Capital ideas (and they're free)
PRESIDENT OBAMA | 6 DAYS UNTIL THE INAUGURATION
As an unpaid college intern in Washington, D.C., I learned to appreciate the value of a good freebie -- and instant ramen noodles.
Twenty years later, D.C. is still a pricey place to live, and it can be an equally pricey place to visit. But freebies abound if you know where to look. A great place to start is www.washington.org, the city's tourism Web site. It's full of ideas for saving cash in the capital, especially if you're headed there next week for the inauguration.
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Check out these 10 presidential-themed ideas for things to do in D.C. without dropping a dime:
1 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts puts on free concerts nightly at 6 o'clock on its Millennium Stage. On Monday, a special Martin Luther King Jr. celebration concert featuring Aretha Franklin, Nuttin' but Stringz and the Let Freedom Ring Choir will perform. Line up in front of the center's concert hall to get your free tickets -- only one ticket a person -- starting at 4 p.m. Monday; www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium.
2 Just say the word "inauguration" to get two-for-one admission during the month of January at the Phillips Collection, an intimate modern art museum in the city's Dupont Circle neighborhood; www.phillipscollection.org.
3 It takes moolah to get elected president. Go see greenbacks rolling off the presses during a free, 45-minute tour at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Tickets aren't necessary during the non-peak season between September and February; just line up at the visitors' entrance on 14th Street between 9 and 10:45 a.m. or 12:30 to 2 p.m. Note that the bureau will be closed this Monday and Tuesday; www.moneyfactory.gov.
4 Get the lowdown on the 43 men who've led this country in "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden," an exhibit at the newly remodeled National Museum of American History. The free museum, conveniently located on the National Mall, also has a permanent exhibit devoted to first ladies. As part of the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, a new exhibit starting Friday will bring together the Smithsonian's entire Lincoln collection, from the iron wedge he used to chop wood in New Salem, Ill., to the top hat he wore the night he was shot at Ford's Theatre. Friday also marks the launch of another Lincoln-related exhibit showcasing 10 rare and important documents -- including a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation -- from the Lincoln museum in Springfield; http://americanhistory.si.edu.
5 Get a look at the large mural of Barack Obama painted on the side of the building that houses the funky restaurant Marvin, a U Street/Shaw neighborhood hot spot named for D.C.'s own Marvin Gaye; www.marvindc.com.
6 Stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech; www.nps.gov/linc.
7 Learn what it was like to be a guest at a past presidential inauguration at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition "The Honor of Your Company Is Requested: President Lincoln's Inaugural Ball." This small exhibit focuses on Lincoln's second inaugural ball, held in 1865 in what is now the museum's home. See where 4,000 guests danced the night away and get a gander at what the ladies were wearing back in the Civil War days. Runs through Jan. 18, 2010; www.american art.si.edu.
8 Look into the eyes of past leaders at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, which holds the nation's only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House. President and Laura Bush last month unveiled their portraits commissioned for the museum. The portrait of W was painted by Robert Anderson, a classmate of Bush's at Yale; www.npg.si.edu.
9Walk in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. on the self-guided "Civil War to Civil Rights" heritage trail that wends through downtown D.C. Twenty-one large signs explain the stops along the way, which include the alley where John Wilkes Booth fled after shooting Lincoln and the home of famed Civil War nurse and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton; www.culturaltourismdc.org.
10Take a stroll through historic Union Station, where more than 32 million visitors walk along the marble floors each year, making it the most visited site in D.C. Track down B. Smith's Restaurant, which was once the Presidential Suite, where U.S. leaders waited to board trains and greet foreign dignitaries; www.unionstationdc.com.