Commanders]] (formerly the "Redskins" before team ownership finally acquiesced to decades of indigenous protests, and then simply "Washington Football Team" for two seasons; now likely yo change names [[IHaveManyNames yet again]] since the name "Commanders" is a relic of hated former team ownership). The city and its surrounding area are also home to teams in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer (D.C. United), the WNBA (the Washington Mystics), and the National Women's Soccer League (the Washington Spirit). Of these teams, the Washington Commanders actually play in Maryland; all of the others play all home games in the District proper.[[note]]The Spirit is a more complicated case. Through 2018, they played solely in Maryland. In 2019, they moved two home games to D.C. United's home field in the District. In 2020, they planned to evenly divide their home matches between Maryland, Virginia, and DC (though COVID-19 got in the way, and they didn't play any games in Maryland). Finally, in 2021, they left Maryland entirely, splitting home games between DC and Virginia until moving all home games to United's stadium in 2023. Do note that the Commanders and Caps have their operational headquarters in Virginia, and D.C. United has its training facilities (which the Spirit also use) there as well.[[/note]]

Washington is also one of only 12 cities in the U.S. to have sports teams from all four major league sports: for basketball, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Wizards]] (formerly the Bullets, before the owners realized the awkwardness in glorifying guns in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the nation), for baseball, the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Nationals]] (nickname: the Nats), for hockey, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Capitals]] (nickname: the Caps), and for football, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Commanders]] (formerly the "Redskins" before team ownership finally acquiesced to decades of indigenous protests, and then simply "Washington Football Team" for two seasons). The city and its surrounding area are also home to teams in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer (D.C. United), the WNBA (the Washington Mystics), and the National Women's Soccer League (the Washington Spirit). Of these teams, the Washington Commanders actually play in Maryland; all of the others play all home games in the District proper.[[note]]The Spirit is a more complicated case. Through 2018, they played solely in Maryland. In 2019, they moved two home games to D.C. United's home field in the District. In 2020, they planned to evenly divide their home matches between Maryland, Virginia, and DC (though COVID-19 got in the way, and they didn't play any games in Maryland). Finally, in 2021, they left Maryland entirely, splitting home games between DC and Virginia until moving all home games to United's stadium in 2023. Do note that the Commanders and Caps have their operational headquarters in Virginia, and D.C. United has its training facilities (which the Spirit also use) there as well.[[/note]]

Downtown DC itself is deceptively large -- the museum corridor is two miles long -- and sits on the border between the three[[note]](Northwest, Southeast, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Virginia]])[[/note]] areas. '''K Street''', in the center of town, is indeed a WretchedHive of lawyers and industry lobbyists.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' (which involves some ArtisticLicense -- in RealLife, NCIS is headquartered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia)

** In a bizarre case of LifeImitatesArt [[ArtImitatesLife Imitates Life]], the Smithsonian Castle currently has previously a self-described "vast pile of booty from Smithsonian" on exhibit in the main hall, ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''-style. It consists of replicas of all of the famous and obscure knick-knacks that appeared as props on the film, all of which were replicas of actual Smithsonian artifacts, topped by [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Dorothy's Slippers]], Film/{{Rocky}}'s gloves and [[Series/AllInTheFamily Archie Bunker's Chair]].

** In a bizarre case of LifeImitatesArt [[ArtImitatesLife Imitates Life]], the Smithsonian Castle currently has a self-described "vast pile of booty from Smithsonian" on exhibit in the main hall, ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''-style. It consists of replicas of all of the famous and obscure knick-knacks that appeared as props on the film, all of which were replicas of actual Smithsonian artifacts, topped by [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Dorothy's Slippers]], Film/{{Rocky}}'s gloves and [[Series/AllInTheFamily Archie Bunker's Chair]].

* The National Museum of Menstruation. {{Squick}}.

* The National Dollhouse Museum.

* The National Aquarium. Little sister to the more famous National Aquarium of Baltimore, it's housed in the basement of the Department of Commerce building.

