Business in D.C.? See the sights, too

Author: By Laura White, Globe Correspondent

Date: SUNDAY, February 1, 1998

Page: M7

Section: Travel

It doesn't have to be all work and no play. You can manage a micro-vacation and enjoy the capital's historical and cultural sites without shirking your duties or feeling guilty. It just takes a little creativity, forethought and . . . fortitude.

Washington is a city of monuments. Most are open 24 hours a day and manned by US Park Rangers. Why not breakfast at one of the monuments? With a cup of your favorite coffee in hand, take a morning walk around one of the newer war memorials. Set on 2.2 acres across from the Lincoln Memorial is a monument dedicated to that ``forgotten war'' in Korea. It took 42 years and $18 million in private donations to honor those who served. The results are worth it.

A 164-foot-long, 41-panel, black granite wall is photo-etched with 2,500 full-face portraits of those GIs from all branches of the military and support services. The portraits were taken from the National Archives and the Air & Space Museum. Vermont artist Frank Gaylord did a series of 19 stainless steel, larger-than-life sculptures of poncho-clad foot soldiers moving toward victory. Rising from the reflection pool is a panel with the engraved legend: FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.

It's an inspiring jump-start to your day.

For a business lunch, take a client to the Mezzanine Cafe at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (1250 New York Ave., NW). Women clients will love the idea; many businessmen probably haven't been there before. Exhibits have something for everyone; there are nudes.

This Renaissance Revival structure was built in 1907 and served as Washington's Masonic Grand Lodge -- that organization of men in sheepskin aprons -- and excluded women. That changed when NMWA purchased the building in 1994 and began its award-winning renovation. With its marble interior, grand staircase, and crystal chandeliers, the building today is a monument to women artists. It houses some 15,000 works by more than 500 women from the Renaissance to the present. Among them are the large-scale religious and biblical paintings by Lavinia Fontana of Bologna (1552-1614), the first Italian woman to achieve financial and critical success as an artist. Fontana was commissioned by popes Gregory XIII and Clement VIII. The first-ever exhibit of Fontana's works in the United States opens here Feb. 5 and runs through June 7. The NMWA's permanent collection includes works by Mary Cassett and Georgia O'Keefe; nudes by Camille Cladel -- a bronze girl done in 1890 -- and Suzanne Valadon -- a 1921 oil on canvas; and miniature portraits by Eubalee Dix.

Dix (1878-1961) painted Mark Twain, Ethel Barrymore, and socialites in New York, London, and Paris. My favorite is titled ``Me'', a 2 1/2-x-2 1/8-inch self-portrait painted in 1899. She depicted herself in watercolor on ivory dressed in a Gibson Girl white blouse and a frothy purple neckbow; her hair is slightly mussed. It's a sensuous yet prim portrait.

NMWA'S cafe serves lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Reservations are accepted (call 202-628-1068). Arrive early and browse.

Of course, you can always skip lunch in favor of a power bar and spend the time at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History's brand new $13 million Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals. This state-of-the-art complex contains some of the world's most dazzling jewels and crystals. It opened in September after a two-year renovation.

The 20,000-square-foot hall houses the famed 45.52 carat Hope Diamond. Before the opening, the cool blue diamond was secretly flown to Harry Winston Jewelers (the original donor) in New York for a bath (soap and water) and sprucing up of its white diamond and metal setting. Today, the diamond is safely ensconced on a rotating mount and lit by fiber-optics in an impregnable, specially-designed display case.

The new exhibit contains 2,500 objects, about a third of which are on view for the first time. The re-creation of four mines and a demonstration of the shifting of earth's tectonic plates, which cause earthquakes and volcanoes, are interesting. However, the gems' gravitation force on visitors is off the charts. Highlights include a shoulder brooch sapphire set in diamonds (423 carats), a 23,000-carat topaz weighing 10 pounds, and a 263-carat diamond necklace given by Napoleon to Empress Marie Louise. With Valentine's Day coming, head for the museum shop. A replica Hope Diamond pin -- dark-blue glass encircled by Austrian crystals -- costs $70 and is a gift guaranteed to turn a woman's head and heart.

During every business day, there's usually need to catch up on paperwork or retrieve messages by cell phone. Head for the Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library at 31st and R streets, NW. This 19th-century mansion was the site of two international conferences in 1944 that led to the charter of the United Nations. It is now administered by the Trustees for Harvard University.

The formal gardens cover over 10 acres with myriad plantings, 10 pools, nine fountains, stone sculptures, and mosaics. The Italian Rose marble tables and benches provide ample work space. And Washington's mild weather at this time of year is invigorating. The gardens are open free from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. now through March.