Where are all the books?

Day 7 Recap! 

Today we spent the day in Washington DC. We are staying on Capitol Hill so we are close to EVERYTHING!! It is such a blessing. One of Celeste's friends let us stay at her place and we pretty much have the place to ourselves. Lindsay and her roommates are amazing for letting us crash at their place! We woke up early and went to Starbucks for breakfast. We then used the Metro to go to Arlington National Cemetery. When we got to our stop the heavens opened up and it rained almost the entire time we were there. Celeste was the smart one and brought an umbrella. Unfortunately Natalie and I did not have cover! Although it was a bit miserable with the rain we stuck with the plan and saw a few things in the cemetery. We started with walking to where President John F. Kennedy is buried. It was quite a hike up some hills. 

 After paying our respects to President Kennedy we headed for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We wanted to see the changing of the guards. We got there about about 10:40 and they did the ceremony at 11:00. They do the ceremony every 30 minutes in the summer and every hour in the winter. It was a very moving ceremony and it makes you think about all those soldiers who have given their lives so that we may live in a country where freedom reigns.

 After walking through the cemetery we went back to the house to eat lunch. We had just a little bit of time to kill before our tour of the Capitol building.

Way back in March I scheduled a tour of the capitol building through our senator. You don't HAVE to pre-schedule the tour but it was really easy to just show up and give your confirmation number. One tip on the contraband items... You can bring an EMPTY water bottle into the capitol. I saw small backpacks that people had. Those were just a few things that we noticed strayed from the list that they sent of prohibited items.

The capitol is going through major updates right now. The dome has thousands of cracks that they are trying to fix and also remove the lead paint. They are protecting all the paintings and statues in the rotunda. It seems just our luck that it is being worked on.

The painting below is the battle of Yorktown which was one of the last battles of the Revolutionary War.

 This is the painting at the top of the dome. It depicts George Washington going into heaven. There are 13 women which represent the 13 colonies.

The statue below depicts Susan B. Anthony and other women who led the way for Women's Suffrage. 

After our capitol tour we walked over to the Library of Congress using the tunnel from the capitol. It was nice not to go out into the heat!

 Look how beautiful it is!!!! We just don't see libraries like this any more! I would spend so much more time in a library reading if they looked like this. :) At first we couldn't find the books... that is because they are in the room below which the general public cannot access. You have to be researching something to be able to read in this room.

Beautiful quotes line the ceiling area. 

 Massive walkways and ceilings! 

 Just the 3 of us! 

After the library we headed to Georgetown. We were off to the Cat Cafe or better known as Crumbs and Whiskers. Celeste is our cat lover and when else would you be able to go to a cat cafe?? She got her kitty fix and loved some cats. If you are ever in Georgetown go to Crumbs and Whiskers if you love cats. Kanchan is such a sweet girl and I think she owns the place. You need a reservation and there is a cover charge of $12 so plan accordingly.

We ate dinner at this Thai place called I-Thai. Kanchan from Crumbs and Whiskers recommended it and it did not disappoint! It was fantastic and if you check in on Yelp you get a free Mango Sticky Rice dessert. Delicious! We had Pad Thai with Chicken, Chicken Fried Rice and Pineapple Fried Rice. Can you find the Pineapple Fried Rice???

 After the Kitty Cafe and dinner we headed to the Waterfront Park just as the sun was setting! I snapped a few photos of Georgetown and M Street. M Street was were most of the dining and shopping was. This area was very congested and there were tons of people walking around and shopping. It was a beautiful evening!

We walked down to Waterfront Park. 

 There is a small water area where kids were running around in the water. 

We had a very busy day! We walked over 18,000 steps, rode the Metro, used Uber and people actually thought we were locals! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings :) It's been a great 7 days!