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American Airlines Flights from Dallas (DFW) to Washington (IAD)
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on American Airlines, which operates 4 regularly scheduled daily non-stop flights from Dallas (DFW) to Washington (IAD), departing between 8:40am and 5:00pm, and one additional non-stop flight regularly scheduled to depart at 8:15pm and arrive at 11:55pm, everyday except Saturday. Usually a McDonnell Douglas MD80 is flown for this route, with in-seat power sources available. The average travel time from Dallas, TX to Washington, DC is 2 hours and 43 minutes.
During your Washington vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
National Air and Space Museum
With the opening of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in December 2003, the National Air and Space Museum now bills itself, "One museum, two locations." It's not realistic, however, to visit both museums in one day: The flagship museum on the National Mall consumes 2 or 3 hours -- longer, if you attend an IMAX film or planetarium show; the round trip to the satellite Udvar-Hazy Center, located on the grounds of Washington-Dulles International Airport, takes about 2 hours; and the touring of that museum another 2 or 3 hours. You could do it, but you'd be frantic.So start with this one, the original, ever-popular Air and Space Museum on the Mall. This museum chronicles the story of the mastery of flight, from Kitty Hawk to outer space. It holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world -- so many, in fact, that the museum is able to display only about 20% of its artifacts at any one time, hence the opening of the Udvar-Hazy Center.During the tourist season and on holidays, arrive before 10am to make a beeline for the film ticket line when the doors open. The not-to-be-missed IMAX films [ST] shown here are immensely popular, and tickets to most shows sell out quickly. You can purchase tickets up to 2 weeks in advance, but they are available only at the Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater box office on the first floor. Two or more films play each day, most with aeronautical or space-exploration themes; To Fly and Space Station 3D are two that should continue into 2005. Tickets cost $8 for adults, $6.50 for ages 2 to 12 and 55 or older; they're free for children under 2. You can also see IMAX films most evenings after the museum's closing; call for details (tel. 202/357-1686).You'll also need tickets to attend a show at the Albert Einstein Planetarium, which creates "an astronomical adventure" as projectors display blended space imagery upon a 70-foot diameter dome, making you feel as if you're traveling in 3-D through the cosmos. The planetarium's main feature, called "Infinity Express, A 20-Minute Tour of the Universe," gives you the sensation that you are zooming through the solar system, as it explores such questions as "how big is the universe?" and "where does it end?" Tickets are $8 for adults, $6.50 for ages 2 to 12 and 55 or older; you can buy an IMAX film and planetarium combo ticket for $13 per adult, $11 per child.How Things Fly, a gallery that opened in 1996 to celebrate the museum's 20th anniversary, includes wind and smoke tunnels, a boardable Cessna 150 airplane, and dozens of interactive exhibits that demonstrate principles of flight, aerodynamics, and propulsion. All the aircraft, by the way, are originals.Kids love the walk-through Skylab orbital workshop on the first floor. Other galleries here highlight the solar system, U.S. manned space flights, sea-air operations, and aviation during both world wars. An important exhibit is Beyond the Limits: Flight Enters the Computer Age, illustrating the primary applications of computer technology to aerospace. Explore the Universe presents the major discoveries that have shaped the current scientific view of the universe; it illustrates how the universe is taking shape, and probes the mysteries that remain. In 2002, the museum added a set of six, two-seat Flight Simulators to its first floor galleries (the Udvar-Hazy Center has several more), allowing visitors to climb aboard and use a joystick to pilot an aircraft. For 3 minutes you truly feel as if you are in the cockpit and airborne, maneuvering your craft up, down, and upside-down on a wild adventure, thanks to virtual reality images and high-tech sounds. You must pay $6.50 to enjoy the ride and measure at least 48 inches to go it alone; children under 48 inches must measure at least 42 inches and be accompanied by an adult.The museum's cafeteria, The Wright Place, offers food from three popular American chains: McDonald's, Boston Chicken, and Donato's Pizza. Best of all, the cafeteria serves up a great view of the Capitol.Now, to get to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, you can drive (call tel. 202/786-2122 for directions, or go to the website, www.nasm.si.edu.), or you can take a shuttle bus from the Air and Space Museum on the Mall. The shuttles run six times a day from both locations, at the same times, starting at 9am with the last shuttle departing at 5pm. You must purchase tickets to take the shuttle, which are sold at the IMAX film box office, for $7 round-trip per person. To purchase shuttle bus tickets in advance, call tel. 202/633-4629. If you drive to the center, you should be aware that parking is a whopping $12, due to the fact that the center lies on airport property.At the Udvar-Hazy Center, you'll find two hangars, one for aviation artifacts, the other for space artifacts, and an observation tower for watching planes leave and arrive at Dulles Airport. Eventually, the gallery will hold more than 200 aircraft and 135 spacecraft. The center will also serve as the Air and Space Museum's primary restoration facility, and the public will be able to watch specialists at work. This location also shows IMAX films.
