Bar full of oddities, specimens, artifacts and homages to the great dime museums of the past.

After his presidency, George Washington planned to live only a few blocks from the Capitol building.

An ear-piercing buzzer calls lawmakers to a vote with a series of long and short rings to form coded messages.

This stunning blue and gold room changed cities twice before becoming part of the Smithsonian.

While most wind tunnels test scale models, the "Cave of Winds" was large enough for actual airplanes.

100 years later, they're still down there.

Washington's iconic carousel has a nice piece of Civil Rights history.

The towering figures were created from the cemetery's fallen old-growth trees.

The unique traffic pattern named for an influential urban planner is also known as the Pedestrian Scramble.

"Congress may voluntarily remain in session throughout the summer, in order that our Congressmen may be protected from the intolerable discomforts and dangers of the ordinary outdoor weather!”

A hoard of sky catalogs, astrophysical journals, even the works of Galileo and Copernicus.

The first presidential bomb shelter was located in an old vault under the Treasury, connected to the White House via tunnel.

A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.

A clone of a cloned tree that was so important it allegedly had its own guards.

Government testing at the asylum briefly explored using marijuana as a "truth serum" on Nazi prisoners of war.

A rotating cast of guys and dolls in front of a Washington, D.C. building.

An unassuming, powerful monument north of the U.S. Capitol bears witness to the resilience of Japanese Americans during a time of grave injustice.

The most accurate timepiece in the world.

The oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States.

It was once the base for a series of domestic terror attacks.

The "lovely red Vega" of the legendary record-settling pilot.

The privately owned cemetery that holds room for Washington's finest when they step down from life.

The actual model from the original "Star Trek" series is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

The walls of the iconic dome are hollow and have a secret stairway.