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LOT - Polish Airlines Flights from London, Great Britain (LHR) to Washington (IAD)
As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports,
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on LOT - Polish Airlines, which operates a daily non-stop flight from London, Great Britain (LHR) to Washington (IAD) regularly scheduled to depart at 12:00pm and arrive at 3:24pm. Usually a Boeing 777 is flown for this route. Generally, a movie is offered on this route. The average travel time from London, Great Britain to Washington, DC is 8 hours and 24 minutes.*
* Some flights must connect with additional service on this airline.
During your Washington vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
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).
Freer Gallery of Art
Charles Lang Freer, a collector of Asian and American art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, gave the nation 9,000 of these works for his namesake gallery's 1923 opening. Freer's original interest was American art, but his good friend James McNeill Whistler encouraged him to collect Asian works as well. Eventually the latter became predominant. Freer's gift included funds to construct a museum and an endowment to add to the Asian collection, which now numbers more than 28,000 objects. It includes Chinese and Japanese sculpture, lacquer, metalwork, and ceramics; early Christian illuminated manuscripts; Iranian manuscripts, metalwork, and miniatures; ancient Near Eastern metalware; and South Asian sculpture and paintings.The Freer is mostly about Asian art, but it also displays some of the more than 1,200 American works (the world's largest collection) by Whistler. Most remarkable and always on view is the famous Peacock Room. Originally a dining room designed for the London mansion of F. R. Leyland, the Peacock Room displayed a Whistler painting called The Princess from the Land of Porcelain. But after his painting was installed, Whistler was dissatisfied with the room as a setting for his work. When Leyland was away from home, Whistler painted over the very expensive leather interior and embellished it with paintings of golden peacock feathers. Not surprisingly, a rift ensued between Whistler and Leyland. After Leyland's death, Freer purchased the room, painting and all, and had it shipped to his home in Detroit. It is now permanently installed here. Other American painters represented in the collections are Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Dwight William Tryon, Abbott Henderson Thayer, John Singer Sargent, and Childe Hassam. All in all, you could spend a happy 1 to 2 hours here.Housed in a grand granite-and-marble building that evokes the Italian Renaissance, the pristine Freer has lovely skylit galleries. The main exhibit floor centers on an open-roof garden court. An underground exhibit space connects the Freer to the neighboring Sackler Gallery, and both museums share the Meyer Auditorium, which is used for free chamber-music concerts, dance performances, Asian feature films, and other programs. Inquire about these, as well as children's activities and free tours given daily, at the information desk.
Anacostia Museum and Center for African-American History and Culture
This museum is inconveniently located, but that's because it was initially created in 1967 as a neighborhood museum (which makes it unique among the Smithsonian branches). It's devoted to the African-American experience, focusing on Washington, D.C., and the Upper South. The permanent collection includes about 7,000 items, ranging from videotapes of African-American church services to art, sheet music, historic documents, textiles, glassware, and anthropological objects. In addition, the Anacostia produces a number of shows each year and offers a comprehensive schedule of free educational programs and activities in conjunction with exhibit themes. Allow about an hour here.
Make your reservations for discount hotel rooms in the
Washington area, including:
Renaissance Mayflower
Superbly located in the heart of downtown, the Mayflower has been the hotel of choice for guests as varied as Kurt Russell and Wynton Marsalis. The lobby, which extends an entire block from Connecticut Avenue to 17th Street, is always bustling -- read chaotic, at check-in/check-out times -- since Washingtonians tend to use it as a shortcut in their travels.The Mayflower is steeped in history: When it opened in 1925, it was the site of Calvin Coolidge's inaugural ball (though Coolidge didn't attend -- he was mourning his son's death from blood poisoning). President-elect FDR and family lived in rooms 776 and 781 while waiting to move into the White House, and this is where he penned the words, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." A major restoration in the 1980s uncovered large skylights and renewed the lobby's pink marble bas-relief frieze and spectacular promenade.In 2004, the hotel completed a $9 million, top-to-bottom renovation that transformed the guest rooms into individual refuges of pretty elegance: silvery green bed coverings, embroidered drapes, silk wall coverings, pillow-topped mattresses, and sink-into armchairs are some of the finer touches. Certain gracious appointments remain: Each guest room still has its own marble foyer, high ceiling, mahogany reproduction furnishings (Queen Anne, Sheraton, Chippendale, and Hepplewhite), and Italian marble bathroom. The Mayflower now has a club level on the eighth floor, as well as 74 executive suites.In the hotel's lovely Café Promenade, lawyers and lobbyists continue to gather for weekday power breakfasts, and a full English tea is served Monday through Saturday afternoons. The clubby, mahogany-paneled Town and Country Lounge is the setting for light buffet lunches and complimentary hors d'oeuvres during cocktail hour. Bartender Sambonn Lek has quite a following, as much for his conversation as for his magic tricks, so the place is jumping.
