Arlington-Friedhof, das Pentagon & DCs Militärerbe
Arlington National Cemetery (the United States military cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, directly across the Potomac River from Washington DC — the most famous military cemetery in the United States, with approximately 400,000 veterans and military dependents interred on the 253-hectare (624-acre) grounds, receiving approximately 30 funerals per day (approximately 8,000 per year) and approximately 3-4 million visitors annually).
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Arlington National Cemetery — The Nation's Burial Ground
Arlington National Cemetery (across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, accessible by Metro (Blue Line, Arlington Cemetery station) or by walking the Memorial Bridge, free entry, daily 8am–7pm April–September, 8am–5pm October–March) is the national military cemetery of the United States — the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (the white marble sarcophagus on the amphitheater terrace, guarded 24 hours per day, 365 days per year by the 3rd US Infantry Regiment — the Old Guard — the Changing of the Guard ceremony every 30 minutes April–September, every hour otherwise, the most precise military ritual in the US Army) and the Kennedy Graves (President Kennedy's eternal flame marker, adjacent to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's grave and Robert Kennedy's nearby grave) are the principal sites.
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Pentagon — The World's Largest Office Building
The Pentagon (the United States Department of Defense headquarters, the world's largest office building by office space, 6.5 million square feet, 17.5 miles of corridors, 25,000 military and civilian employees, Arlington Virginia, accessible by Metro Blue and Yellow lines Pentagon station) offers public tours (Pentagon Tours, free, must be arranged 2–9 weeks in advance through a Congressional office — contact your Representative or Senator's Washington DC office, US citizens only) — the 9/11 Memorial (the Pentagon Memorial, adjacent to the building, 184 memorial benches for the 184 victims at the Pentagon, open 24 hours, freely accessible without appointment, the aircraft path marked by the stone orientation of each bench) is the most moving site at the Pentagon complex.
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United States Marine Corps War Memorial — The Iwo Jima Statue
The USMC War Memorial (the Iwo Jima Statue, Arlington Ridge Road, Arlington Virginia, 5 minutes walk from Arlington Cemetery Metro) is the largest bronze sculpture in the world (10.5m tall, 100 tonnes, Felix de Weldon sculptor, 1954, depicting the AP photograph by Joe Rosenthal of the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, February 23, 1945) — the Marine Sunset Parade (the outdoor military ceremony at the memorial, Tuesday evenings, June–August, free, no reservation required) is the best free military ceremony in the Washington area; the view from the Iwo Jima statue across the Potomac to Georgetown and the DC skyline (the Washington Monument and Capitol dome visible simultaneously) is one of the finest panoramic views of Washington.
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National World War II Memorial — The Generation's Monument
The National World War II Memorial (the 7.4-acre memorial on the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, Frank Gehry collaborator Leo Gausman and Friedrich St. Florian architects, dedicated 2004, open 24 hours, free) commemorates the 405,000 Americans killed in WWII and the 16 million who served — the memorial (the oval plaza with 56 granite pillars — one per state and US territory — and the two arched pavilions representing the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, the Freedom Wall of 4,048 gold stars — each star representing 100 American military deaths in WWII) is most powerful at night when the fountains are illuminated and the crowds thin.
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National Archives — The Declaration and the Constitution
The National Archives (700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, free admission, daily 10am–5:30pm March–September, 10am–5pm October–February, advance timed entry tickets recommended in summer — available online free) holds the original Declaration of Independence (1776, the parchment document signed by the 56 delegates, displayed in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom under argon gas in a bulletproof case, visible but requiring the queue to approach within reading distance), the original US Constitution (1787), and the Bill of Rights (1791) — all three in the same room simultaneously; the Declaration's ink has faded significantly from its 18th-century state but the parchment and the signatures are clearly visible.
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Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — The Wright Flyer to the Space Shuttle
The National Air and Space Museum (Independence Avenue at 7th Street SW, the most visited museum in the world, 8 million+ annual visitors, free, daily 10am–5:30pm) holds the original Wright Brothers Flyer (1903, the 12-second first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina — the original fabric-and-spruce airplane hanging 3m above the museum floor in the Milestones of Flight hall), the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia (the capsule that carried Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins to the Moon and back in July 1969), Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis (the 1927 Ryan monoplane that flew the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight, 33.5 hours, New York to Paris) — all in the same building, all free.