5 Things to Do In: Washington, DC

Visit: During the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Kicking off this weekend and running through April 12, the spring event commemorates Tokyo's gift of 3,000 cherry trees to the city in 1912 with a slew of cultural events, parades, musical performances, fireworks displays and street festivals.

See: The Lincoln Memorial. This year marks Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, so this famed landmark is even more relevant than ever right now. For events celebrating Lincoln's bicentennial, visit Living the Legacy.

Eat: CityZen at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Dine here to sample the modern American cuisine that landed Chef Eric Ziebold the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region for 2008.

Drink: Veritas Wine Bar. Indulge in new and old world wines, tastings, cheese, chocolate and charcuterie at this popular wine bar. If you're there on a Monday when many bottles are half-price, even better.

Buy: Hinckley Pottery. Open for over 40 years, this Washington, DC pottery showroom and studio displays stoneware, porcelain and raku pottery by artist Jill Hinckley and others.