Where to?
The National World War II Memorial sits at the opposite end of the Reflecting Pool from the Lincoln Memorial and not far from the Washington Monument.
The Netherlands Carillon stands next to the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery and offers one of the best views in the area.
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, on the National Mall in Washington DC, is dedicated to all aspects of American history and culture.
The NPS Floral Library is a small garden patch planted by the National Park Service that features several varieties of tulips in the spring.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC houses one of the finest collections of paintings and sculptures in the world. On permanent display are works by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Raphael, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Manet, Monet, Rodin, Degas, and many, many more.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, out the back of the Smithsonian Castle, showcases ancient and modern African art.
The Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial, featuring a large, evocative aluminum sculpture of a cresting wave and seagulls in flight, sits on Columbia Island on the Arlington side of the Potomac.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool does what it does best very well indeed, providing some great photographic opportunities for capturing reflections of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.
At the heart of the Iwo Jima Memorial (or the Marine Corps War Memorial) is a massive bronze statue based on an iconic World War II photo of the Marines planting the flag at Iwo Jima. The Memorial is next to Arlington National Cemetery on a hill overlooking the National Mall.
As both the home and office of the President of the United States, the White House is probably the most widely recognized building in Washington DC.
The Lincoln Memorial is one of the grandest and most distinctive of Washington's monuments. Anchoring the western end of the National Mall and framed by the Reflecting Pool, it's an outsized tribute to an American president who played an outsized role in America's history: Abraham Lincoln.
The Maine Avenue Fish Market on Washington DC's Southwest Waterfront is the oldest continually operating outdoor fish market in the United States.
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, in tribute to the celebrated Civil Rights leader, is now open on the banks of the Tidal Basin opposite the Jefferson Memorial.
For what is really just a big, stone tower you'd expect the Washington Monument to be a boring thing to take photos of. But this isn't just any old tower and happens to be near some of the world's great landmarks, making for a bunch of ways and vantage points to get some interesting shots.
The Cuban Friendship Urn is not the most impressive landmark you'll find in Washington DC, but it does have an interesting story behind it.
The Einstein Memorial, featuring a 21-foot, stylized bronze statue of physicist Albert Einstein, sits in a grove of holly and elm trees on the Constitution Avenue side of the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences.
The LBJ Memorial is on the Virginia bank of the Potomac with views of Washington DC's monuments across the river. It's dedicated to the 36th president who occupied the White House during the tumultuous 1960s.
Sitting across the street from the US Capitol Building, the Supreme Court houses the judicial branch of the United States federal government. It's in an appropriately grand building built in the mid-1930s and fronted by imposing classical marble columns.
The African American Civil War Museum is dedicated to preserving and telling the stories of the United States Colored Troops involvement in the American Civil War.
Commemorating Revolution War naval hero Commodore Jones Paul Jones, the memorial sits on the Tidal Basin in Washington DC, not far from the Washington Monument and National World War Two Memorial.
The World War I Memorial near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool isn't well known or much visited. It has been neglected and forgotten for decades but in the past few years has gotten some long-overdue attention.
The United States Air Force Memorial, in a small, raised space between Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon, was opened in October 2006.
The National Arboretum makes for a pleasant park, but its official mission is education and research. With 446 acres and 9.5 miles of meandering roads, it's laid out as a very large park with paddocks, forested areas, ponds, and groves, lots of groves.