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Lufthansa Flights from Brussels, Belgium (BRU) to Washington (IAD)
As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports,
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on Lufthansa, which operates a daily non-stop flight from Brussels, Belgium (BRU) to Washington (IAD) regularly scheduled to depart at 12:10pm and arrive at 3:03pm. Usually a Boeing 767-300 is flown for this route. Generally, a movie is offered on this route. The average travel time from Brussels, Belgium to Washington, DC is 8 hours and 53 minutes.*
* Some flights must connect with additional service on this airline.
During your Washington vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
This museum remains a top draw, as it has been since it opened in 1993. If you arrive without a reserved ticket specifying an admission time, you'll have to join the line of folks seeking to get one of the 1,575 day-of-sale tickets the museum makes available each day (see "Holocaust Museum Touring Tips," below). The museum opens its doors at 10am and the tickets are usually gone by 10:30am. Get in line early in the morning (around 8am).The noise and bustle of so many visitors can be disconcerting, and it's certainly at odds with the experience that follows. But things settle down as you begin your tour. When you enter, you will be issued an identity card of an actual victim of the Holocaust; at several points in the tour, you can find out the location and status of person on your card -- by 1945, 66% of those whose lives are documented on these cards were dead.The tour begins on the fourth floor, where exhibits portray the events of 1933 to 1939, the years of the Nazi rise to power. On the third floor (documenting 1940-44), exhibits illustrate the narrowing choices of people caught up in the Nazi machine. You board a Polish freight car of the type used to transport Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka and hear recordings of survivors telling what life in the camps was like. This part of the museum documents the details of the Nazis' "Final Solution" for the Jews.The second floor recounts a more heartening story: It depicts how non-Jews throughout Europe, by exercising individual action and responsibility, saved Jews at great personal risk. Denmark -- led by a king who swore that if any of his subjects wore a yellow star, so would he -- managed to hide and save 90% of its Jews. Exhibits follow on the liberation of the camps, life in Displaced Persons camps, emigration to Israel and America, and the Nuremberg trials. A highlight at the end of the permanent exhibition is a 30-minute film called Testimony, in which Holocaust survivors tell their stories. The tour concludes in the hexagonal Hall of Remembrance, where you can meditate and light a candle for the victims. The museum notes that most people take 2 to 3 hours on their first visit; many people take longer.In addition to its permanent and temporary exhibitions, the museum has a Resource Center for educators, which provides materials and services to Holocaust educators and students; an interactive computer learning center; and a registry of Holocaust survivors, a library, and archives, which researchers may use to retrieve historic documents, photographs, oral histories, films, and videos.The museum recommends not bringing children under 11; for older children, it's advisable to prepare them for what they'll see. You can see some parts of the museum without tickets, includingtwo special areas on the first floor and concourse: Daniel's Story: Remember the Children and the Wall of Remembrance (Children's Tile Wall), which commemorates the 1.5 million children killed in the Holocaust, and the Wexner Learning Center. There's a cafeteria and museum shop on the premises.Holocaust Museum Touring Tips--Because so many people want to visit the museum (it has hosted as many as 10,000 visitors in a single day), tickets specifying a visit time (in 15-min. intervals) are required. Reserve as many as 10 tickets in advance via Tickets.com (tel. 800/400-9373; www.tickets.com) for a small fee. If you order well in advance, you can have tickets mailed to you at home. You can also get same-day tickets at the museum beginning at 10am daily (lines form earlier, usually around 8am). Note that same-day tickets are limited, and one person may obtain a maximum of four.
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 Museum of American History
Well, you could spend days in here (okay, just plan on a few hours). This museum and its neighbor, the National Museum of Natural History, are the behemoths of the Smithsonian, each filled to the gills with artifacts. American History deals with "everyday life in the American past" and the external forces that have helped to shape our national character. It's all very interesting, but since you do have a life to lead, consider this approach to touring.Start at the top, that is, the third floor, where The American Presidency exhibit explores the power and meaning of the presidency by studying those who have held the position. (There's a gift shop just for this exhibit on this floor.) Continue on this floor to an exhibit new to the museum, as of Veterans Day, 2004. Called The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, the exhibit examines major American military events and explores the idea that America's armed forces reflect American society. Among the items on display here are George Washington's commission from Congress as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and the uniform jacket that Andrew Jackson wore during the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.Head downstairs to the second floor for the intriguing opportunity of viewing the huge original Star-Spangled Banner, whose 30-by-34-foot expanse has just been painstakingly conserved by expert textile conservators. This is the very flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that eventually became the U.S. national anthem in 1931. Conservation work was completed in August 2004 and now the flag remains on view and outstretched, flat, behind glass, in its specially designed conservation lab.One of the most popular exhibits on the second floor is First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image, which displays the first ladies' gowns and tells you a bit about each of these women. Infinitely more interesting, I think, is the neighboring exhibit, From Parlor to Politics: Women and Reform in America, 1890-1925, which chronicles the changing roles of women as they've moved from domestic to political and professional pursuits. Following that, find the exhibit called Within These Walls..., which interprets the rich history of America by tracing the lives of the people who lived in this 200-year-old house, transplanted from Ipswich, MA. If this personal approach to history appeals to you, continue on to Field to Factory, which tells the story of African-American migration from the South between 1915 and 1940.Finally, you're ready to hit the first floor, where some exhibits explore the development of farm and power machinery, and timekeeping. A temporary exhibit that opened in August 2002 and ends its popular run in September 2005 is Bon Appétit! Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian, a presentation of the famous chef's actual kitchen from her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When she moved to California in late 2001, Child donated her kitchen and all that it contained (1,200 items in all) to the museum. Most of these are on display, vegetable peeler to kitchen sink. Also look here for America on the Move, which details the story of transportation in America since 1876.Wind up your visit at the Palm Court, where you can stop and have gelato and a sub from Subway restaurant; the Palm Court includes the interior of Georgetown's Stohlman's Confectionery Shop as it appeared around 1900, and part of an actual 1902 Horn & Hardart Automat.The museum holds many other major exhibits. Inquire at the information desk about highlight tours, films, lectures, concerts, and hands-on activities for children and adults. The museum has four gift shops, and its main one is vast -- it's the second largest of the Smithsonian shops (the largest is the one at the National Air and Space Museum).