Washington is also one of only 12 cities in the U.S. to have sports teams from all four major league sports: for basketball, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Wizards]] (formerly the Bullets, before the owners realized the awkwardness in glorifying guns in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the nation), for baseball, the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Nationals]] (nickname: the Nats), for hockey, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Capitals]] (nickname: the Caps), and for football, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Commanders]] (formerly the "Redskins" before team ownership finally acquiesced to decades of indigenous protests, and then simply "Washington Football Team" for two seasons). The city and its surrounding area are also home to teams in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer (D.C. United), the WNBA (the Washington Mystics), and the National Women's Soccer League (the Washington Spirit). Of these teams, the Washington Commanders actually play in Maryland; all of the others play all home games in the District proper.[[note]]The Spirit is a more complicated case. Through 2018, they played solely in Maryland. In 2019, they moved two home games to D.C. United's home field in the District. In 2020, they planned to evenly divide their home matches between Maryland, Virginia, and DC (though COVID-19 got in the way, and they didn't play any games in Maryland). Finally, in 2021, they left Maryland entirely, splitting home games between DC and Virginia until moving all home games to United's stadium in 2023. Do note that the Commanders and Caps have their operational headquarters in Virginia, and D.C. United has its training facilities (which the Spirit also use) there as well.[[/note]]

The capital of the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, Washington, District of Columbia, (colloquially D.C. or ''The District'') is home to the U.S. federal government. Well, most of it. The land was originally taken from Maryland and UsefulNotes/{{Virginia}} in 1790. The Virginia part was returned in 1846 as what is now Arlington County and the City of Alexandria, which are still part of the same urban area. For people in FlyoverCountry it is often considered to be a [[WretchedHive Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy]], due to its high crime and reported corruption on the local and federal level. A lot of people who live in the metropolitan area agree... and think the flyover states should stop sending their scum and villainy. (Congress, they will gladly point out, does not consist of a single D.C. native.)

** United States Customs and Border Protection (they enforce customs laws at Reagan National Airport)

** Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is the closest to town, and serves as a hub for American Airlines. Just like the Pentagon, it's directly across the river in Arlington, VA. It used to be just "Washington National Airport", but was renamed by Congress in TheNineties (the name change was unpopular in certain circles because of Reagan's breaking of an air traffic controllers' strike in TheEighties). Prior to the opening of the Dulles extension of the Silver Line in November 2022, it was the only airport in the DC area with direct rail access via the Metro. This is the airport of choice for Congresspeople entering and leaving town (indeed, it's seen as one of their perks), but also has a limited number of flights available due to noise concerns and the difficult approach to the runway, which requires avoiding skyscrapers in Rosslyn and Crystal City while trying ''not'' to crash into the Potomac and avoid heavily restricted airspace nearby. As such, it commands higher ticket prices and isn't quite as busy as the outlying airports. Also, it's strictly a ''national'' airport; it can only originate or receive flights that are headed to or from US destinations, meaning international flights must use BWI or Dulles.[[note]] With a few exceptions—the airport has flights to UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, Ottawa, and [[UsefulNotes/TheBahamas Nassau]]. Because these cities' airports have U.S. customs and immigration preclearance facilities, they are treated as US destinations. (This means that theoretically, flights to and from UsefulNotes/{{Dublin}} and Shannon Airports in UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}, which also have these facilities, could also come here, but various other considerations have prevented this.)[[/note]] Or you could just go to:
** Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is the largest airport in the area and one of the busiest in the country, and a hub for United Airlines. Infamous for being a long, long haul from downtown (25 miles from the White House, through what has since become the highly-populated edge cities of Tysons, Reston, and Herndon), for having an equally long access road reserved especially for it, and for not having any sort of rail access until the Silver Line was extended to it in November 2022[[note]]originally scheduled to open in 2020, but delayed due to [[TroubledProduction construction issues]] and the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic[[/note]]. You ''will'' get a ticket on the access road if you're not going to the airport for something; that said, "something" can be going to the [=FedEx=] terminal or picking someone up, not just boarding a flight. Otherwise, from the Beltway westward, you're expected to use the Dulles Toll Road and pay the tolls. Dulles was also infamous for its odd "mobile lounges", crosses between buses and jetbridges that, originally, could drive right up to the side of a plane and allow you to board directly. As the airport got busier, though, the lounges became a liability as they were small, cramped and required a slow docking process when arriving at the terminal. Thus, as the airport expanded to multiple, widely-separated "concourses" where arriving and departing planes docked, they were mainly used to shuttle passengers between the main terminal and the various concourses. A new underground people mover (similar to the ones in use at other large airports) has mostly replaced them, although they continue to be used to connect Concourse D (not yet served by the rail line) to Concourse A and the main terminal. The building housing Concourses C and D is supposedly "temporary;" that said, [[DevelopmentHell they've been working on the "permanent" replacement since 1983 and not even preliminary designs have been approved]]. The most striking architectural feature of Dulles is its RaygunGothic main terminal building, which was designed by Eero Saarinen (the same guy responsible for the old TWA Flight Center at JFK) and built in 1961.
** And finally, there's Baltimore/Washington International-Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), which is actually closer to Baltimore than DC but is still popular with DC residents. It's not as busy as Dulles or as restricted as National, meaning flights are often cheap enough that the drive (even longer than the one to Dulles, especially from Virginia) is WorthIt. It's also accessible from Amtrak, MARC, and Baltimore's light-rail system; Metrobus also runs a dedicated shuttle to BWI, originating from the Greenbelt station on the Green and Yellow Lines. Also, just like [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles LAX]] and [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco SFO]], almost everyone calls it by its call sign than its full name. Even the government, sometimes: Amtrak announcements in some cases (e.g. at the Wilmington, DE train station) just call it "BWI Airport."[[note]]The NJ Transit announcer-recording at Trenton, NJ does the same.[[/note]] BWI functions as a focus city for Southwest Airlines.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' -- less a superhero movie and more a political thriller/action movie that [[GenreShift happens to star a superhero]]. Much of the action takes place around the DC area, although Steve and Natasha briefly travel to New Jersey to visit the camp where he did his basic training.

