No doubt about it, for folks who live in the Baltimore area, Washington is a wonderful destination for a day trip.
Visitors can gaze in awe at monuments to America's past, stroll the halls of world-class museums and listen to legislators debate the rights of men and women.
And Washington is only an hour away.
Yet summer day trips to Washington have their drawbacks. Throngs jamming the Mall and the city's other major attractions can easily wipe out a tourist's enthusiasm. But take heart: The nation's capital offers savvy visitors a range of lesser-known attractions that don't draw such big crowds as the Washington Monument, the White House and the U.S. Capitol.
In a wooded ravine near Rock Creek Park in Northwest Washington, for example, the Hillwood Museum offers sophisticated tourists a peek into the lifestyle of a fabulously wealthy heiress, and a chance to view a treasure trove of Imperial Russian art.
The heiress was Marjorie Merriweather Post, who inherited two things from her father -- good taste and General Foods. She bought this Rock Creek Park estate in 1955, remodeled the mansion and filled it with exquisite 18th- and 19th-century French and Russian decorative art.
Post, who died in the early '70s, collected the artwork in the 1930s when she was married to the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. At the time, the communists were unloading "decadent" pre-Revolution art at bargain prices.
The food heiress bought warehouse-loads of stuff: jewels, dinner plates commissioned by Catherine the Great, Easter eggs by Carl Faberge, chalices and icons. Post then had the loot shipped home on her yacht. The best of the lot is on display in a beautiful mansion surrounded by formal gardens.
Advance reservations for the two-hour tour are required: Call (202) 686-8500 at least two weeks before your visit. Tickets for the house tour and the formal gardens are $10, and $2 to visit the formal gardens and auxiliary buildings only.
House tours begin at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The gardens are open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Children under 12 are not admitted on the house tour. Hillwood Museum is located at 4155 Linnean Ave. N.W., off Connecticut Avenue south of the Van Ness/UDC Metro station.
If it's a nice day, consider an easy, 20-minute stroll from the metro station to the Hillwood Museum that passes through a pleasant neighborhood. From the station, walk south on Connecticut Avenue past the "Star Trek"-y Intelsat complex on the right to Upton Street; turn left and continue to Linnean Avenue. The entrance to the estate is a block to the right.
Viewer-friendly
In most museums, the rule of thumb is "look, don't touch." But the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Reception Rooms are viewer-friendly. That's because this $65 million collection of Americana isn't housed in a museum. These are the rooms where the United States formally entertains visiting diplomats. As a result, there are no barriers between you and the art on display.
While the rooms are located in a building whose architecture is best described as "early airport," the eighth floor is something else entirely. A fabulous collection of 18th- and early 19th-century fine and decorative arts fills the stunning interior.
Chippendale settees, the chairs and a desk that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, tall-case clocks and silver created by Paul Revere are among the items in the collection. Visitors also get a peek at how diplomats and heads of state are entertained at the State Department.
The U.S. Department of State is located at 23rd and C streets N.W., in Foggy Bottom, a block or two north of the Mall near the Lincoln Memorial. The closest Metro station is Foggy Bottom/GWU; walk down 23rd Street toward the Mall.
One-hour tours are given Monday through Friday at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. Reservations for the free tour must be made at least four weeks in advance; call (202) 647-3241. Be ready to supply birth dates and the social security numbers of the people on your tour when you call. Make sure everyone brings a photo ID (parents can vouch for children). Strollers are not permitted.
Dumbarton Oaks
While Georgetown is best known as a gorgeous residential district and a shopping destination full of trendy restaurants and bars, this hip neighborhood offers one attraction that should be on every visitor's list: Dumbarton Oaks and Gardens.
While most people associate Dumbarton Oaks with the conference held here in 1944 that led to the formation of the United Nations, today it's a research center for Byzantine and pre-Columbian studies and a museum owned by Harvard University.
The collection of Byzantine art features bronzes, ivories and jewelry. The pre-Columbian art collection (including a selection of gold jewelry) is housed in eight circular glass pavilions lighted by natural light and surrounded by trees. It's a knockout.
Around the corner is the entrance to Dumbarton Oaks Gardens. The terraced, 10-acre garden features an orangery, a rose garden and wisteria-covered arbors. The gardens are a haven of tranquillity and beauty in hectic Georgetown.
The museum, which is free and open Tuesday through Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., is located at 1703 32nd St. N.W. (between R and S streets), east of Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. Georgetown lacks a Metro station, so either drive (parking is notoriously difficult in Georgetown) or take a cab.
The gardens are located around the corner on R Street and are open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily; admission is $3 per person and $2 for senior citizens and students. Call (202) 342-3212 Mondays and Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and noon.
