Washington, DC, Part 2

As we continue to explore, we are impressed by all of the buildings, especially the two we saw on

Day 4

Capitol Building was one of the buildings we did not see last time we were in DC.

   

What can I say.......I am just glad these words are still there!!

We managed to get in on a tour of the Capitol within 10 minutes!  

This is the Capitol Crypt.  This was supposed to be George Washington’s burial site, but it was not completed prior to his death, and following the completion, permission was not granted by the family.

Each state is invited to contribute two statues to display at the Capitol, which are housed in different areas.   Here in the Crypt, they lined the wall.

They are also displayed in the visitor’s center

 Hawaii, King Kamehamehai                                                                                  

Alabama, Helen Keller

The Rotunda is the heart of the building.  With several more statues, it is used as a ceremonial room.

Ronald Reagan, which has a cord of the Berlin Wall in the base

Thia picture is on the $2 bill.... remember those?

The dome has a significant painting in the middle, with George Washington at the center of it.

The National Statuary Hall was the first Hall of the House of Representatives.  It now houses statues.

The dome is not quite as elaborate as the Rotunda, but still impressive!

 Speaker Boehner's office was just off of this room.... but we did not see anybody!

 This is a copy of the statue of Freedom, which was placed on top of the Capitol in 1863.

Library of Congress was also a building we missed during our prior trip.

We followed a tunnel from the Capitol to the Library, which is now also known as the Thomas Jefferson Building..

The interior of the Library of Congress was PHENOMENAL!  Overwhelming is another word for it!

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here they are!

ALL ceilings and floors are tile, marble posts and walls, 24K gold leaf!!!  Lighting is original to the building.

After the original small library in the Capitol was burned, Thomas Jefferson sold his collection of 6,847 books to  establish the new library.  Fire again took a two-thirds of the collection.  The remaining books laid the foundation for the existing library in the building that was built and opened in 1897. There are 20 reading rooms, the main one just as beautiful as the great hall.  The Gutenberg and Mainz Bibles are both displayed here.  Pictures were not allowed of these collections and rooms.  Otherwise, you would be seeing 100 more pictures!!

Day 5

American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery were a few blocks north of the National Mall where the majority of the Smithsonian buildings are.  We are definitely slowing down!  Even though we were pushing ourselves, we saw a lot in these two, intermingled museums.  Some were restricted for photographs; others, just too many to show all!

The art museum included

folk art pieces 

and a painting by Grandma Moses

The portrait gallery was fascinating.  It included many notable well known people, but as we read about some, they were influential, but not necessarily in our history books.  

This was the first woman to run for president, in 1884!  And we thought Ms Clinton was the first!

This is the only collection of all of the president’s portraits other than the White House.  

Clinton’s was the most unique,

as was Kennedy, but I neglected to get a picture of it... it was very much like the Plien Air style.  Very 60’s!  The rest were very traditional.

This grand piano was commissioned by President T. Roosevelt.  The seals of the first thirteen colonies are on the side.

It was well worth the visit; we learned a lot.

We also visited the Canadian Embassy, where I confirmed I have dual citizenship.

We left for Windsor Mills, and are now parked at the Child Evangelism Fellowship, Maryland Headquarters.  We started work this morning, glad it was indoor work, since it has cooled down significantly!