DC has an extensive system of trains known as the [[UsefulNotes/WashingtonMetro Metro]]. Basically, everyone uses the Metro, except Washington Post writers and the politicians on the Metro Board. You can even use it to go far out to suburban shopping destinations (or to the University of Maryland in nearby College Park) and as of 2022, the newest line, the Silver (Metro lines are color-coded) has been completed, connecting Dulles International Airport with the central city. It [[WeaksauceWeakness does not go to Georgetown]], although it does stop nearby at Foggy Bottom (where the State Department is). In the spring of 2016, due to a long string of serious accidents and incidents, some of which resulted in fatalities among commuters unlucky enough to be caught up in them, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the Metro, embarked on an ambitious and highly urgent program to repair the entire Metrorail system, aiming to compress what would normally be three years' worth of work into one; it was universally expected to greatly worsen the region's already terrible traffic situation -- and did. There has been debate on how successful it was (or wasn't).

Washington is also one of only 12 cities in the U.S. that has a sports team from all four major league sports: for basketball, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Wizards]] (formerly the Bullets, before the owners realized the awkwardness in glorifying guns in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the nation), for baseball, the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Nationals]] (nickname: the Nats), for hockey, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Capitals]] (nickname: the Caps), and for football, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Commanders]] (formerly the "Redskins" before team ownership finally acquiesced to decades of indigenous protests, and then simply "Washington Football Team" for two seasons). The city and its surrounding area are also home to teams in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer (D.C. United), the WNBA (the Washington Mystics), and the National Women's Soccer League (the Washington Spirit). Of these teams, the Washington Commanders actually play in Maryland; all of the others play all home games in the District proper.[[note]]The Spirit is a more complicated case. Through 2018, they played solely in Maryland. In 2019, they moved two home games to D.C. United's home field in the District. In 2020, they planned to evenly divide their home matches between Maryland, Virginia, and DC (though COVID-19 got in the way, and they didn't play any games in Maryland). Finally, in 2021, they left Maryland entirely, splitting home games between DC and Virginia until moving all home games to United's stadium in 2023. Do note that the Commanders and Caps have their operational headquarters in Virginia, and D.C. United has its training facilities (which the Spirit also use) there as well.[[/note]]

** The Air and Space Museum: touchable piece of the moon, lot of stuff on flight, UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, a Pershing II and RT-21M/SS-20 side-by-side. At approximately seven million visitors a year, it is the most popular museum on the mall (and quite possibly in the world). It has a sister museum, the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, in Chantilly, Virginia, near Dulles Airport, which contains items like the ''Enola Gay'', the ''SR-71 Blackbird'' and the space shuttle ''Discovery''.

* The International Spy Museum. The only museum dedicated to the art of spying in the US. Offers spy-tours of the city as well as regular [[http://www.spymuseum.org/experiences evening theme events.]]
* The National Aquarium. Little sister to the more famous National Aquarium of Baltimore, its housed in the basement of the Department of Commerce building.

