Disks are rolled out onto the south lawn to absorb the impact of Marine One's wheels like giant coffee coasters.

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

An echo chamber with a waterfall wrapped around its base at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C.

The innocent intentions of this monument are somewhat lost in the sculpture's muscled imagery.

A tribute to the pop culture icon overlooks this Washington D.C. intersection.

This statue of one of baseball’s greatest pitchers looks like something out of a sci-fi horror movie.

A derelict bit of infrastructure from the canal that once ran through D.C. is landlocked in the heart of the city.

Also known as the Founding Church of Scientology.

Before Nixon, "watergate" meant canals.

Look closely and you’ll notice that the color changes a third of the way up the tower.

Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”

The unique traffic pattern named for an influential urban planner is also known as the Pedestrian Scramble.

D.C.'s first central library was born out of a chance encounter with the philanthropist whose name it bears.

A haunting tribute to pioneering photographer Clover Adams.

The world's oldest soul food restaurant is also one of its best.

Sit where JFK proposed to Jackie or where Nixon dined on meatloaf at this storied pub.

This imposing Masonic temple a mile from the White House was the first public library in Washington, D.C.

Home to a vast and influential collection of Shakespeareana.

This lonely waterfront memorial to the men of the Titanic was erected by the "Women of America."

A hidden gem on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

A monument in Washington D.C. marks the spot from which all other roads were supposed to stem.

A historic and beautiful Art Nouveau chamber in a historic railway station.

A quasi-futuristic roof sits atop a medieval Bohemian monastery damaged during World War II.

Local folklore claims that this wall was not built for defense, but to provide labor during a time of famine.