National Gallery of Art
Most people don't realize it, but the National Gallery of Art is not part of the Smithsonian complex. Housing one of the world's foremost collections of Western painting, sculpture, and graphic arts, spanning from the Middle Ages through the 20th century, the National Gallery has a dual personality. The original West Building, designed by John Russell Pope (architect of the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives), is a neoclassic marble masterpiece with a domed rotunda over a colonnaded fountain and high-ceilinged corridors leading to delightful garden courts. It was a gift to the nation from Andrew W. Mellon, who also contributed the nucleus of the collection, including 21 masterpieces from the Hermitage, two Raphaels among them. The ultramodern East Building, designed by I. M. Pei and opened in 1978, is composed of two adjoining triangles with glass walls and lofty tetrahedron skylights. The pink Tennessee marble from which both buildings were constructed was taken from the same quarry; it forms an architectural link between the two structures.The West Building: On the main floor of the West Building, about 1,000 paintings are on display at any one time. To the left (as you enter off the Mall) is the Art Information Room, housing the Micro Gallery, where those so inclined can design their own tours of the permanent collection and enhance their knowledge of art via user-friendly computers.To the right and left of the rotunda are sculpture galleries. On view are more than 800 works from the museum's permanent collection, mostly European sculptures from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Among the masterpieces here are Honoré Daumier's entire series of bronze sculptures, including all 36 of his caricatured portrait busts of French government officials.The National Gallery Sculpture Garden, just across 7th Street from the West Wing, opened to the public in May 1999. The park takes up 2 city blocks and features open lawns; a central pool with a spouting fountain (the pool turns into an ice rink in winter); an exquisite glassed-in pavilion housing a cafe; 17 sculptures by renowned artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Ellsworth Kelly (and Scott Burton, whose Six-Part Seating you're welcome to sit upon) and, the latest installment, a Paris Metro sign; and informally landscaped shrubs, trees, and plants. It continues to be a hit, especially in warm weather, when people sit on the wide rim of the pool and dangle their feet in the water while they eat their lunch. Friday evenings in summer, the gallery stages live jazz performances here.The East Building: Inside this wing is a showcase for the museum's collection of 20th-century art, including works by Picasso, Miró, Matisse, Pollock, and Rothko; this is also the home of the art history research center. Always on display is an exhibit called Small French Paintings, which I love.The National Gallery is in the midst of finishing up a renovation, so some galleries and favorite works of art may not be on view. For instance, the famous, massive aluminum Alexander Calder mobile that usually dangles in the seven-story skylit atrium of the East Building is off being cleaned and won't be re-hung until the summer of 2005. Call tel. 202/842-6179 for information.Altogether, you should allow a leisurely 2 hours to see everything here.Pick up a floor plan and calendar of events at an information desk to find out about National Gallery exhibits, films, tours, lectures, and concerts. Immensely popular is the gallery's Sunday concert series, now in its 63rd year, which take place Sunday evenings at 7pm in the garden court of the West Building. Admission is free and seating is on a first-come basis -- people start arriving at 6pm, entering through the 6th Street and Constitution Avenue door, the only entrance open. The concerts feature chamber music, string quartets, pianists and other forms of classical music performances. Call tel. 202/842-691. Highly recommended are the free highlight tours (call for exact times) and audio tours. The gift shop is a favorite. The gallery offers several good dining options, among them the concourse-level Cascade Café, which has multiple food stations; the Garden Café, on the ground floor of the West Building; the Terrace Café on the second level of the East Wing (which sometimes tailors its menu to complement a particular exhibit); and the sculpture garden's Pavilion Café.Avoiding the Crowds at the National Gallery of Art--The best time to visit the National Gallery is Monday morning; the worst is Sunday afternoon.
Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden
This museum of modern and contemporary art is named after Latvian-born Joseph H. Hirshhorn, who, in 1966, donated his vast collection -- more than 4,000 drawings and paintings and 2,000 pieces of sculpture -- to the United States "as a small repayment for what this nation has done for me and others like me who arrived here as immigrants." At his death in 1981, Hirshhorn bequeathed an additional 5,500 artworks to the museum, and numerous other donors have greatly expanded his legacy.Constructed 14 feet above ground on sculptured supports, the doughnut-shaped concrete-and-granite building shelters a verdant plaza courtyard where sculpture is displayed. The light and airy interior follows a circular route that makes it easy to see every exhibit without getting lost in a honeycomb of galleries. Natural light from floor-to-ceiling windows makes the inner galleries the perfect venue for viewing sculpture -- second only to the beautiful tree-shaded sunken Sculpture Garden across the street (don't miss it). Paintings and drawings are installed in the outer galleries, along with intermittent sculpture groupings.A rotating show of about 600 pieces is on view at all times. The collection features just about every well-known 20th-century artist and touches on most of the major trends in Western art since the late 19th century, with particular emphasis on our contemporary period. Among the best-known pieces are Rodin's Monument to the Burghers of Calais (in the Sculpture Garden), Hopper's First Row Orchestra, de Kooning's Two Women in the Country, and Warhol's Marilyn Monroe's Lips.Pick up a free calendar when you enter to find out about free films, lectures, concerts, and temporary exhibits. An outdoor cafe is open during the summer. Free tours of the collection and the Sculpture Garden are given daily; call for information about them.
Make your reservations for discount hotel rooms in the
Washington area, including:
The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown
Staff at area hotels have taken to calling this hotel the "Baby Ritz," to distinguish it from the other, larger Ritz on 22nd Street. The moniker is the only cute thing about the hotel, however. The Georgetown Ritz is a sophisticated property, exclusively small (only 86 rooms), and designed to feel like a refuge in the middle of wild and woolly Georgetown. The hotel opened in April 2003, after years of construction. Look for the 130-foot-high smokestack to guide you to the hotel, which is built on the site of a historic incinerator and incorporates the smokestack into the design. In fact, you can have a meeting at the bottom of the smokestack, which, obviously, is inoperative. The lobby, whose brick walls are original to the incinerator, always smells of a recently lit fire, even on a summer day. (There's a large fireplace at one end of the lobby.) The restaurant is called "Fahrenheit," the bar is called "Degrees," and the signature drink is the "Fahrenheit 5 Martini." To get to your room, you have to go down one level from the lobby, travel along a wide, cavelike corridor with vaulted brick ceiling, to a special elevator. You must have a key card to operate the elevator, so anyone visiting you at the hotel must either be escorted by a staff person or be met by you. Rooms are very large, decorated in serious colors of moss green, gold, and a burnt red, with lots of dark wood furniture and accents. Ritz-Carlton hotels have the best bathrooms, and this property is no exception: spacious, marble vanities, separate tub and shower, fancy wood shelving.Facilities: Restaurant (seasonal American); lounge; fitness room (complimentary) and spa; 24-hour concierge; 24-hr. room service; in-room massage; babysitting; same-day laundry/dry cleaning; 1-hr. pressing; 3 rooms for those w/limited mobility, all with roll-in showers; fax and some currency-exchange services. In room: A/C, TV w/pay movies and Web access, 2-line phone, minibar, hair dryer, iron, safe, robes, umbrella, CD player, high-speed Internet access (about $10 per 24 hours).