* [[UsefulNotes/WashingtonMetro Metrorail]] - DC's subway system, the second-busiest in the nation and designed as something of an antithesis to the New York City Subway, with huge domed-concrete stations, hexagonal tile floors, computer-controlled cars, and notoriously strict rules about consuming food and beverages. Designed in the late 1960s as a [[TimeForPlanB Plan B]] to redirect unused freeway funds to some form of transport (as DC residents saw that they really didn't want freeways cutting apart their backyards and neighborhoods), it was made with an eye toward luring commuters out of their cars -- a plan that, 40 years on, seems to have worked. It's starting to show its age a bit (it went online in 1976), has had a huge across-the-board repair project during 2016 and 2017, and is nearing capacity, but still preferable to driving (especially if you're aware of how bad DC traffic is). One trait of Metrorail that often surprises people is how ''clean'' it's kept, thanks in part to those notoriously strict rules about consuming food and drink (a rule that for the most part, people follow).

** Nowadays locals tend to have a love-hate relationship with Metro. On weekdays, if you're a commuter who drives to a Metro stop and parks there, you have to pay a flat parking garage fee, and then it costs money to go in and out of DC. At the wrong times of day (read: rush hour), that could add up to $15 a day just to go to work. And that's not counting whatever is spent on gas. The federal government and some companies will reimburse DC-based and suburban employees for their Metro (or other mass transit, see below) expenses.
** Metro is also designed in such a way that if someone wants to go from Maryland to stops in Virginia, or vice-versa, they ''have'' to go through DC; there's no bypass lines or ring routes, though several have been proposed over the years, and a partial ring route (the Purple Line in Maryland) is currently under construction.

** Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is the closest to town, and a hub for American Airlines. Just like the Pentagon, it's directly across the river in Arlington, VA. It used to be just "Washington National Airport", but was renamed by Congress in TheNineties (the name change was unpopular in certain circles because of Reagan's breaking of an air traffic controllers' strike in TheEighties). Prior to the opening of the Dulles extension of the Silver Line in November 2022, it was the only airport in the DC area with direct rail access via the Metro. This is the airport of choice for Congresspeople entering and leaving town (indeed, it's seen as one of their perks), but also has a limited number of flights available due to noise concerns and the difficult approach to the runway, which requires avoiding skyscrapers in Rosslyn and Crystal City while trying ''not'' to crash into the Potomac and avoid heavily restricted airspace nearby. As such, it commands higher ticket prices and isn't quite as busy as the outlying airports. Also, it's strictly a ''national'' airport; it can only originate or receive flights that are headed to or from US destinations, meaning international flights must use BWI or Dulles.[[note]] With a few exceptions—the airport has flights to UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, Ottawa, and [[UsefulNotes/TheBahamas Nassau]]. Because these cities' airports have U.S. customs and immigration preclearance facilities, they are treated as US destinations. (This means that theoretically, flights to and from UsefulNotes/{{Dublin}} and Shannon Airports in UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}, which also have these facilities, could also come here, but various other considerations have prevented this.)[[/note]] Or you could just go to:
** Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), the largest airport in the area and one of the busiest in the country, and a hub for United Airlines. Infamous for being a long, long haul from downtown (25 miles from the White House, through what has since become the highly-populated edge cities of Tysons, Reston, and Herndon), for having an equally long access road reserved especially for it, and for not having any sort of rail access until the Silver Line was extended to it in November 2022[[note]]originally scheduled to open in 2020, but delayed due to [[TroubledProduction construction issues]] and the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic[[/note]]. You ''will'' get a ticket on the access road if you're not going to the airport for something; that said, "something" can be going to the [=FedEx=] terminal or picking someone up, not just boarding a flight. Otherwise, from the Beltway westward, you're expected to use the Dulles Toll Road and pay the tolls. Dulles was also infamous for its odd "mobile lounges", crosses between buses and jetbridges that, originally, could drive right up to the side of a plane and allow you to board directly. As the airport got busier, though, the lounges became a liability as they were small, cramped and required a slow docking process when arriving at the terminal. Thus, as the airport expanded to multiple, widely-separated "concourses" where arriving and departing planes docked, they were mainly used to shuttle passengers between the main terminal and the various concourses. A new underground people mover (similar to the ones in use at other large airports) has mostly replaced them, although they continue to be used to connect Concourse D (not yet served by the rail line) to Concourse A and the main terminal. The building housing Concourses C and D is supposedly "temporary;" that said, [[DevelopmentHell they've been working on the "permanent" replacement since 1983 and not even preliminary designs have been approved]]. The most striking architectural feature of Dulles is its RaygunGothic main terminal building, which was designed by Eero Saarinen (the same guy responsible for the old TWA Flight Center at JFK) and built in 1961.
** And finally, there's Baltimore/Washington International-Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), which is actually closer to Baltimore than DC but is still popular with DC residents. It's not as busy as Dulles or as restricted as National, meaning flights are often cheap enough that the drive (even longer than the one to Dulles, especially from Virginia) is WorthIt. It's also accessible from MARC and Baltimore's light-rail system; Metrobus also runs a dedicated shuttle to BWI, originating from the Greenbelt station on the Green and Yellow Lines. Also, just like [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles LAX]] and [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco SFO]], almost everyone calls it by its call sign than its full name. Even the government, sometimes: Amtrak announcements (yes, it stops at BWI) in some cases (e.g. at the Wilmington, DE train station) just call it "BWI Airport."[[note]]The NJ Transit announcer-recording at Trenton, NJ does the same.[[/note]] BWI functions as a focus city for Southwest Airlines.

