Contemplate Pissarro’s Paris at The National Gallery of Art
Any of the touristy spots around the District will make you (rightly) proud to be an American. But for art lovers and learners, maybe no space embodies the American soul quite like the two buildings of the National Gallery of Art, where you can see masterpieces from DaVinci and Rembrandt, Rothko and Lichtenstein, as well as on-loan exhibits like the moving Stages of the Cross by Barnett Newman.
The Old Violin by William Michael Harnett
6th St. and Constitution Ave. NW
Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Admission is free
Visit the presidents in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
8th and G Streets, NW
Open 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (closed December 25 and January 20)
Admission is free
Explore the oldest folios of Shakespeare (and other English-shapers) at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
201 E. Capitol St. SE
Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 9 p.m. (Closed Mondays)
Admission is free
While you’re there
Eat antojitos at Oyamel.
Think tapas, but from urban Mexico at this Penn Quarter mainstay. Not free.
Listen to the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center.
Selections from Tchaikovsky and Debussy coming in February and March. Plenty of free events, too.
Read Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones.
The D.C.-set short stories from a Pulizer Prize winner writing about his hometown.
