Virtuoso Traveler - August/September 2018 - 34
Long Weekend TIP "I recommend flying into Reagan National Airport. From there, you can take a short taxi, Uber, or Lyft ride - or easily hop on the metro - and be in downtown D.C. within minutes." - Jessica Griscavage, Virtuoso travel advisor, McLean, Virginia Manhattan to Milan. Then make your way to Fiola Mare (3050 K Street NW), James Beard Award-winning chef Fabio Trabocchi's rustic Italian restaurant and Michelin-starred celebrity magnet (tables fill fast, so have your travel advisor book well in advance). DAY TWO 34 V I R T U O S O T R A V E L E R Shining light (from top): A sculpted fire pit blazes on District Wharf's Recreation Pier and the NMAAHC's Segregation Gallery. also adding a bookstore and two cafés. Guided tours of the art-filled landscape, including two recently installed outdoor sculptures, are offered daily. Admission is free, although visits must be scheduled in advance. Back in D.C., District Wharf is the place to be. Griscavage calls the new mile-long waterfront development "one of the city's biggest openings in a long time. All the chefs want to be there!" That elite list includes Top Chef contestant Kwame Onwuachi, who serves up D.C.'s only Afro-Caribbean cuisine at Kith/Kin (801 Wharf Street SW). Walk off those stewed oxtails along the Wharf's four themed piers; look to catch a live performance at the 6,000-seat, "acoustically advanced" Anthem (901 Wharf Street SW) or a more intimate venue such as the Pearl Street Warehouse (33 Pearl Street SW). DAY THREE Kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding on the Potomac are all the craze these days; rentals are available at Key Bridge Boathouse (3500 Water Street NW). Another active option: Reserve one of the hotel's complimentary bikes and cycle along a section of the C&O (PIER) THE WHARF, (MUSEUM) ERIC LONG Signature biscuits and gravy in Degrees Bistro provides sufficient fuel to drive a Tesla Model S, arranged exclusively through the hotel. After a brief demo of the dashboard command center and a test run around the block, you're ready to head along the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (1400 Constitution Avenue NW). NMAAHC has been the hottest exhibition ticket in town since its 2016 opening, and while admission is free (as it is at all 19 Smithsonian museums), entry passes are strictly timed and must be reserved up to three months in advance. Spend a few hours perusing the vast collection of artifacts, from a restored 1853 slave cabin and open-cockpit biplane used by the Tuskegee Airmen to Louis Armstrong's trumpet and Michael Jackson's black fedora. A current exhibit on the cultural impact of Oprah Winfrey runs through June 30, 2019. Next up: a half-hour drive along Maryland Route 190 to nearby Potomac, Maryland, for a visit to the Glenstone Museum (12002 Glen Road), a private gem of contemporary art and architecture set on 200 wooded, rolling acres. A new 50,000-square-foot expansion, due for completion in late 2018, increases the exhibition space by nearly fourfold, while