South and east of Capitol Hill is the Anacostia river, hemmed in by levees and old industrial sidings. This marks the boundary with [[WrongSideOfTheTracks the hard lands]], known to some people as "Simple City"[[note]](because the choice between life and death is very simple there)[[/note]]. The [[SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom Department of Homeland Security]] has cheerfully decided to build its national HQ in part of [[AbandonedHospital a converted mental hospital]] in Simple City, just south of Anacostia's [[DissonantSerenity surprisingly quaint]] main drag. The ''other'' part of the converted mental hospital is now controlled by the District's local government, with its focus being a smallish arena that now serves as the practice facility for the Washington Wizards, the home arena for the Wizards' NBA G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, and most notably as the home of the WNBA's Washington Mystics (all three teams, plus the NHL's Capitals, are owned by the same company). This part of town is also the home of D.C.'s other native music, go-go.[[note]]No, not ''that go-go''.[[/note]] It is a lo-fi cross between funk and hip-hop that is played with guitar and dozens of percussion instruments. Incidentally, the G League team took its name from this genre.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' -- less a superhero movie and more a political thriller/action movie that [[GenreShift happens to star a superhero]]. Much of the action takes place around the DC area, although Steve visits his home state of [[BigApplesauce New York]].

** Arlington Cemetery: a military cemetery (also in Virginia; it's only about half a mile from The Pentagon and the Lincoln Memorial), but not everyone there actually died in a war. Veterans who served during wartime can be buried there too, along with their families. Burial place of JFK, his wife Jacqueline, their stillborn children Patrick and Arabella, and his brother Robert. Before the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, it was the plantation of Confederate general Robert E. Lee; it became a cemetery because the Union Army controlled Arlington and the Union Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs thought it would be deliciously ironic if Lee's house became the Union's hospital, and buried its dead in his fields and gardens. (Also, Meigs had a personal problem with Lee, since Meigs was from Georgia but remained loyal to the Union; each regarded the other as a traitor.) The house still stands overlooking the grounds, and is itself a museum. The Iwo Jima Memorial, a giant statue reproducing the iconic photograph of U.S. Marines (and a Navy corpsman) raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi in February of 1945, is not far from here.
*** Quite famous for its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (properly known as the Tomb of the Unknowns) which currently holds remains of three unknown soldiers: one from each World War and one from Korea. It also held a soldier from the Vietnam War until his remains were positively identified in the 90s and his body was given its own burial. The guards of the Tomb, known as Sentinels, are known for their '''extremely''' precise adherence to procedure, especially in the Changing of the Guards ceremony. The mat they walk on during their patrols at the tomb actually has heel prints worn into it because the Sentinels walk the same steps '''every time.''' The Changing of the Guard is quite a sight to behold. The Sentinels are known for remaining at the tomb no matter the conditions, and not even hurricanes have forced them from their post.[[labelnote:NB]] Their orders in cases of extreme weather are basically to withdraw to a safer location if they believe they will come to harm otherwise. This is left to the judgement of the sentinel on duty. So far, none of the conditions they’ve faced have been judged sufficiently perilous.[[/labelnote]] Serving as one of the Sentinels is one of the highest honors a member of the US Army can have. Oh, and a word of advice? Show the utmost respect when you're at the tomb. The Sentinels do not take kindly to people disrespecting those buried there and will not hesitate to call out someone who steps beyond the barriers or speaks loudly or disrespectfully, and in fact a hush falls over the crowd during the changing of the guard; it's ''that'' solemn.

