Seeing the Sights

 

Our first port of call in Washington DC this morning was the Library of Congress, housing Thomas Jefferson's Library and various exhibitions, as well as the impressive Main Reading Room..

 

The small number of 'readers' in the Reading Room was in contrast to the large number of visitors in the public areas of the building.  This week is 'Spring Break' for many schools and colleges and there were numerous groups and many families visiting the sights today.

The view to the ceiling of the Reading Room is always impressive.

Outside, crossing the road to the Capitol building gives a better view of the size of the Library of Congress. 

 In fact this photo was taken later in the day as we used the tunnel between the Library and the Capitol building to reach the Capitol Visitor Centre this time.

 

 

The view of the Capitol building from the first floor of the Library of Congress is good when the trees are not fully in leaf - and now that all the scaffolding has been removed from the Capitol dome.

 

Once inside the Capitol building we visited the restaurant for lunch before joining a queue to tour the building.

 

Equipped with headphones and having watched the orientation film we joined perhaps forty others with our guide who led us through the building. We were just one group of probably twenty that were on the move so everywhere was rather busy and there was no opportunity for ad hoc exploration!

 

Looking up to the ceiling of the inner dome and around the Rotunda it is an interesting building and very ornate.  Once again we were reminded of the misbehavior of the British in 1812 when the original Capitol building was burned to the ground.

I toured the Capitol once before when we were on our 'look see' visit in March 2013.  More recently of course the Rotunda and the adjacent Statue Room - the original meeting chambers - were the venue for President Trump's televised  Inaugural Lunch.
 

 

The statue room was originally intended to hold a rather smaller number of statues - one from each State of the US.  Now that there are fifty states it is crowded and many are also in the Emancipation Hall which is now the Visitor Centre.

 

We emerged into the sunshine to take some photos outside.

 

 

 

Our final visit for the day was the National Botanic Garden..

 

This fiery coloured azalea caught my eye in the sunshine.

This seemed to be a double Datura.

 

 

One of many beautiful Lady's Slipper Orchids.

 

Failed to notice the name of this - is it a type of Evening Primrose?

 

This is the top of one of the very large cacti - almost looks like a myriad of hairy legs that could up and walk away!