Exciting New Attractions Make D.C. a Must

A quiz: What does Madame Tussauds wax museum in downtown Washington, D.C., have in common with the city's Mandarin Oriental hotel? And what do these two venues have in common with the District of Columbia's International Spy Museum and the city's Washington Nationals baseball team?

Answer: They are among the numerous new wonders that have been born in the nation's capital since APA members last met there in 1999.

Members and their families coming to APA's meeting May 3 to 8 can pose with, hug, or even kiss waxed-cloned versions of some of their favorite important people—from towering historic figures like Abraham Lincoln and George Washington to eerily authentic contemporary celebrities like pro golfer Tiger Woods, actress-comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, actor Johnny Depp, and that most world-trekking famous twosome, actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Madame Tussauds, Washington (its official name) is the seventh Madame Tussauds wax museum around the world. It opened last October and presently showcases 50 lifelike human figures.

Then there is the Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C., an Asian-inspired oasis of calm and pampered guests that opened on Maryland Avenue, S.W., in 2003. Some 200 rooms and suites (out of its total of 400) have been blocked out for APA members to reserve for their May visit. And all the rooms have a great view—either facing the Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin or the Potomac River with a view of planes taking off and landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport or (at the higher floors) a beautiful view of downtown Washington, featuring the Washington Monument. A big draw at Mandarin for even nonguests is CityZen, reportedly AAA's only five-star restaurant in the city (for two consecutive years). It features the award-winning cuisine of executive chef Eric Ziebold

Meanwhile, APA members who venture to 800 F Street (a block away from the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building) will have to forget being open, honest, and caring—traits that are part and parcel with being a good psychiatrist. This is the International Spy Museum, the only one of its kind in the world. The unspoken mantra that seems to echo in each passageway and exhibit room: Trust no one! The museum is a stunning walk through world history featuring real people and real objects dedicated to obtaining secreted information through all manner of deception and state-of-the-art technological stealth.

For stealth of a sporting kind there is the Washington Nationals baseball team, which trotted into the city only a few years ago. Before that, from 1901 to 1971, D.C. was home to the aptly named Senators baseball team, a franchise that despite a few high competitive moments played many losing seasons. Between 1971 and 2004 professional baseball took a hiatus here. But bats began cracking balls again in 2005 and crowds started cheering when the Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) came to town. If all goes as planned, the team will have moved into its new, 41,222-seat Nationals Park stadium by March. They will be playing the Pittsburgh Pirates, May 1 to 4.

These are not the only new attractions that have added energy and a changing landscape to Washington, D.C., and even to its nearby suburbs since last APA met there. A number of national monuments and museums also have cropped up, as well as countless new clubs, lounges, restaurants, shops, and hotels.

A good example of the new hotels, with a daring commercial twist, is the District's Old General Post Office, a historic building at 700 F Street in the heart of the Penn Quarter, near the refurbished National Portrait Gallery. Through careful negotiation and adherence to historic preservation rules, the building today houses the landmark Hotel Monaco. The hotel blends its historic façade with an artsy, eclectically designed interior. With 183 rooms and suites it is the largest and the latest in a half dozen untraditional, boutique hotels to open in the city over the past several years as conceived by the Kimpton hotel chain.

Of course the main new venue is the Washington Convention Center itself, the site of APA's annual meeting. It opened only four years ago. It's situated in Northwest D.C. between 7th and 9th streets, N Street, and Mt. Vernon Place, not far from the glitzy lights of Chinatown and the city's big sports/entertainment complex, the Verizon Center, which is in the midst of celebrating its 10th anniversary. The massive state-of-the-art convention center is a contemporary-designed structure that covers 2.3 million square feet spanning five levels. (It lies only a block or two from the footprint of the city's old convention center, which after being imploded turned into a parking lot.) By the way, the new convention center is not named for George Washington, the country's first president, but for the late Walter E. Washington, the city's first mayor under home-rule governance.

Look for more in-depth, pre-APA annual meeting coverage of the host city and the annual meeting's scientific program in the next issue of Psychiatric News. ▪