* The Capital Beltway, aka Interstate 495. On its southern and eastern sections, it also contains mainline Interstate 95... which was supposed to go directly through DC on its trek from Miami to Maine, but was redirected by freeway revolts (see above). All in all, it's another reason why [[WashingtonDCInvasion Invading DC is not advised.]]

* Just like NYC, Philly and Chicago, DC has commuter trains and buses leading out of the city into the far suburbs; unlike those cities, however, they're mainly for the hordes of Executive Branch workers (and, in the summer, tourists) going into and out of town, and so they don't run on weekends for the most part, except for a few token Metrobus routes. The trains and buses going into Maryland are run by that state's transit authority, and the trains are called "MARC"; MARC also serves Baltimore, and the Penn Line runs all the way to Perryville, MD.[[note]]This line became the first to start running on weekends sometime in the 2000s. There have been calls for the other lines -- Brunswick and Camden -- to do the same, but CSX Transportation, who owns the tracks they use, haven't been compliant.[[/note]] There's also talk of extending MARC all the way up to Newark, DE or even Wilmington, which would connect it to UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}'s SEPTA[[note]]South-East Pennsylvania Transit Authority[[/note]] regional rail system, making travel from DC to New York by ''commuter rail'' a real (if uncomfortable, albeit more comfortable than the buses, the only alternative comparable in price) possibility (SEPTA connects to New York by meeting UsefulNotes/NewJerseyTransit's Northeast Corridor Line at Trenton).[[note]]Such an extension would actually potentially open up trips as far as ''Boston'' by commuter rail if plans to move the eastern terminus of Connecticut's Shore Line East service from New London to Providence also amount to anything--though you'd have to take the NYC Subway shuttle from Penn Station to Grand Central when changing trains from NJ Transit to Metro-North in New York.[[/note]] Virginia's system is split between several operators, the biggest being the PRTC/VRE system (which mainly serves Prince William County, a few far-flung locations in Fairfax such as Lorton and Burke, and the 95 corridor down to Fredericksburg). There's been some talk about MARC and VRE merging into one long railroad, which would allow passengers to travel from Maryland to Virginia and vice versa without having to change trains, but until The New Twenties, this seemed unlikely to happen; with Amazon.com building its new headquarters in Virginia, next to the railway, there's been greater pressure to make it happen, and a study advocating the move was released in early 2021.

** Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), the largest airport in the area and one of the busiest in the country, and a hub for United Airlines. Infamous for being a long, long haul from downtown (25 miles from the White House, through what has since become the highly-populated edge cities of Tysons, Reston, and Herndon), for having an equally long access road reserved especially for it, and for not having any sort of rail access until the Silver Line was extended to it in November 2022[[note]]originally scheduled to open in 2020, but delayed due to [[TroubledProduction construction issues]] and the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic[[/note]]. You ''will'' get a ticket on the access road if you're not going to the airport for something; that said, "something" can be going to the [=FedEx=] terminal or picking someone up, not just boarding a flight. Otherwise, from the Beltway westward, you're expected to use the Dulles Toll Road and pay the tolls. Dulles was also infamous for its odd "shuttle lounges", crosses between buses and jetbridges that, originally, could drive right up to the side of a plane and allow you to board directly. As the airport got busier, though, the lounges became a liability as they were small, cramped and required a slow docking process when arriving at the terminal. Thus, as the airport expanded to multiple, widely-separated "concourses" where arriving and departing planes docked, they were mainly used to shuttle passengers between the main terminal and the various concourses. A new underground people mover (similar to the ones in use at other large airports) has mostly replaced them, although they continue to be used to connect Concourse D (not yet served by the rail line) to Concourse A and the main terminal. The building housing Concourses C and D is supposedly "temporary;" that said, [[DevelopmentHell they've been working on the "permanent" replacement since 1983 and not even preliminary designs have been approved]]. The most striking architectural feature of Dulles is its RaygunGothic main terminal building, which was designed by Eero Saarinen (the same guy responsible for the old TWA Flight Center at JFK) and built in 1961.

