Susan O'Keefe, Associate Editor
On a chilly or rainy day or after a visit to the National Portrait Gallery hop over to Full Kee restaurant in Chinatown for a bowl of Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup Hong Kong Style. The delicate plump dumplings are like nothing you've ever eaten or could ever make on your own, and the soup will only set you back $5.50. 509 H St. NW; +1 202 371 2233.
Politics and Prose Bookstore, tucked away up in Northwest D.C. just a mile north of the VanNess/UDC Metro stop, is a booklovers' dream. The main event each evening is the featured author series (many local pols as well as nationally recognized authors), which always stirs up a lively discussion with the audience. A small downstairs cafe serves lattes, soup, and sandwiches. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; +1 202 364 1919.
The Georgetown Flea Market, held every Sunday (weather permitting) in the Hardy School parking lot at the top of Georgetown is a great place to score antique jewelry and furniture, vintage clothing, collectibles, prints, books, Persian rugs, and baked goods. 1819 35th St. NW; +1 202 775 FLEA.
Jayne Wise, Senior Editor
The protected farm landscape of Maryland's Montgomery County, out River Road in Potomac, MD, offers rural vistas and pick-your-own farmsteads like popular Homestead Farm. 15600 Sugarland Rd., Poolesville, MD; +1 301 977 3761.
The 2,000-acre McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area, which stretches along the Potomac, is home to such relatively exotic birds as pheasants, scarlet tanagers, and indigo buntings—and we're talking only a half-hour from the border with D.C. 18600 River Rd., Poolesville, MD; +1 410 356 9272.
I always enjoy a visit to Pennyfield Lock, a segment of the C & O Canal National Historical Park, for its scenic river and canal views and an old lock-keeper's house. 12420 Pennyfield Lock Rd., Tobytown, MD; +1 301 739 4200.
In far-flung Fairfax County, just across the Potomac from D.C. and eight miles south of Old Town Alexandra, visit Mount Vernon during one of its many events and festivals (especially the Fourth of July celebration). It's open 365 days a year. 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, VA; +1 703 780 2000.
See what's new at the Smithsonian's massive Udvar-Hazy Center devoted to air and space artifacts, including the shuttle Enterprise and the stealth plane Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Near Dulles International Airport at 14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway, Chantilly, VA; +1 202 633 2494.
I love Old Town Alexandria for its arts complex called the Torpedo Factory, its array of unique shops and galleries, and its cobblestone history. 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA; +1 703 838 4565.
To see and be seen, head for the Washington Harbour on the Georgetown waterfront, renowned locally for its outdoor summertime bar scene right along the Potomac River (on weekend evenings, scores of boats tie up at the dock here). 30th and K Sts. NW.
And a quick list of some of the smaller things that make the D.C. area so popular with diplomats and other international visitors and residents: polyglot stores like Rodman's, where you'll find everything from Russian pepper spreads to German Lebkuchen to Jamaican ginger beer to Italian grissini to South African wines. Bakeries like Heller's, in business since 1922 and known for its strudels. Family-owned restaurants like Lebanese Taverna, now run by the children of the enterprising immigrant couple who started with a small eatery.
