Dinner at the Hotel - Wed. Feb. 18

Our only day of "bad" weather and it really wasn't all that bad. In fact, it added to the adventure - and we were happy not to have this particular adventure for very long. We are on our way to The International Spy Museum.

Have to snap a shot every time we pass - even in wet weather


Trooper kids even in the rain and cold (look out Evan Claire's getting ready to kick water on you - oh yah - you started it)


The International Spy Museum was one of the few attractions we had to pay for on this trip. And I'd say we thought it was worth it. Again, Mom AND Dad this time, were a bit slow compared to Evan and Claire but it was very interesting. Unfortunately, picture taking was not allowed - and we didn't take any - what kind of spies would we make?! Not very good ones. And yes - spies are EVerywhere.

Just across the street from the Spy Museum is -
The National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum


Evan's Portrait Gallery






This is a very large painting, not mural size, but very big - and we thought it was called "Giant Picture" - we read that some where - but that's not what it is called... Albert Bierstadt's - "Among the Sierra Nevada"




"You are here"

Onto The National Archives

Magna Carta - how cool is that?!

The Rotunda - this was one of the few places we stood in a line - but it wasn't bad. We were very fortunate. And we really didn't even have to stand in the line, we could have walked up to any of the document cases but we wanted to view everything in "chronological order" It is dimly lit - preservation purposes - no flash photography allowed nor even cameras with a "white" light. Not sure what that is but a few people around us had their cameras confiscated for the white lights.



Fancy cases for the documents - I asked a guard if the cases move up and down etc and he said "not after 9/11" so I inquired what they do now and he replied with "Can't tell ya Mrs. Gates..."

The Declaration of Independence - you can kind of make out John Hancock (these aren't great pictures but these documents are fading away...)

The Constitution

The Bill of Rights


You go Girls!


A tired crew - done with museums for the day we head back to our hotel for dinner. We were excited for chicken and mashed potatoes but unfortunately, I misread the calendar - it was hamburgers and hotdogs. Granted they were good - but it wasn't what we'd expected AND we'd had a few hamburgers already this week.

Sunday night, on our way back to the hotel from the DC Temple, on the "left" side of the road we saw this beautifully lit spire and blue dome something. I was intrigued, and decided we'd have to find out what it was and visit it one night. This was the night. After looking in a AAA tour book, I came across a picture of The George Washington Masonic Memorial - in the picture it looked much like the spire we'd seen from the road. The AAA book also mentioned Christ Church - I thought "That must be the dome." So, off we went to Alexandria to check it out. Alexandria is a beautiful old town. At night some of the streets are all lit up with white Christmas lights. Was a hoppin' place as far as people being around. Looked like a great place to spend an afternoon browsing through shops in old, old refurbished buildings. Or having a night out to a nice quaint restaurant - but with 100s of other people. The memorial is at the top of a small hill - and it was very striking - but - it was not the spire we'd seen from the road, and no blue dome in site.
George Washington Masonic Memorial

We did find Christ Church - the church George Washington attended, he bought a pew there...it is a "working" church we did not go inside...


No luck finding/seeing a fancy lit spire and blue dome (we had the lap top with us, I searched chathedrals, mosques, temples even blue domes...but nothing was right...) we headed to The National Cathedral


Spotted this on our way to the restroom in the Cathedral

We headed back to our hotel through Georgetown - beautiful place. We thought of Lili and Jason while we were there. And down by the waterfront we decided to check out the Watergate Complex - makes sense waterfront - watergate I just made that connection

What a great day. Oh - and on spires and blue domes - we never found it. We think we spotted whatever it was from Arlington House (more on that in another post) but when we got back home to San Jose I emailed Lili and Jason and asked them if they might know what it was we saw - and they did - The National Shrine
http://www.nationalshrine.com/site/c.osJRKVPBJnH/b.4719297/k.BF65/Home.htm
something else for the list of "next time"