Wed. April 11th: WASHINGTON DC: Library of Congress, Capital, Air & Space Museum

Again this morning we rode our bikes to Metro.  It was quite chilly this morning and because we forgot to bring mittens, Dave told the kids that they might want to use socks to cover their hands.  They were all excited about that idea and the next thing I see is five kids with socks on their hands!  It was a hilarious sight!!  The bike ride was fast and easy this morning. 

First on the agenda today is the Library of Congress.   We met Shelley’s cousin and his family there (they live in New Jersey and we will stay with them in a week).  We just made the 10:30 tour and I’m so glad because the tour guide was awesome.  He was incredibly knowledgeable and one of the best clear communicators that we’ve had so far.    The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.   Located in four buildings in Washington D.C,  it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books.   Thomas Jefferson was instrumental the Library's early formation, signing  into law on January 26, 1802, the first law establishing the structure of the Library of Congress and it was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century.     The Library of Congress was destroyed in August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol building and the small library of 3,000 volumes.   Within a month, former President Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating a wide variety of books, including ones in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy, science, literature, and even cookbooks.  In January 1815, Congress accepted Jefferson's offer, giving him $23,950  for his 6,487 books.    Although it is open to the public, only Library employees, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and other high-ranking government officials may check out books; any resident may get a library card and do research at the Library.   France needed money after World War I  tried to sell their original Gutenberg Bible all around the world but no one would buy it.  They finally came to Washington DC and Congress decided  that it would be worth buying  it along with thousands of other books for 1.5 million dollars.  It is now displayed at the Library of Congress in a protective case to preserve it and is one out of only 4 copies.   Also in the 1800’s the Library  only housed books from male authors even though the most popular and well read book mid 1800’s  was Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.    All over the ceiling and walls on the 2^nd floor balcony were tiles inscribed with famous authors and philosophers of all times – even Harriet’s brother John Beecher was up there.  Have you heard of him??

After the wonderful tour we headed back out into the chilly air and decided we must get a Starbucks – which by the way, are everywhere, even just a block or two apart, every place that we have been!    I decided that I just had to have one of their famous large mugs from Washington DC. 

We had our Capitol tour set up through our local House congressman, Mike Thomson so next we walked to his office to meet his assistant for the tour.   We walked to  the Canon Building, went through security, and waited at his office.  His sweet intern, Alison, was assigned to our group and gave us an incredible tour.  We started the tour by walking underground, in their secret passageway to the Capital Building, which was really exciting for all of us.  We had to go through security again to go up to the Rotunda (security is everywhere, in every DC building after the 9/11 attacks).   

 

The rotunda was a beautiful circular room with a dome 96 feet in diameter and 180 feet in height.   It is the center of the capital connecting the House and Senate on either side and because it was the very center our tour guide showed us where the exact center is of the whole building. 

 

Designed in 1793 by William Thorton, the central rotunda was intended to imitate the Pantheon from the ancient Rome temple.  The walls are made of sandstone from the dirt around the building area.    Painted at the very top  of the dome are Roman goddess.  Eight historical paintings surround the Rotunda – four of the Revolutionary era all commissioned by Congress from John Trumbull in 1817: The signing of the Declaration of Independence, Surrender of General Burgoyne, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and General George Washington resigning his commission. 

The other four are of early exploration:  The landing of the Columbus; the Discovery of the Mississippi,  The Baptism of Pocahontas, the embarkation of the Pilgrims. 

 The statues and the busts in the Capital are mostly of presidents, but each state also chose 2 people who were important & influential in their state, to have a full statue of them.  Do you know the 2 chosen from our State?  Ronald Regan and Father Serra.  

During the war of 1812, in 1814 the British tried to burn down the White House and the Capitol building . . . . we saw the original burn areas of the walls from that war, just right after the Revolution.    Also, we went into National Statuary Hall, the original House of Representatives, and we looked at the spot where the once 6^th President and House of Representative John Quincy Adams suffered a fatal stroke at his desk, and we were told the story that Adams used to pretend to be dozing while listening in to political rivals via a quirky little audio trick.   Alison walked over to the other side of the room and whispered into the floor, allowing our group to listen in to what she said.  He was a sly old fox to do that without anyone else knowing!

At the end of the Capitol tour we sat in the House of Representatives room.  They were not in session, but it was fun to see where they meet!  We walked back underground to the Cannon Building to gather our bags and then we went to the Air & space museum until it closed. 

Statue of Ulysses S. Grant in front of the Capital commemorating the battle of the North & South during the  Civil War!!

We discovered that one of the first commercial airlines was called Douglas , , ,, that made our day!!    They had seats with measurements of the different sizes in the different airlines and the Douglas airline had the largest seats measuring at 20 inches.  Too bad they are not still around now!  We also went into the World War II exhibit which was fascinating.  The Air & Space Museum is absolutely incredible and we just got a taste of it tonight.