I agreed to meet my American friend in any city in North America and she chose Washington DC for the 4th of July. That seemed pretty full on to me, especially after their President Trump announced that he too would be there and was he going to change going to supersize everything by having a military parade (like North Korea?) and other events. But by then I’d bought my non-refundable tickets and was committed. Well, I didn’t bump into Trump but I did enjoy the city very much and I’m going to have to return because I didn’t see everything I wanted to see! One thing that was not on my list was the Library of Congress, which is located directly across from the Capital, which we also toured. We also toured the White House – and getting tickets is not easy for that one. However, the L of C was open to the public and we enjoyed an excellent tour of this ornate and fascinating building by a wonderful docent. You can go see Jefferson’s Library – which was burned in the War of 1812 – but salvaged and (mostly) restored. The whole experience restored my admiration for so much of American history, troubled though it is. There is also an excellent gift store at the L of C, where I bought gifts for a number of people. The Library itself spans multiple buildings and is a massive repository of world knowledge, these materials, and access to the original reading room is reserved for researchers but there is plenty to look at in gorgeous original building. We were surprised that the venue was open on July 4th, but that’s when we went. In the afternoon we took a tour of the Senate – also interesting. The next day we toured the White House and that was underwhelming – although the guards were fun. Very nice cops throughout DC.
