Come spring, the population of Washington, D.C., splits into two species. There are the locals, who watch each other pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere on Sunday morning talk shows.
And there are the tourists, who watch each other pump strollers up and down the Mall in frantic pursuit of blooming cherry trees and the city’s almost inexhaustible supply of culture and history.
Avoiding the suffocating number of the latter and the suffocating self-importance of the former is not easy. But with a little planning and ingenuity, a quick getaway to our governmental seat can be a capital–and capital-friendly–experience.
The first trick is to not go to Washington, D.C., at all.
Flying into Baltimore-Washington International Airport is a generally cheaper and saner alternative. We paid $144 each for round-trip tickets from Midway Airport on Southwest Airlines and could have saved almost one-third if we had booked during a special or been willing to go with an off-brand airline.
We arrived midday on a Saturday in March; on weekends getting into D.C. takes about 45 minutes and costs $21 one-way by van shuttle. But on weekdays the MARC commuter train makes the trip to and from Union Station faster and for only $5.
The trouble with a weekend in Washington is that the abundance of choice can overwhelm minds, legs and wallets. Our game plan was to keep it simple, avoid tourist fatigue by refueling often and, when possible, seek out the slightly counterintuitive destination.
With its narrow, winding hallways and gently battered antiques, the Tabard Inn was a perfect fit, offering an offbeat alternative to bland chain hotels. While the hotel is not immune to inside-the-Beltway braggadocio — on a previous visit, a desk clerk was overheard saying, with great relish, that Webster Hubbell had recently dined in the inn’s well-regarded restaurant — even visitors who can’t distinguish one ex-convict Clinton friend from another will enjoy the Tabard’s low-key charms.
Among the eclectic selection of restaurants in the Tabard’s neighborhood is Pizzeria Paradiso, a simple frescoed room that serves “as good a pizza as you’re likely to taste outside of Naples,” according to Washingtonian magazine.
That recommendation was enough to send us straight there from unpacking our bags, and we were not disappointed, either in price or in palate. One pizza we ordered dropped a fried egg and fish roe atop first-rate but more conventional flavorings, and another essentially deconstructed pesto, assembling all the ingredients, unpureed, on one of the most perfectly textured thin crusts you will taste.
Post-pizza, we spent a brilliant spring afternoon walking amid fragrant pink-to-white cherry blossoms, circumnavigating the Tidal Basin and, en route, seeing the Jefferson Memorial and the expansive new FDR Memorial.
Total cost to partake in this Washington ritual: $0, if you were willing to make the longish walk, and only $4 or so round trip if you got there by way of the city’s exceedingly pleasant and efficient Metro system.
On weekends, the Smithsonian’s flagship museums–the Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery and the Museum of American History–sometimes resemble Pamplona on race day, as visitors rush to take in the maximum load of Art and Culture’s Greatest Hits. But the institution’s smaller outposts, particularly those of the central Mall’s beaten gravel path, often contain equally precious treasures without the accompanying press of crowds.
We were delighted, for instance, to find that on our first night there the Museum of American Art was staying open until 11 p.m. to accommodate last-days demand for its unprecedentedly popular Ansel Adams exhibit.
There was still a throng to see Adams’ luminous, elegantly composed black-and-whites, but certainly a smaller one than during the day.
Our second attempt at combining culture and consumption came the next morning when, not having been invited to partake in any of the panels of talking heads, we visited the Corcoran Gallery for its popular Sunday gospel brunch.
At $19.50 a person, the food should have been better than standard buffet fare, but the dining area’s setting, with its stately marble columns and serene marble busts, is pleasant and the music lively.
Like many of Washington’s sights, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, just off the Mall, is free, but it’s well worth the $2.75 fee to order time-specific tickets several days in advance because the passes distributed every morning at 10 run out quickly.
The 2 1/2 hours we had before closing was not enough to take in the enormity of the museum’s topic, nor to fully appreciate the precision and matter-of-fact power with which it is presented.
At first glance, there appears to be nowhere to eat near the Mall except copycat hot dog stands and museum cafes, but a short walk will take you to the Border Cafe at Red Sage, the more casual upstairs eatery attached to Mark Miller’s gourmet southwestern restaurant.
For less than half the price of dining downstairs, the cafe will put a similarly complex array of aggressive, but well-matched flavors on your tongue. It is a good choice for families as well, as kids will find comfort in familiar formats such as enchiladas while adults revel in the unusual.
On the third day of our long but too-brief weekend, the continued great weather enticed us into playing hooky.
We rented bicycles and set off along the Capital Crescent trail, which offers idyllic views of the Potomac and follows, for a time, the old C&O Canal before it peters out in suburban Maryland some 10 miles later.
Along the trail, we stopped at a small park in Bethesda where the cherry blossoms were every bit as beautiful as those along the Tidal Basin. There, we met a pre-schooler named Ware who sold us two cups of lemonade and a pair of tasty chocolate chip cookies for all of 45 cents.
A very promising young man. Let us hope he does not end up in politics.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Weekend expenses for two: %%
The Tabard Inn Hotel (2 nights) $228
Ground transportation between airport and D.C $52
Round-trip airfare $288
Museums $6
Meals $191
All-day rental of two bikes $44
Total $809
%%
IF YOU GO
– GETTING THERE
Southwest Airlines (1-800-I-FLY-SWA) flies non-stop from Midway Airport to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The shuttle services to D.C. operate booths near the baggage claim. For information on MARC schedules and fares, visit the Web site at www.libertynet.org/dvarp/MARC or call 1-800-325-7245 (toll-free number works in the area only); for Amtrak, call 1-800-872-7245.
If you want to fly into Washington, D.C.’s National Airport, United Airlines (1-800-241-6522) also offers some good fares.
– DINING
Pizzeria Paradiso, 2029 P St., N.W., 202-223-1245. Metro: Dupont Circle. Eight-inch pizzas cost about $8.50 and 12-inch pizzas run $15 or so. The adventurous may want to try the Bottarga, which features fish roe. The house lemonade is delicious.
Border Cafe at Red Sage, 605 14th St., N.W., 202-638-4444. Metro: Metro Center. Tex-Mex fare, including excellent spinach and mushroom enchiladas, that’s much more reasonably priced and interesting than it has to be.
Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St., N.W., 202-639-1786. Metro: Farragut West. Sunday gospel brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the museum cafe. No reservations, but the crowd usually thins out by noon.
Les Halles, 1201 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. 202-347-6848. Metro: Metro Center. Steaks and frites galore. A good place for a late-night dinner since they serve until midnight seven days a week.
– LODGING
The Tabard Inn, 1739 N St., N.W., 202-785-1277. Metro: Dupont Circle. The three Victorian townhouses that were linked together to form the Tabard Inn feature 40 rooms, as well as a highly regarded restaurant and a dim, cozy bar. Rooms with a shared bath are $65 to $95 for a single and $90 to $110 for a double. Rooms with a private bath range from $99 to $150 for a single and $114 to $165 for a double. All room rates include a light breakfast.