Anderson House
For a glimpse of turn-of-the-century, robber-baron decadence and a Revolutionary War museum, make a stop at Anderson House. Located near Dupont Circle on Massachusetts Avenue, this 1906 mansion was built by diplomat Larz Anderson, a member of the Society of the Cincinnati (whose members are descendants of French and American officers who served in the American Revolutionary War). After his death, his widow donated the mansion to the society. Today it serves as the society's headquarters and a museum.
The building is a reflection of the fabulous taste and wealth of its original owners. The two-story ballroom is a stunner, tapestries line the crystal-chandeliered dining room, and paintings by Gilbert Stuart and John Trumbull hang in the billiard room.
Children will enjoy the displays of Revolutionary War artifacts on the first floor, including uniforms, swords, and a collection of miniature Revolutionary War soldiers.
Anderson House is located at 2118 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.; the nearest Metro Station is Dupont Circle. Hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; admission is free. Call (202) 785-2040.
Phillips Collection
While you're in the Dupont Circle area, make a stop at another place a lot of tourists miss: the Phillips Collection, across Massachusetts Avenue from Anderson House. It was the first museum dedicated to modern art in the United States.
With lots of carpeting and places to sit, this is a very comfortable museum. Founded by Duncan Phillips, grandson of the founder of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Co., the Phillips Collection is set in the family's former mansion -- which helps explain its intimate and comfortable atmosphere. The Phillips is a satisfying contrast to mega-museums on the Mall.
Expect to see works by Monet, Picasso, Miro, Renoir and Van Gogh, among other modern masters. The large and ornate Music Room is as spectacular as the art on its walls.
The Phillips Collection is located at 1600 21st St. N.W., on Embassy Row near Dupont Circle. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays. Admission on weekends is $6.50 for adults, $3.25 for seniors and students, and free for children under 18. During the week, the museum requests a donation at the same levels. Call (202) 387-2151.
Cedar Hill
A lovely Victorian home on a hill overlooking Washington called Cedar Hill was the home of abolitionist, statesman and orator Frederick Douglass -- who was born a slave in Baltimore in 1817 and died a famous American in 1895.
A tour of the house starts with a short film in the visitor center. Then a guide takes you through the house. A late afternoon visit is almost like stepping back into the 19th century: There's no electricity in the meticulously preserved house, and the gathering shadows in the house evoke the past.
Other things to look for on a tour of the Douglass home include his bar bells on the floor next to his bed. Outside is "The Growlery," a small, one-room structure behind the main house Douglass declared off-limits to the household so that he could work alone.
Cedar Hill is located at 1411 W St. S.E. in Anacostia, off Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. -- alas, not very convenient to downtown Washington. While Metro now extends to Anacostia, the streets are unsafe for pedestrians and taking public transportation to Cedar Hill isn't recommended; driving there, however, is usually safe. For directions, call (202) 426-5960. The site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and is free.
The easiest way to visit this National Park Service- administered site is by Tourmobile Sightseeing, which offers 2 1/2 -hour guided bus tours to Cedar Hill. The tours leave at 10 a.m. from the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery; tickets are $5 for adults and $2.50 for children 3 to 11. Call (202) 554-7950.
Art museum
Another less-visited Washington attraction is the National Museum of Women in the Arts -- even though this world-class museum is within walking distance of the Mall and close to Metro Center, Washington's Big Enchilada of Metro stations.
The art museum is housed inside the former Masonic Grand Lodge at 1250 New York Ave. N.W. -- a bland-looking building that features striking interior architectural touches such as a huge crystal chandelier, an enormous main hall and mezzanine, and a sweeping Grand Staircase.
The museum's permanent collection of paintings and sculpture includes works by masters such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as art by women from the 16th century to the present.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. A $3 donation for adults and $2 for students and seniors is requested; children are free. Call (202) 783-5000.
Baltimore free-lance writer Joe Surkiewicz is the co-author of "The Unofficial Guide to Washington, D.C. " (Prentice Hall Travel).
IF YOU GO . . .
Whether you're planning a day trip to Washington to see its most famous sights or to explore the city's less-known attractions, do yourself a favor and leave the family car at home. Or park it in the Washington suburbs and take Metro to your destination.
If your trip is on a weekday, consider taking a MARC commuter train to Union Station, near Capitol Hill. Round-trip fare from Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station is $9.50, the train ride lasts an hour and the cost is less than the price of a full day's parking in a downtown parking garage. Plus, there's a Metro station in the basement of recently renovated Union Station. For more information on MARC trains, call (800) 325-RAIL.
If you're planning a visit on the weekend, drive to a Metro station in Washington's Maryland suburbs, park free and ride the subway downtown. Drive to either the New Carrollton station, located just inside the Capitol Beltway on U.S. Route 50, or the Silver Spring station at Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue. On weekends, Metro operates from 8 a.m. to midnight. Call (202) 637- 7000 for more information.