So, we decided we still wanted to see the inside of the Washington Monument and do the tour for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. These two sites, required tickets and though they were free, you had to stand in line to get them and they were given out very early in the day. We made a plan! George would stand in line at the Bureau and I would stand in line at the Washington Monument. We got up at 4:00 that morning (gosh this is beginning to be reminescent of working), fed McKenzie and walked her a couple of times, packed our lunch, and walked down to catch the Metro bus which would drop us off at the train station. We got downtown about 7:00 and each of us headed to our respective spots. By 8:45, we each had our tickets and were able to take the 9:00 a.m. tour of the Washington Monument. The monument is 555 feet 5 inches tall and towers over everything in the Nation's Capital. It resembles a classic Egyptian obelisk and the cornerstone was laid July 4, 1848. However due to lack of funding, it stood for 18 years before construction was resumed. In December of 1884, a 3,300 pound marble capstone was placed on the obelisk and topped with a 9 inch pyramid of cast aluminum. A 70 second elevator takes visitors up to the 500 foot level for spectacular views of the city.
George at the top of Washington Monument
White House view from the top of Washington Monument
View of Lincoln's Memorial, the reflection pool and WW II MemorialOur next visit was to the Bureau of Engraving. The Bureau produces 37 million notes a day with a face value of approximately $696 million. Ninety five percent of the notes printed each year are used to replace notes already in circulation. Forty five percent of the notes printed are $1 bills. If you had 10 billion $1 notes and spent one every second of every day, it would require 317 years for you to go broke. Currency paper is composed of 25% linen and 75% cotton. Between Fort Worth, Texas (the only other facility that prints notes) and the Washington DC facilities, approximately 18 tons of ink per day are used. The average life of a $1 bill is 22 months, a $5 bill is 2 years, $10 bill is 3 years, $20 bill is 4 years, $50 is 9 years and the $100 is 9 years. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit and seeing how the money was printed, cut, and inspected. The following case hold $1 million dollars in $1 dollar bills.
Since our feet had not completely cratered yet, we decided to go ahead and take a tour of the Library of Congress. The building is by far the most beautiful building in the city. It is the largest library in the world and was founded in 1800 to serve the research needs of the U.S. Congress. Although that is still its primary missioin, the Library's reading rooms are open to those above high school age without charge or special permission and its web site (http://www.loc.gov/) of millions of multimedia items is accessible to anyone anytime. The Great Hall features murals and sculptures by some of the nation's finest artists of the day; ;it rises 75 feet from its marble floor to its stained-glass ceiling. We were able to view the Main Reading Room which was a circular room filled with artistic representations of knowledge and learning. We were surprised not to see many books. Though the Library of Congress has more than 128 million items, most of them are kept elsewhere and retrieved by Library Staff who serve them to the users. It is also the home of the Copyright Office of the U.S.
Knowing that this would be our last day in the City, we decided to take a tour of the National Postal Museum on the way back to the train station.
Since our feet had not completely cratered yet, we decided to go ahead and take a tour of the Library of Congress. The building is by far the most beautiful building in the city. It is the largest library in the world and was founded in 1800 to serve the research needs of the U.S. Congress. Although that is still its primary missioin, the Library's reading rooms are open to those above high school age without charge or special permission and its web site (http://www.loc.gov/) of millions of multimedia items is accessible to anyone anytime. The Great Hall features murals and sculptures by some of the nation's finest artists of the day; ;it rises 75 feet from its marble floor to its stained-glass ceiling. We were able to view the Main Reading Room which was a circular room filled with artistic representations of knowledge and learning. We were surprised not to see many books. Though the Library of Congress has more than 128 million items, most of them are kept elsewhere and retrieved by Library Staff who serve them to the users. It is also the home of the Copyright Office of the U.S.
Knowing that this would be our last day in the City, we decided to take a tour of the National Postal Museum on the way back to the train station.
This is our last day of touring the city and we decided to use it to see the zoo here. We especially wanted to see the Panda's Mei Xiang (pronounced May-Shong) which means "Beautiful Fragrance" and Tinan Tian (pronounced t-yen t-yen) and means "More and More"..JPG)
The giant pandas arrive in December of 2000 as part of an international breeding and conservation effort. They are on loan from China for 10 years and the Zoo is one of only four zoos in the country with giant pandas.
The zoo contains more than 2,000 animals, including many endangered species from giant pandas and Asian elephants to Komodo dragons and white-naped cranes. The National Zoo is an international leader in wildlife conservation and education and was one of the first conservation organizations in the nation's capital. The zoo encompasses 163 acres of very hilly terrain and after tramping around most of the day, we were really glad that the trip to the train station was all down hill. Otherwise, George would have had to pull me all the way home.
The giant pandas arrive in December of 2000 as part of an international breeding and conservation effort. They are on loan from China for 10 years and the Zoo is one of only four zoos in the country with giant pandas.The zoo contains more than 2,000 animals, including many endangered species from giant pandas and Asian elephants to Komodo dragons and white-naped cranes. The National Zoo is an international leader in wildlife conservation and education and was one of the first conservation organizations in the nation's capital. The zoo encompasses 163 acres of very hilly terrain and after tramping around most of the day, we were really glad that the trip to the train station was all down hill. Otherwise, George would have had to pull me all the way home.Saturday was a day of much needed rest and getting ready to pull out. We will leave Shirley and George at this point as they are headed toward West Virginia and we are headed to Gettysburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia and New York City. We've enjoyed this city tremendously and feel very lucky to have had time to explore and enjoy it. We hope you have enjoyed it as well and will continue to come along with us on the rest of our trip as there will be much more to experience. We know we are wandering around a lot, but remember "all those who wander are not lost". Join us in Gettysburg!!!
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