Monday, April 23, 2012
Another cold, rainy day .... but we will NOT let it dampen our spirits or adventure!
We walked to the Capitol Building and took a tour.  Lots of people were there, in spite of the weather, probably because it was warm inside? 

Toured the sculpture hall and the rotunda.

The top of the rotunda in the Capitol Building. 

The Apotheosis of Washington 

Suspended 180 feet above the Rotunda floor, the fresco covers an area of 4,664 square feet. The figures, up to 15 feet tall, were painted to be intelligible from close up as well as from 180 feet below.

Each state has 2 statues .... California has Fr Junipero Sera and Ronald Reagan.

Chief Washakie - Wyoming

 There was soooo much there is the way of artwork ... I won't bore you by posting many of the sculptures and paintings.

The Declaration of Independence, the most famous painting.

After touring the Capitol Building, we took the underground tunnel to the Library of Congress.

It houses the Jefferson collection, many books from Jefferson's personal library.  Many, many exhibits of life in the US!

 From here, we went to lunch at the Monocle Restaurant, which is close to the Supreme Court and the Capitol.  It is the haunt of Supreme Court justices and members of Congress and we were the only people in it not wearing a suit or carrying a briefcase !  But, the hamburger was good !

Next, on to the National Archives.  Displays included the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc.  I believe that these are the actual documents, but didn't ask anyone.

Poor lighting but this is the main room of the National Archive Building

Lots of Security Guards in all of the buildings, but they were very friendly and helpful.  Everyone we asked knew where the restrooms are located !  We did find out that we could go to the Research entrance and lool at old census records.

We walked about 4 miles today in the wind, rain and cold.  Wouldn't you know that records have been set here for Spring weather?

This is the closest we have gotten to the White House so far

 For dinner, we just took our vehicle out and found a Safeway market.  GPS is soooo great!