*** Quite famous for its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (properly known as the Tomb of the Unknowns) which currently holds remains of three unknown soldiers: one from each World War and one from Korea. It also held a soldier from the Vietnam War until his remains were positively identified in the 90s and his body was given its own burial. The guards of the Tomb, known as Sentinels, are known for their '''extremely''' precise adherence to procedure, especially in the Changing of the Guards ceremony. The mat they walk on during their patrols at the tomb actually has heel prints worn into it because the Sentinels walk the same steps '''every time.''' The Changing of the Guard is quite a sight to behold. The Sentinels are known for remaining at the tomb no matter the conditions, and not even hurricanes have forced them from their post.[[labelnote:NB]] Their orders in cases of extreme weather are basically to withdraw to a safer location if they believe they will come to harm otherwise. This is left to the judgement of the sentinel on duty. So far, none of the conditions they’ve faced have been judged sufficiently perilous.[[/labelnote]] Serving as one of the Sentinels is one of the highest honors a member of the US Army can have. Oh, and a word of advice? Show the utmost respect when you're at the tomb. The Sentinels do not take kindly to people disrespecting those buried there, and in fact a hush falls over the crowd during the changing of the guard; it's that solemn.

Why hasn't this been corrected? Aside from the fact that [[BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible getting Congress to agree on anything is hard in general]], politics in the District are incredibly monolithic, leaving both of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem the major political parties of the US]] with very different preferences for a solution. The Democratic Party, which enjoys over 90% support in DC, naturally favors statehood or something equivalent, which would add 2 Senate seats (and one House seat) that they would perpetually control[[note]]If making a territory 1/20th the size of UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland a state seems a reach, it's worth noting the actual population of DC is greater than UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}} or UsefulNotes/{{Wyoming}}, and just shy of UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}}[[/note]]. The Republican Party, on the other hand, prefers returning the land of the District to the jurisdiction of Maryland, which gave up the land to form the capital in the first place. This would add a single Democratic-dominated House district to Maryland's allotment, a much smaller advantage to Democrats and thus much more palatable to Republicans.[[note]]Keep in mind that Maryland is one of America’s most heavily Democratic states to begin with, so the addition likely wouldn't impact the Senate.[[/note]] A compromise solution has been suggested that D.C. be granted a single seat in the House but no Senators, either by statute (which has passed in the House several times but stalled in the Senate)[[note]]The most recent statute would have increased the size of the House by two, allocating one seat to DC and one seat to the state that had just missed out on getting a new seat in the most recent Census. As the state in question 2000-2010 was solid-red UsefulNotes/{{Utah}}, this was palatable to Republicans; it's unclear which state would get the new seat after the 2010 Census, but as most states with growing populations are red, as well, the GOP is still more or less OK with this.[[/note]] or by constitutional amendment (proposed by Independent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who supported the goals of the statutory path but felt it would be unconstitutional; this has also gotten nowhere). That question of constitutionality is the final nail in the coffin--even if a statehood statute was one day passed, the move would face a steep challenge from the Supreme Court, who would likely rule that an amendment ''would'' be necessary. That would require supermajorities in both houses of Congress ''and'' of the other state legislatures (two-thirds in Congress, ''three-fourths'' in the states), and with Republicans having a solid majority of the latter, such a major political concession sadly seems a pipe dream.

Washington D.C. has been described as two cities in one. The first part consists of the famous buildings, government offices, museums, office buildings, and select housing areas, mainly populated by predominantly upper class, predominantly liberal (except for conservative industry lobbyists) white people who run the government (or up-and-coming yuppie policy wonks who imagine themselves doing so and mostly leave disappointed when they end up working for said lobbyists). Most go home to Virginia and Maryland at night. The ones who stay gravitate like magnets to the gentrified, [[GayParee Parisian-style]] neighborhoods in the Northwest quadrant of the city.

