Today's strategy started out with the Library of Congress, which opened sooner than other buildings. I thought we would just "pop in" to see it before heading on to other places that I thought were more worthy. I had not done any research on this building, and didn't know it would be anything all that interesting.
I could not have been more wrong.
Gorgeous fountains outside could have been a clue.
Heavily ornamented exterior definitely should have been a clue.
The first thing we saw was a little, beautifully decorated hall, with a very old and humble display for what it was holding:
The incredibly beautiful ceiling of the hall.
But our jaws dropped when we stepped out of that side hall and into the main hall.
The ceiling, so far above.
There's so much detail the kids get lost!
The little side hall ceiling honored famous literary figures throughout history.
Other parts of the ceilings were dedicated to themes of wisdom, learning, nature, and values the building's artisans must have thought represented the best of what defined and unified Americans.
There was no place in the building that was unadorned, elegant, amazing.
The Library has changing museum exhibits--this one on baseball!
And the Library contains Thomas Jefferson's library!
We never imagined how gorgeous a government building could be, and I am so glad I made that little "stop by"--that turned into hours.
Note: of any place we visited in D.C. the people here were by far the nicest. The docents are all volunteers, and I'm guessing retired professionals. They were very helpful, very professional, and they clearly wanted to be there. All in all, this was one of our favorite things in all of D.C.
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