Books and Monuments

Library of Congress

Today is a very old media day. I finally got to visit the Library of Congress, but I'll admit I was a little disappointed at first. Apparently they don't just let random people come in off the street and smell their favorite books, which, naturally, was my plan for the morning. The books are separated from the public viewing area, but after I overcame my initial disappointment and started looking around, the Library of Congress is still one of my trip highlights. It's the most beautiful building I've seen here, and I was able to see the giant reading room through glass dividers. There was also an interesting exhibit about Thomas Jefferson's library. I didn't realize that his personal library was the basis for the Library of Congress collection after the first one burned down. The exhibit recreated his personal library. I couldn't open (or smell) the books because they were behind glass, but at that point I was thrilled just to see some books, especially ones that old.

Lincoln Memorial

After the library I met up with my family, and we walked around the Mall together. We started from the Washington Monument and worked our way through WWII, Lincoln (my favorite), Korean War, and Roosevelt. I would have liked to have made it all the way to the Jefferson Memorial on the water, but I saw his library and that will have to be enough for today.

Tonight I'm making the sacrifice and going to watch the Wizards/Bobcats game with my brother at the Verizon Center instead of finding Georgetown Cupcakes with the rest of our group. Yet, the more I think about it, if we find a Chipotle before the game, I'll probably come out with a much better night. Laters!

And the game ended up being a trip highlight...