Woodley Park Guest House
This charming, 18-room B&B offers clean, comfortable, and cozy lodging, inexpensive rates, super location, and a personable staff: How's that for a recommendation? Four local couples bought the hundred-year-old property in 2000, gutted it, and made the place over. Guests are from around the globe, a fact which inspired the owners to add an actual globe to the breakfast room; it's common practice for people sitting across the table from each other in the morning to go over to the globe and point out exactly where they live: the Arctic Circle, Brazil, Seattle -- they come from all over, says co-owner Courtney Lodico.Special features of the guesthouse include a wicker-furnished, tree-shaded front porch; exposed, century-old brick walls; beautiful antiques (mostly purchased from Antique Row in Kensington, MD; see chapter 8 for information about these shops); and breathtaking original art (the innkeepers only buy works from artists who have stayed at the guesthouse, so the art is diffuse rather than profuse, and each piece quite different). Rooms have either two twins, one double, or a queen bed, each covered with a pretty chenille spread or quilt. An intimate alternative to the grand 1,349-room Marriott Wardman Park hotel directly across the street, the guesthouse nevertheless benefits from its proximity to the big hotel, since it's able to offer lodgers quick access to airport shuttles and taxis and views of the Wardman Park's beautifully landscaped gardens. Meanwhile, the Woodley Park-Zoo Metro stop is literally cattycorner to the inn, Connecticut Avenue and its good restaurants 1 block away, and Rock Creek Park and the National Zoo only a few minutes further than that.
Topaz Hotel
Like the Hotel Rouge, the Topaz is an upscale boutique hotel for those who think young. This hotel seems tamer than the Rouge, but it still has a buzz about it, a pleasant, interesting sort of buzz. The reception area, lobby, and bar flow together, so if you arrive in the evening, you may feel like you've arrived at a party: The Topaz Bar and the Bar Rouge have fast become favorite hangouts for the after-work crowd. At the Topaz, they're liking drinks called "Blue Nirvana" (champagne mixed with vodka and blueberry liqueur) and "Pop" (6-oz. single servings of Pommery champagne), the better-than-bar-food cuisine with an Asian accent, and the decor of velvety settees, zebra-patterned ottomans, and a lighting system that fades in and out.Upstairs are guest rooms appealingly, whimsically decorated with striped lime green wallpaper; a polka dot padded headboard for the down-comforter-covered bed; a bright blue, curved-back settee; a big, round mirror set in a sunburst frame; a light green and yellow painted armoire with fabric panels; and a red, with gold star-patterned cushioned chair. The rooms are unusually large (in its former life as the Canterbury Hotel, these were "junior suites" and held kitchenettes), and each has an alcove where the desk is placed, and a separate dressing room that holds a dressing table and cube-shaped ottoman. The Topaz pursues a sort of New Age wellness motif; do note the spill of smooth stones arranged just so upon your bed. ("Through time people have carried special stones called totems to bring them energy and empowerment.. ." reads a little card accompanying the stones.) You also have the option to book a specialty room: one of four "energy" guest rooms, which include a piece of exercise equipment (either a treadmill or a stationary bike), and fitness magazines; or one of three "yoga" rooms, which come with an exercise mat, an instructional tape, padded pillows, special towels, and yoga magazines. Wireless Internet access is available in all guest rooms.The Topaz lies on a quiet residential street, whose front-of-the-house windows overlook picturesque town houses.Facilities: Bar/restaurant (innovative American with an Asian influence); access to nearby health club ($5 per guest); 24-hr. concierge; 24-hour business center; room service (7am-11pm); same-day laundry/dry cleaning; 5 rooms for those w/limited mobility, 2 with roll-in showers. In room: A/C, TV w/pay movies, 2-line cordless phones w/dataports, minibar, hair dryer, iron, safe, robes, wireless Internet access, teapot with exotic teas.
Morrison-Clark Historic Inn
This property offers the homey ambience and personable service of an inn, coupled with hotel amenities, such as a first-rate restaurant, phones and TV, and a fitness center. The inn occupies twin 1864 Victorian brick town houses (with a newer wing in converted stables across an interior courtyard) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Guests enter via a turn-of-the-20th-century drawing room, with Victorian furnishings and lace-curtained bay windows. Beyond this room lies a suite of lovely public spaces including the inn's restaurant. Only a couple of years ago, the Morrison-Clark's location was considered out of the way, but with the 2003 opening of the immense convention center a couple of blocks away, the inn is now in the thick of things.Newly refurbished in 2003, the inn's high-ceilinged guest rooms remain individually decorated with original artworks, sumptuous fabrics, and antique or reproduction 19th-century furnishings, and are graced with fresh flowers. Most popular are the grand Victorian-style rooms, with new chandeliers and bedspreads. Four Victorian rooms have private porches; many others have plant-filled balconies. Guests enjoy a complimentary continental breakfast served daily in the Victorian drawing room. Come the warm weather, you'll want to sip the inn's signature "Steel Magnolia" cocktail on the veranda.