The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C.
This Ritz-Carlton, which opened in October 2000, surpasses all other Washington hotels for service and amenities. From the cadre of doormen and valet parking attendants who greet you effusively when you arrive, to the graceful young women in long dresses who swan around you serving cocktails in the bar and lounge, the Ritz staff is always looking after you.The hotel is built around a multi-tiered Japanese garden and courtyard with reflecting pools and cascading waterfall; guest rooms on the inside of the complex overlook the waterfall or terraced garden, while guest rooms on the outside perimeter view landmarks and cityscapes. The woman who showed me to my terrace-view room inadvertently, but appropriately, kept referring to the hotel as the "Rich-Carlton." My standard room was very large, and richly furnished with a firm king-size bed covered in both duvet and bedspread, decorative inlaid wooden furniture, a comfy armchair and ottoman, and very pretty artwork. The marble bathroom was immense, with long counter space, separate bathtub and shower stall, and the toilet in its own room behind a louvered door. The clock radio doubles as a CD player and the phone features a button for summoning the "technology butler" (a complimentary, 24/7 service for guests with computer questions). Other nice touches in the rooms include an umbrella, windows that open, and an outlet for recharging laptops. Don't make the same mistake that I did when I passed up the evening turndown -- the maid places a warm, freshly baked brownie upon your pillow instead of the usual mint.Among the different versions of suites available, most are "executives," which include a sitting room and separate bedroom.The adjoining two-level, 100,000-square-foot Sports Club/LA, leaves all other hotel health clubs in the dust with its state-of-the-art weight-training equipment and free weights, two regulation-size basketball courts and four squash courts, an indoor heated swimming pool and an aquatics pool with a sun deck, exercise classes, personal trainers, the full-service Splash Spa and Roche Salon, and a restaurant and cafe.The Ritz's bar and lounge are also exceptionally inviting, with lots of plush upholstered couches and armchairs, a fire blazing in the fireplace in winter, and a pianist playing every day. Afternoon tea is served in the lounge daily.Facilities: Restaurant (American); lounge; access to fabulous health club and spa for $12/person (the best in the city; see above); 24-hr. concierge; business center (open weekdays); salon; 24-hr. room service; in-room massage; babysitting; same-day laundry/dry cleaning with 1-hr. pressing; club level with 5 complimentary food presentations throughout the day (including a chef station each morning to prepare individual requests); 10 rooms for those w/limited mobility, 6 with roll-in showers; 24-hr. fax and currency-exchange services.
Grand Hyatt Washington
Until the D.C. Convention Center's on-site hotel, with its 1,000-plus rooms, opens in 2007, the Grand Hyatt is the largest hotel near the convention center.The Grand Hyatt has a lot of other things going on besides its room count of 900. The vast lobby is in an atrium 12 stories high and enclosed by a glass, mansard-style roof. A baby grand piano floats on its own island in the 7,000-square-foot "lagoon"; waterfalls, catwalks, 22-foot-high trees, and an array of bars and restaurants on the periphery will keep you permanently entertained. Should you get bored, head to the nearby nightspots and restaurants, or hop on the Metro, to which the Hyatt has direct access. The hotel lies between Capitol Hill and the White House, 2 blocks from the MCI Center, and about 3 blocks from the new D.C. Convention Center, at 801 Mount Vernon Place NW.Guest rooms and corridors underwent a complete renovation in 2003. Features include new showerheads and light-colored marble in the bathrooms and a fresh contemporary look of dark, hardwood furniture and hues of blue and gold in the guest rooms, and updated carpeting everywhere. Nearly half of the rooms offer high-speed Internet access, for a rate of $9.95 per 24 hours. Among the potpourri of special plans and packages available is one for business travelers: Pay an extra $20 and you stay in an eighth- or ninth-floor room equipped with a large desk, fax machine, computer hookup, and coffeemaker; have access to printers and other office supplies on the floor; and are entitled to complimentary continental breakfast and access to the health club. Always ask about seasonal and special offers, and check the website for the best deals.Facilities: 4 restaurants (Italian/Asian, Continental, deli); 3 bars; health club with whirlpool, lap pool, steam and sauna rooms, aerobics, and spa services (hotel guests pay $11 for club use); concierge; courtesy car available on a first-come, first-served basis to nearby destinations; business center; room service (6am-1am); in-room and health-club massage; same-day dry cleaning; concierge-level rooms; 24 rooms for those w/limited mobility, some with roll-in showers.
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