When Frenchman Pierre L'Enfant was contracted to design the city, he added diagonal avenues (named for the individual states) to the plan—in addition to a logical grid pattern of streets—forming squares and circles when they met with the grid streets. One theory is that L'Enfant designed the city this way so that encroaching armies would get confused by the pattern and have trouble attacking the capital city. Unfortunately, that idea didn't work, as the British had no problem burning the White House in 1814. The only result of the design was that he caused visitors and locals alike to get lost. Nevertheless, if one is patient and doesn't mind backtracking a bit, the city is not too difficult to traverse. L'Enfant's plan also called for plenty of open spaces and parks, which has greatly added to the beauty of the city.
Washington, D.C., is divided into four geographic districts—Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast—whose center is the Capitol. Addresses in Washington include a quadrant indicator at the end. For instance, because the White House is in the Northwest quadrant, its address is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Check that indicator before heading out so you don't end up in the wrong part of town. The majority of sights, hotels, restaurants and shops of interest to visitors are in the Northwest quadrant.
The most visible landmark in town is the 555-ft/169-m obelisk known as the Washington Monument, a good place for orienting yourself to the city. It's in the middle of the grassy expanse called the Mall. Stand with your back to the monument, facing the White House: Off to your right are many museums and the major federal buildings; on the hill in the distance are the Capitol and—blocked from view behind it—the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. To your left are the Reflecting Pool, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and—in the distance across the Potomac—the hills of Arlington National Cemetery.
The city's major thoroughfares are Constitution and Independence avenues (flanking the Mall), Pennsylvania Avenue (connecting the White House to Capitol Hill) and Massachusetts Avenue (connecting Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle and Embassy Row). Also of interest to visitors are Connecticut Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue, abounding with shops, hotels and restaurants. A great boon to residents and visitors alike is another "thoroughfare," Washington's excellent metro. Keeping a map of the subway system on hand is a good idea.
