Fly from Nice to Washington

It's impossible to take off for Tahiti or the Seychelles without a pair or two of flip-flops in your suitcase. Lovers of the northern lights clearly pack their Uggs or Moon boots. But what kind of shoes should you take with you when you set out to conquer Washington? Sneakers, of course, those comfortable urban trainers. That’s because you will walk a lot when you visit the capital of the USA.

There's always a cultural venue to discover just a few hundred metres from the one you're leaving. So you don't count your steps, but if you return to the hotel in the evening with heavy legs, your head is equally as full with a thousand memories. Each to his own... With your family, you will reminisce about visiting museums, discovering dinosaurs, the portrait of Ginevra De Benci, the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci to be seen in the States, or the Wright brothers' aeroplane, the first, according to the Yankees, to leave terra firma. As a couple or with friends, you will remember strolling through the city and its bohemian districts, lunching in trendy restaurants or hunting down a record in a vintage vinyl shop.

• Take a stroll through the beautiful districts of the US capital, so deliciously retro, bohemian, festive and gourmet: These include Dupont Circle, the 'Marais' of Washington, Adams Morgan and Georgetown, the most famous, charming, chic and trendy district.
• Visit the White House. Yes, you can visit it! However, you will need to plan more than three months ahead before your trip. To do this, you should apply to the French embassy in Washington.
• Stroll (peacefully) through the corridors of the Capitol, home to the US Congress, the legislative body of US democracy, made up of the Senate (which sits in the north wing) and the House of Representatives (in the south wing). The whole complex is so big that it has its own underground metro!
• Admire the marble façade of the Supreme Court. It sits opposite the Capitol, in a huge building resembling an ancient temple.
• Give your memory a workout at Washington's various memorials, the great monuments that pay tribute to the illustrious men of the American nation: Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Presidents Jefferson, Roosevelt, Grant and, of course, Lincoln. At five metres high, the statue of the man who put an end to slavery is spectacular.
• Cross the National Mall, an immense three-kilometre-long park connecting the Washington Monument, a 169-metre-high obelisk dedicated to George Washington, to the Capitol. It passes by most of the city's museums and is home to the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King gave his legendary I have a dream speech from its steps ...
• Stroll through the stacks of the Library of Congress, the largest in the world with over 170 million documents, including over 22 million books. The reading rooms are reserved for academics and students, but the only hall in the Thomas Jefferson Building, the most beautiful of the three buildings, is definitely worth a look.
• Most of the city's museums are free. Especially as they are among the most beautiful in America, if not the world. Don't miss the Museum of Natural History, made famous by Ben Stiller in ‘Night at the Museum,’ the National Gallery of Art and its masterpieces by Rembrandt, Picasso and Warhol, and the National Air and Space Museum, a must-see for all those who love aviation.
• Stop off in Virginia to visit the small town of Alexandria, known for its cobbled streets and charming houses, or go for a hike in Great Falls National Park and admire the Potomac waterfalls.
• Pay your respects before John Fitzgerald Kennedy's grave in Arlington National Cemetery. It is the last resting place for 290,000 Americans who died for their country in all the wars fought by the USA since Independence, the very first war. The town of Arlington, close to Washington is also known for its famous building: the Pentagon.