Today was an 8-hour sight seeing marathon to see three major attractions;
1. Capitol Hill – we had 10:30 tour reservations and arrived 45 minutes early at Emancipation Hall (visitor’s center). While waiting, we enjoyed the several sculptures on display including, just to name a few, astronaut John Swigert of Apollo 13 fame (Colorado), Chief Washakie (Wyoming) and Helen Keller (Alabama) plus the full size plaster model of “Freedom” from which the bronze statue that graces the pinnacle of the Capitol building was cast. At 10:30, we got in line with hundreds of rambunctious school children. Fortunately we found a small group of adults only ☺ and enjoyed the tour around the Capitol Museum Gallery. No photos allowed! 😡 plus the main rotunda was closed today due to a special function for holocaust survivors so we didn’t get to see the magnificent artwork of the dome. C’est la vie.
After the tour we visited and actually sat in on live sessions of both the House of Representatives (someone was not happy that Donald Trump has not produced his tax returns for the past several years) and the Senate (Senator Ted Cruz was chairing the meeting on endorsements for the new Deputy Attorney General).
2. Library of Congress: WOW!!! What a beautiful building… so ornate. This really made up for not seeing the rotunda in the Capitol. We saw the great reading room plus several exhibits covering WWI, discovery of the Americas as well as historical art and documents.
3. The Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space. Fantastic displays covering everything imaginable to do with flight from Davinci’s first models to the Hubble Telescope images of distant space. Very amazing!
Dinner was a couple of blocks away at the Elephant and Castle restaurant for a hearty meal and then home for the evening. Wonderful day.
Here are the photo highlights of day 11 – Washington Capitol, Library of Congress and the Museum of Air and Space.
nellyglass studio 