Standing in the great rotunda of Washington’s Capitol building, the sacred heart of American democracy, there’s an almost palpable sense of awe.
You feel it in the crowds of US citizens who bring their children to pay tribute here. In the guides, the security staff, even those who man the cloakrooms. Our loquacious tour leader, Danny, sums it up neatly: ‘This is the Capitol, dude. Nowhere like it.’
Thanks to strict building height regulations, the dome of this secular cathedral, topped by the 19ft-tall Statue of Freedom, is reassuringly visible across the city. This has special resonance as Joe Biden and Donald Trump begin their battle for control of the White House to see who will have bragging rights across this great city.
For a working parliament, it is remarkably accessible. Even as random visitors, my wife Isabel and I sit in the public gallery to hear a key Senate debate. A Republican is railing over government spending at a time of spiralling national debt. Sound familiar?
We are lucky to be in ‘The District’ at the peak of blossom season, when some 3,000 cherry trees, gifted by Japan in the early 20th Century, explode into bloom around the city’s Tidal Basin.
Imposing landmarks: Neil Darbyshire finds that Washington exudes a ‘natural warmth’. Above, the city’s Jefferson Memorial as the cherry blossom season peaks
It is a truly glorious sight, attracting huge numbers and generating a party atmosphere, with music, street food and pop-up stalls proclaiming the cherry’s loveliness.
Washington probably isn’t high on the list of must-visit US destinations for most Britons, trailing behind the bright lights of New York, Vegas and LA, the beaches of Florida and natural glories of New England.
Being home to thousands of government employees, politicians and their staffers, lobbyists and think-tankers, it has a reputation for being aloof and buttoned up.
Washington’s towering neo-classical buildings and wide boulevards are reminiscent of Paris, says Neil
Pictured here is the Lincoln Memorial and National World War II Memorial, featuring The Reflecting Pool
But to us the city seems to exude a natural warmth. Almost everyone we meet is engaging and refreshingly Brit-friendly – remarkably forgiving considering we burned the city to the ground in a fit of imperialist spite during the War of 1812.
Isabel and I are visiting our daughter and her partner, who have been living in the Navy Yard neighbourhood just south of the Capitol for nearly a year. Rather like London’s Docklands, this was a rundown area which has been flattened and then gentrified with smart residential and office blocks, buzzy bars and restaurants.
Down at The Wharf we stroll through the open-air fish market – the oldest in continuous operation in the country – where you can buy shellfish of all kinds and watch jumbo shrimp being theatrically tossed in huge woks.
After a couple of cocktails in one of the many waterside bars, it’s time for dinner. My favourite meal is at Martin’s Tavern in Georgetown, Washington’s swankiest neighbourhood. A family-owned diner dating to the 1930s, presidents and other politicos have huddled in its intimate booths to gossip and conspire. Plaques detail which booth each preferred.
JFK proposed to Jackie here, Tricky Dicky loved the meatloaf, Ted Kennedy had his ‘cozy corner’. We are placed in the Lyndon Johnson booth. I wonder, while sipping my Manhattan, if he discussed the carpet bombing of north Vietnam over succulent lamb cutlets and fingerling potatoes.
Neil visits Watergate Hotel (pictured), which got caught up in the biggest political scandal in American history
The fish market at The Wharf where you can watch jumbo shrimp being ‘theatrically tossed’ in huge woks
A purpose-built capital, Washington was clearly designed both to impress and inspire. Towering neo-classical buildings line wide boulevards reminiscent of Paris. Imposing monuments are set around pleasant and expansive common spaces, the most popular being the National Mall. This green walkway runs more than two miles from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol, encompassing the 555ft obelisk dedicated to George Washington and passing by the White House.
Getting around the compact city centre is straightforward. Much of it can be explored on foot, but there are also Ubers, e-bikes and a cheap, clean and efficient Metro.
There is no shortage of museums here, celebrating everything from the Bible to the Space Race. And for a journalist brought up on the 1970s film All The President’s Men, a visit to the Watergate Hotel is a special treat. My daughter and I take a tour of the ‘Scandal Room’, from where the notorious burglary that brought down Richard Nixon was planned and executed.
In a presidential election year, and with the storming of the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump still fresh in the memory, the room offers a warning from history about how power can be abused.
But none of this seems to trouble our taxi driver Fidelise, who came here from troubled west Africa eight years ago. ‘What’s Washington like for you?’ I ask. ‘A paradise on Earth,’ he replies, without the slightest hint of irony.
