A trip to Washington DC would never be complete without trip down Pennsylvania Avenue. The President and Vice President of the United States make this trip on Inauguration Day usually on foot. This is a great way for tourists to visit this street. In fact, because of the “post 9/11” safety precautions it is very difficult to see many of the historical sites if you travel down Pennsylvania Avenue in a car.
Start your trip just West of the Capitol Building where Pennsylvania Avenue begins near the Capitol Reflecting Pool. Here you will be able to get a great photograph of the pool with the statue of President Grant and the Capitol behind it. There is a grassy park area between the statue and the Capitol. During the month of December a large pine tree is decorated for the season. Before you leave that area, you may want to stop by the Botanic Gardens. You can see it from the Reflecting Pool. There is also handicap parking in this area. The Capitol and DC Police check this area regularly, so you can feel safe leaving your car parked here.
Continue West on Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. The first large buildings you pass will be of the National Gallery of Art. A visit to both buildings will take between 1 to 3 hours depending on how long you linger in front of the artwork. At this point in your journey it is easy to get lost because this is the intersection of Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues. Be sure to stay to the right and you will remain on the same street.
Another place to stop if you have the time is the National Archives Building. There you will find the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. You will not be able to take flash photographs of these documents as they are preserved behind glass and well guarded. There are many other things of interest on permanent display in this building and manyother things are rotated in the exhibit halls, so it is always worth a visit if you have at least an hour to spend there.
The park areas flanking Pennsylvania Avenue are filled with flowers, trees and are well-manicured lawns. It is very crowded in the Spring with people coming to see the famous Cherry Trees. Just past Thirteenth Street is Freedom Park. Take a short walk through the park where you will see lots of Cherry Trees, statues and squirrels. On the opposite end of the park ,Pennsylvania Avenue continues on to where the street is blocked to cars, but not to foot traffic. At this point Pennsylvania Avenue is split between North and South. Pennsylvania Avenue South turns into Executive Street at this point. It is here you will see the White House on the North side of the street and the Ellipse on the South side. During the month of December both areas are decorated for the season with festive trees.
The entrance to the White House is near Pennsylvania Avenue North where it becomes Alexander Hamilton Place. If you want to tour the White House, you must obtain free tickets through your Congressmen or Senators. Do this well in advance of the date you plan to visit. You will be given a time to tour the White House and need to arrive in advance of the time on your tickets to allow for security checks.
This ten-block walk along Pennsylvania Avenue will take about fifteen minutes to walk at a normal pace, but there are so many things to stop to see it may take much longer than that. The time of your visit to Pennsylvania Avenue will dictate what you will be able to do while you are there. Most of the public buildings are open from 10AM till 6PM and several of the museums in the area are open even later. Most of the museums are open seven days a week and are free of charge. There is free parking along the side streets, but this is limited to two hours at a time and the police monitor this regularly. Handicapped parking is not limited except for times where there is no parking allowed because of rush hour traffic. Plan to tour this area between 10 AM and 3PM if you want to park on the streets.