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District of Columbia Favorite Vacation Rentals by Owner Houses and Condos.

Washington, D.C. is the capital city of the United States of America. "D.C." is an abbreviation for the District of Columbia, the federal district coextensive with the city of Washington. The city is named after George Washington, military leader of the American Revolution and the first President of the United States. It is commonly known as D.C., The District, or simply Washington.

Washington is home to numerous national landmarks and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States making it a very popular place for District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses.

From the comfort of your District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses, you may visit the National Mall which is a large, open area in the center of the city featuring many monuments to American leaders; it also serves to connect the White House and the United States Capitol buildings. Located prominently in the center of the Mall is the Washington Monument - a most popular attraction for those staying in District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses.  Other notable points of interest near the Mall include the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, National World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the District of Columbia War Memorial and the Albert Einstein Memorial. All are spectacular attractions for those staying in their District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses.

The world famous Smithsonian Institution is located in the District. The Smithsonian today is a collection of museums that includes the Anacostia Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum, National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History, National Portrait Gallery, National Postal Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, and the National Zoo. No visit to District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses is complete without a visit to the Smithsonian.

There are many art museums in D.C., in addition to those that are part of the Smithsonian, including the National Gallery of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Phillips Collection.

And, the piece de resistance for those fortunate to enjoy the comfort of their District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses is the National Archives. The Library of Congress and the National Archives house thousands of documents covering every period in American history. Some of the more notable documents in the National Archives include the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Other points of interest in the District include; Arena Stage, Chinatown, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Blair House, Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Folger Shakespeare Library, Ford's Theatre, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, International Spy Museum, National Building Museum, National Geographic Society, the Awakening at Hains Point, Old Post Office Building, Theodore Roosevelt Island, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Washington National Cathedral. There is SO much to do and see from your District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses.

Getting around Washington is easy from any District of Columbia vacation rental condo, apartment, or house. Pierre L'Enfant's ( the city's original planner)  original plan for the city provided for a grid of streets and a diagonal array of avenues, all centered on the Capitol building. The north-south streets are primarily named with numbers and the east-west streets with letters. With the Capitol as the center, one set of numbered streets sweeps eastward from it (1st Street, 2nd Street, etc.) and another set sweeps westward (1st Street, 2nd Street, etc.) Similarly, sets of lettered streets sweep northward from the Capitol (A Street, C Street, etc.) and southward. The diagonal avenues in L'Enfant's plan are chiefly named after states (e.g., Pennsylvania Avenue). Street addresses are identified by their location in one of the four quadrants of the city, centered on the Capitol building: Northeast (NE), Northwest (NW), Southeast (SE), and Southwest (SW). Addresses end with a quadrant suffix to indicate whether the location is, for example, on 4th Street NE, 4th Street NW, 4th Street SE or 4th Street SW. Outside the original city boundaries, street layout and naming practices are less regular. However, the alphabetic order of east-west streets, ending with W Street, is in some areas succeeded by an alphabetic progression of two-syllable names (e.g., Adams, Bryant, Channing), followed by a three-syllable progression (e.g., Allison, Buchanan, Crittenden), and then a progression of botanical names (e.g., Aspen, Butternut, Cedar).

Getting to your District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses ia even easier. Major interstates running through the area include the Capital Beltway (I-495), I-66, I-95, I-395, I-295, and I-270 (which does not reach D.C., terminating at I-495). Other major highways include the Whitehurst Freeway, and Anacostia Freeway in D.C., the George Washington Parkway in D.C. and Virginia, the Suitland Parkway in D.C. and Maryland, US Route 50, the Clara Barton Parkway, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Maryland, and the Dulles Toll Road in Virginia.

The Washington area is served by the Washington Metro public transportation system, which operates public buses (Metrobus) and the region's subway system (Metrorail). A public-private partnership operates the DC Circulator buses downtown. Many of the jurisdictions around the region run public buses that interconnect with the Metrobus/Metrorail system. Union Station is served by MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter trains, and Amtrak intercity rail. Intercity bus service is available from the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Northeast and from dragon buses leaving from Chinatown.
 
And if air travel is your preferred method to reach your District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses, Washington, D.C. is served by three major airports, one in Maryland and two in Virginia. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is the closest — located in Arlington County, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Hains Point, and accessible via Washington Metro. The airport is conveniently located to the downtown area; however it has somewhat restricted flights to airports within the United States because of noise and security concerns. Most major international flights arrive and depart from Washington Dulles International Airport, located 26.3 miles (42.3 km) west of the city in Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia. Dulles is the second busiest international gateway on the Eastern Seaboard. Dulles offers service from several low-cost carriers including JetBlue, although the low-cost selection decreased greatly when Independence Air (which was headquartered at Dulles) folded in January 2006. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, is located 31.7 miles (51.0 km) northeast of the city in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, near Baltimore. BWI has had the highest passenger volume of the three major airports in the Baltimore-Washington Metroplex for several months.

Whichever way you choose to reach District of Columbia vacation rental condos, apartments, and houses, a visit is a must for all citizens of the United States and those wishing to become citizens. It is an experience that creates an appreciation for this great country that will never be forgotten.