Washington, D.C. - Day 3

Today was pretty crazy! We went to the Capitol and the Library of Congress, and that was a lot for one day - big crowds, and the 5th hottest day ever recorded in Washington D.C. - 104 degrees. Luckily, we were in air conditioning for most of the day.

If you know me, you know I love books. As Thomas Jefferson, my favorite president and early-American-history figure, said, "I cannot live without books" (I was sorely tempted to buy one of the many t-shirts that stated this in the gift shop). I've always wanted to tour the Library of Congress, and I have decided that working there in ANY capacity is my third career option (first being, duh, a social studies teacher, and second being a professional quilter, fabric store owner, or etsy artist :) ).

It did help that the main building is called the Jefferson building (the other two are Adams and Madison). :)

Anyway - it's gorgeous, even with the huge crowds milling around. The Library holds many of the books published in the US and all copyrights - so there's a need for three buildings. The main part is called the Great Hall (just like Hogwarts - another reason I'm in awe of this place):

We got to peek into the main reading room, which was just... well, there are really are no words. You're not allowed to take pictures, but it's huge (here's a link if you want to see what it looks like, but the picture doesn't do it justice, really). The architects were trying to compete with Europe, and it does look similar to the buildings I saw over there. If I lived in Washington, D.C., I would definitely have gotten myself a reading card and my butt over to that room by now.

There was also one of the only three "true" Gutenberg Bibles in the world - which we bought for an insane amount of money in 1929 (I unfortunately can't remember the amount, but it was insane even by today's currency - and Google refuses to tell me). A "true" Gutenberg Bible is printed on vellum and complete - with no missing pages. The other two are in London and Paris, and we have one in the Library of Congress. It was really cool to see.

The other artifact that interested me, which we bought just a few years ago for 10 million dollars, is the first map EVER to show "America." The tour guide explained that it was kind of like our birth certificate, so we just HAD to buy it from Germany. It was neat to see in person, though. P.S. I can't wait to use the Library of Congress website in my future lesson plans.

The best part was the recreation of Thomas Jefferson's library. There are many ORIGINAL books from his library, plus books they have replaced with different copies when many burned in a fire in 1850(?), PLUS boxes, with the titles and authors, that the Library is still looking for (which also burned and should be in his collection). That was the closest to Jefferson I think I'll ever get - inches away from his real books!

Then, we ate lunch and went to the Capitol. We saw a short film and were greeted by MANY more crowds of people here. We saw the Rotunda, which is the main part...

^^Thomas Jefferson! Lots of President statues are here.

...plus the chamber where the House of Representatives used to meet, and the "crypt" - which is right above where Washington was going to be buried (but his will said his body was not to be moved from Mount Vernon, plus the legislative center of our nation could not bury the first head of the executive branch there). It was really a beautiful place, and I haven't been there since I was 8 or so - so, quite the different experience.

We also ate amazing Neopolitan pizza tonight, plus fantastic gelato (I had chocolate with strawberry sorbet) - and watched the movie "Pleasantville." We looked at some of my Europe pictures too :)

Now, I need to go to bed - big day tomorrow!

-Jess