DC Saturday, Library of Congress

There is a tunnel from the Capitol to the Library of Congress, so we went over there and looked around without doing an official tour. Gorgeous interior, fabulous quotes, beautiful frescos, marble everywhere. And books! There were a couple of places where you could see some actual books!! :) I assume most of what they do now is electronic, given the volume, but we didn't do the tour and I haven't taken time to look it up, so I'm not sure. One of the exhibits was Thomas Jefferson's library. No pics allowed in there :( but it was very neat - lots of volumes, various languages - very impressive.

We were getting tired and needing lunch, so we had decided to leave the Library of Congress in search of some grub. As we were leaving, the building was evacuated, evidently because of a suspicious, unclaimed package. Interesting to have that experience, felt sort of 'authentic', in a way. Nothing came of it, probably happens with some regularity (careless tourists, or parents busier than busy trying to keep baby/toddler/stroller gear together and just dropping things) - of course there is the occasional nut job, so they have to take it all seriously.

We got out of there and walked east (beyond one of the President's favorite spots, according to our Capitol tour guide, a place called 'We, the Pizza') to a tiny grocery store that had a deli counter in the back. We got sandwiches and subs and had a picnic in a sweet little place called Seward Park. The starlings were very happy to see us coming. Played us like songs and fed their huge, whiny babies (who could fly and seemed like they should've been off the teat, but whatever).



View of LoC from front (taken before we went on Capitol tour)



Tunnel from Capitol to LoC



Ceiling of LoC



Ceiling of LoC with camera set to show skylit panels



So colorful in that main entrance area






Plate under window says 'Science is organized knowledge'



Fresco for Zoology



Police beginning to arrive to assist with the evacuation



Seward Park picnic



Maybe not what she was expecting? Love the look on Sam's face, but have no idea what that was about - it was just a random shot of the picnic setting. :)







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