Hotel Tabard Inn
If you favor the offbeat and the personal over brand names and cookie-cutter chains, this might be the place for you. The Tabard Inn, named for the hostelry in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, is actually three Victorian town houses that were joined in 1914 and have operated as an inn ever since. Situated on a quiet street of similarly old dwellings, the Tabard is a well-worn, funky hotel that's looked after by a chummy, peace-love-and-understanding sort of staff who clearly cherish the place.The heart of the ground floor is the dark-paneled lounge, with worn furniture, a wood-burning fireplace, the original beamed ceiling, and bookcases. This is a favorite spot for Washingtonians to come for a drink, especially in winter, or to linger before or after dining in the charming Tabard Inn restaurant [ST].From the lounge, the inn leads you up and down stairs, along dim corridors, and through nooks and crannies to guest rooms. Can you dig chartreuse? (Ask for room 3.) How about aubergine? (Ask for room 11.) Each is different, but those facing N Street are largest and brightest, and some have bay windows. Furnishings are a mix of antiques and flea-market finds. Perhaps the most eccentric room is the top-floor "penthouse," which has skylights, exposed brick walls, its own kitchen, and a deck accessed by climbing out a window. The inn is not easily accessible to guests with disabilities."There's a Small Hotel"--If you're in Washington on a Sunday night and you're staying at the Hotel Tabard Inn, be sure to plant yourself in the paneled parlor by 7:30pm. Even if you're not staying at the Tabard, you might want to get yourself there. From 7:30 to 10:30pm each Sunday, bassist Victor Dvoskin, usually accompanied by a guitarist, plays world-class jazz for free. Order a drink from the bar in the next room, then settle into one of the old chairs or sofas to enjoy the show. "There's a Small Hotel" is the name of a CD released by Dvoskin, in honor of Tabard owners Fritzi Cohen and her late husband, Edward, whose private program, the Capitals Citizens' Exchange, first brought Dvoskin to this country from Russia in 1988.Facilities: Restaurant (regional American) with lounge (free live jazz Sun evenings); free access to nearby YMCA (with extensive facilities that include indoor pool, indoor track, and racquetball/basketball courts); laundry service; fax, iron, hair dryer, and safe available at front desk.
Swann House
At the rate it's going, Swann House may one day be known as "the inn that launched 1,000 marriages," for all of the couples who have become engaged while staying here. This stunning 1883 mansion, poised prominently on a corner 4 blocks north of Dupont Circle, has nine exquisite guest rooms. The coolest unit is the Blue Sky Suite, covered in blue and white toile, with the original rose-tiled working fireplace, a queen-size bed and day bed, a sitting room, a gabled ceiling, and a roof deck. The most romantic room is probably Il Duomo, with Gothic windows, a cathedral ceiling, a working fireplace, and a turreted bathroom with angel murals, a claw-foot tub, and a rain showerhead. The Jennifer Green Room has a queen-size four-poster bed, a working fireplace, an oversize marble steam shower, and a private deck overlooking the pool area and garden. The Regent Room also has a private deck overlooking the pool, as well as a king-size bed in front of a carved working fireplace and a whirlpool. There are three suites. You'll want to spend some time on the main floor of the mansion, which has 12-foot ceilings, fluted woodwork, inlaid wood floors, a turreted living room, a columned sitting room, and a sunroom (where breakfast is served) leading through three sets of French doors to the garden and pool. Free high-speed Internet access is available in the public rooms, and wireless access is available in most guest rooms. No smoking.
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