WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL -- Grounds open daily dawn until dusk. 3101 Wisconsin Avenue NW. 202-537-6200. www.cathedral.org.
THE BALCONY SCENE
The great outdoors has been a source of romantic inspiration since time immemorial. Exploring the great outdoors with a cocktail in hand, though of more recent vintage, is an unfailing way to make the needle jump on your love meter. Like swallows to Capistrano, the city's lovebirds return each spring to the open-air spaces of our bars and restaurants, especially in Adams Morgan, where patrons enjoy spectacular views of the passing parade.
(Illustration by Isabelle Dervaux)
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They're nearly done slapping on a fresh coat of paint and adding some flowerboxes to the roof at Perry's, whose Christmas-lights-under-the-stars aesthetic recalls the best moments of -- depending on your generational affiliation -- "Moonstruck," "The Goodbye Girl" or "Barefoot in the Park." You'll be singing "shamma, shamma," too, what with a sturdy menu of sushi available under the stars, along with a ready supply of Kirin and Sapporo.
The two most coveted outdoor tables in the neighborhood are also the newest, on the just-opened balcony overlooking 18th Street at Madam's Organ. For ages, the open-air rooftop has been keeping regulars in rum punches, but there's something uniquely intimate about the small second-floor terrace (relatively, this is Madam's Organ, after all), with its keep-your-distance embrace of the funky street scene. As always, live blues music bounces off the accordion- and animal skin-lined walls, and half-price food specials are available every night of the week. (At press time, the roof at the Reef, across the street, was in the midst of a spring renovation; it's scheduled to reopen this weekend, weather permitting.) Further south, there's nearly always a crowd at Lauriol Plaza, and small wonder, given the capacious rooftop dining area, baskets of hot tortilla chips and even hotter salsa, and those two-tone, swirled margaritas. And over on jumpin' U Street NW, Local 16 has a Mediterranean menu downstairs and on the roof, a climate to match the cuisine. On balmy spring evenings, ensconced at the 40-foot-long bar, close your eyes -- you'll think you're in Barcelona.
LAURIOL PLAZA -- 1835 18th St. NW. 202-387-0035.
LOCAL 16 -- 1602 U St. NW. 202-265-2828.
MADAM'S ORGAN -- 2461 18th St. NW. 202-667-5370.
PERRY'S -- 1811 Columbia Rd. NW. 202-234-6218.
THE REEF -- 2446 18th St. NW. 202-518-3800.
THE TRITE OF SPRING
In most areas of endeavor -- writing, say -- cliches are to be studiously avoided. Originality is prized above all, and those who do what has been done a million times before risk serious rebuke. Not so the world of romance, which not only seems to traffic in the shopworn -- the flowers, the candlelight dinners, the long walks on the beach -- it revels in it. How else to explain the continued success of the National Cherry Blossom Festival (through April 10), which for decades has provided the setting for countless trysts and assignations? Regular attendees will tell you that love's epicenter is that monumental make-out spot, the Jefferson Memorial, but you can't go wrong along any stretch of the Tidal Basin, where nature's spectacle is accompanied by the music of tens of thousands of whispered sweet nothings.
No one is exactly sure when it is that lovers developed a passion for having picnics and flying kites, but they don't subtitle the 39th installment of Saturday's Smithsonian Kite Festival "A Sky Fantasy" for nothing. Maybe it's love's uncanny resemblance to the kite, which event organizers define strictly as "a tethered heavier-than-air craft that depends only on the wind for lift." (No wonder half of all marriages end in divorce.)
Romantic hokum thy name is the hot air balloon ride, another instance of love's attempts to defy gravity, and yet even the most cynical heart tends to melt when presented with a terrific view. The ballooning season begins in earnest in spring, when a host of local outlets -- Blue Ridge Balloon in Charlottesville and Balloons Unlimited in Winchester, Va., among them -- offer daily flights taking in the majestic sweep of the Shenandoah Valley, both followed by the traditional champagne toast. Blue Ridge riders who want to take things to the next level can purchase an engagement package, which offers relative privacy for the three of you (the lovebirds and the pilot, that is).
And then there's that proverbial rowboat ride up a lazy river, symbolizing love's embrace of languor and indifference to the toxicity of waterways. The season begins Friday for Jack's Boats of Georgetown, where couples with a nautical bent can canoe the Potomac by the hour or the day. Also convenient to -- but worlds away from -- the city's bustle is the Thompson Boat Center, which rents canoes and double kayaks each year when the Potomac water temperature reaches 55 degrees.
BALLOONS UNLIMITED -- Hot air balloon flights twice daily year-round. Several sites in the Winchester area. 703-281-2300. www.balloonsunlimited.com.