Washington is also one of only 12 cities in the U.S. that has a sports team from all four major league sports: for basketball, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Wizards]] (formerly the Bullets, before the owners realized the awkwardness in glorifying guns in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the nation), for baseball, the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Nationals]] (nickname: the Nats), for hockey, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Capitals]] (nickname: the Caps), and for football, the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Commanders]] (formerly the "Redskins" before team ownership finally acquiesced to decades of indigenous protests, and then simply "Washington Football Team" for two seasons). The city and its surrounding area are also home to teams in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer (D.C. United), the WNBA (the Washington Mystics), and the National Women's Soccer League (the Washington Spirit). Of these teams, the Washington Commanders actually play in Maryland; all of the others except the Spirit play all home games in the District proper.[[note]]The Spirit is a more complicated case. Through 2018, they played solely in Maryland. In 2019, they moved two home games to D.C. United's home field in the District. In 2020, they planned to evenly divide their home matches between Maryland, Virginia, and DC (though COVID-19 got in the way, and they didn't play any games in Maryland). Finally, in 2021, they left Maryland entirely, splitting home games between DC and Virginia. While only the Spirit plays in Virginia, and only part-time, the Commanders and Caps have their operational headquarters in that state, and D.C. United has its training facilities (which the Spirit also use) there as well.[[/note]]

Why hasn't this been corrected? Aside from the fact that [[BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible getting Congress to agree on anything is hard in general]], politics in the District are incredibly monolithic, leaving both of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem the major political parties of the US]] with very different preferences for a solution. The Democratic Party, which enjoys over 90% support in DC, naturally favors statehood or something equivalent, which would add 2 Senate seats (and one House seat) that they would perpetually control[[note]]If making a territory 1/20th the size of UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland a state seems a reach, it's worth noting the actual population of DC is greater than UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}} or UsefulNotes/{{Wyoming}}, and just shy of UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}}[[/note]]. The Republican Party, on the other hand, prefers returning the land of the District to the jurisdiction of Maryland, which gave up the land to form the capital in the first place. This would add a single Democratic-dominated House district to Maryland's allotment, a much smaller advantage to Democrats and thus much more palatable to Republicans.[[note]]Keep in mind that Maryland is one of America’s most heavily Democratic states to begin with, so the addition likely wouldn't impact the Senate.[[/note]] A compromise solution has been suggested that D.C. be granted a single seat in the House but no Senators, either by statute (which has passed in the House several times but stalled in the Senate)[[note]]The most recent statute would have increased the size of the House by two, allocating one seat to DC and one seat to the state that had just missed out on getting a new seat in the most recent Census. As the state in question 2000-2010 was solid-red UsefulNotes/{{Utah}}, this was palatable to Republicans; it's unclear which state would get the new seat after the 2010 Census, but as most states with growing populations are red, as well, the GOP is still more or less OK with this.[[/note]] or by constitutional amendment (proposed by Independent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who supported the goals of the statutory path but felt it would be unconstitutional; this has also gotten nowhere). That question of constitutionality is the final nail in the coffin--even if a statehood statute was one day passed, the move would face a steep challenge from the Supreme Court, who would likely rule that an amendment ''would'' be necessary. That would require a supermajority of Congress ''and'' of the other state legislatures, and with Republicans having a solid majority of the latter, such a major political concession sadly seems a pipe dream.

The Washington metro area is the sixth-biggest in the United States. Combined with Baltimore, it makes up the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Baltimore is theoretically less than an hour's drive from Washington. "Theoretically" is the operative word; traffic can be ''brutal'', due, among other things, to the fact that the Baltimore-Washington region is situated squarely atop Interstate 95, the main north-south highway on the U.S. East Coast, so that the Washington Beltway, the ring road surrounding the city, has to carry not only local traffic but traffic heading to the Northeast and Southeast. Also, Washington, being located in the Southern climate zone, is notorious for its poor response to winter snowstorms, which can be reliably counted on to snarl traffic up for a couple of days whenever one hits; the huge 2016 blizzard nicknamed "Snowzilla" by locals is only the most recent example. It's often claimed that Washington has the United States' worst traffic alongside Los Angeles. Urban sprawl between the two cities is pretty much continuous, and essentially forms the southern end of the East Coast megalopolis stretching from Washington to Boston. However, the two cities are culturally distinct, and because of the gap both Baltimore and Washington have separate TV and radio stations covering their areas despite the short distance between the two.

->''"First in war. First in peace. [[TakeThat Last in the]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} National League]] -- wait, that's now Philadelphia."''