Washington DC is a city and capital of the United States of America. Located on the northern shore of the Potomac River, it is a strategic point for transshipment between waterway and land transport. Washington has expanded a lot in the 19th century, even beyond its originally planned boundaries. As such, it became legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia.
As for the character of the city, it is safe to say that it is one with multiple personalities. As a huge international metropolis, it offers different things for different people and age groups. The role that it plays as the capital of the United States also accents its lively local history and the political economic and social issues.
The climate in Washington is temperate – with high humidity levels and damp winters accompanied by summers with brief periods of high temperatures. However, spring and autumn are pleasantly mild in the city and tend to be longer than summer and winter combined.
There is an endless variety of entertainment venues, events, parks and nightlife – as well as historic sites and massive buildings starting from the White House up to the US Capitol building. The visionary planner was a French army engineer who fought in the American Revolution and was inspired by the Baroque landscape architecture. When it comes to monuments and memorials, the most popular ones include the first statue of George Washington, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.
As a result of this approach in architecture, Washington’s streets are organized in a scheme of broad and diagonal avenues that form a grid of wide north-south and east-west trending streets. From classicism to modernism, the architecture styles vary – just like the entertainment venues, restaurants, bars and nightlife options.
Washington is also known for its massive parks which encompass thousands of acres and have millions of water plants including rare water lilies and lotuses – especially found in the Meridian Hill Park.
As such, Washington DC is certainly a city worth visiting and living in. Ethnically diverse and with a great economy, it is one of the places in the United States everyone wants to live in.
