Washington DC -Part 7

Saturday, 11/28 - A Catch Up day.  Tom made a quick trip to a dentist as he had to have a crown reset.  We found a dentist and got it done quickly.  I worked on the blogs and bills.  No tours today.

Sunday, 11/29 -Our time is running out here and we need to get as much in in these last couple of days as possible.  Today it is raining and foggy - ugly weather.  So....rather than walking through the DC National Mall, we decided to hope for better weather tomorrow, and go to Alexandria. VA to visit the George Washington Masonic Lodge.  Since my grandfather was a 33rd degree Mason, and my Rainbow Dad (my ex-father-in-law) was a 33rd degree Mason, and both my girls grew up in the Masonic youth organization called Rainbow Girls, I thought George Washington's lodge would be a good tour.  Actually, I also grew up in Rainbow Girls too, and it meant a lot to me.

A note to my girls:  I have many more pictures of the artifacts in the lodge for you to look at when we get home.

George Washington's Lodge was not the first in the US, but it was established in 1783 and George Washington was it's fourth Grand Master.  His Masonic life was a very important to him.  Many of our forefathers were also Masons.  The Lodge is beautiful.  It was built from 1923 to 1932 (after the original building burned down).  The ground breaking ceremony was attended by two presidents, Calvin Coolidge, William Taft, and it was dedicated at its completion by Herbert Hoover, all of whom were Masons.  The building was inspired by the lighthouse of Alexandria Egypt and stands 300 feet tall.

The front entrance is quite impressive.  In the center is a bronze statue of George Washington in his Masonic regalia, and holding his gavel.  The statue was dedicated in 1950 by President Freemason Harry Truman.

left side of the Entrance Hall

George Washington with gavel

Right side of Entrance Hall

There are actually 9 floors, but the upper floors are very small.  We took a guided tour of the first three floors, which contain several lodge rooms, and a George Washington's museum.  Here are a couple of artifacts that I found interesting.

Reproduction of 1787 Lodge room
That Chair belonged to George Washington and came from Mt. Vernon

This clock is from Mt. Vernon.
It sat next to his bed where he died in 1799, and the time was stopped.

This is the ceremonial gavel he used at the laying of the
cornerstone of the Capitol in 1793.

This is the actual ceremonial trowel used at the laying
of the cornerstone of the Capitol in 1793

We also went to the top of the tower, but the weather was so bad (rainy and foggy) that we could not see very well.  However, we learned that this site, which is at the top of a hill in Alexandria, was the original site for the Capitol.  Later it was decided to move it to the other side of the Potomac to  be more centered  between the North and the South.


Monday, 11/30 - Tom and I headed back to DC for the last time.  We plan to see the Library of

Congress, the Capitol, and the Smithsonian Castle (now the visitor center).  We took the Metro to Union Station.  Here are pictures of Union Station.

Union Station

Union Station

We walked about 4 blocks (about 15 minutes) to the Library of Congress.

Library of Congress

It was real cold, about 38 degrees, and spitting rain.  We were glad to get inside. And we were treated to the most beautiful building we have seen on this trip.  In fact, I can honestly say that the interior of this building is the most beautiful I have ever seen in the U.S.  It rivals the structures we saw in Rome.  I took many pictures of the building and I cannot put them in this blog, but you can see it all on  www.loc.gov.  The website not only has beautiful pictures of the building, it also provides access to collections, webcasts, concerts, exhibitions, and other Library programs.

Here are three pictures of the entry and the ceiling (the website has better pictures).

LOC Entry

LOC Ceiling

Mosaic of Minerva in entry

Here are some of the most famous artifacts held in the Library.

1784 Original Map of the US
and the first map to call the country the United States

Here is the Giant Mainz Bible.

Giant Mainz Bible

  It was hand-written in 1452-1453 on vellum skin leaves (that is why it is so well preserved).  It was written by a scribe monk in Mainz, Germany.  It took 15 months to write and is the oldest known and best preserved book today.  It was seized by King Gustavus of Sweden as a prize of war and was given to one member of his military guard.  The book stayed in his family and was passed down for 320 years until it was purchased and given to the Library in 1951.

Here is the Gutenberg Bible.

Gutenberg Bible

 It is the first book printed on the new Gutenberg Press in 1455.  There were many copies (I don't remember how many the guide told us-about 100), but only 4 have survived to today, and this is the only complete copy.  The New York Library has one of the copies but it is not complete. The reason it is so well preserved, as that it too was also printed on vellum skin leaves (paper does not last this long), and it was also printed in Mainz, Germany.  When the researchers tried to value the book, they were told it was impossible--that this book is priceless.  That makes it the most valuable book in existence today.

The original Library of Congress was housed in the Capitol building, but it burned down during the War of 1812 when the British torched all of our Capitol buildings.  All of the books in the Library were for reference material for the congressmen and numbered around 800.  After the war was over, Thomas Jefferson (now retired and living in Monticello) offered up his library to reseed the new Library of Congress.  Congress agreed and paid him about $23,950 for his personal library, numbering 6,487 books.  His original library is housed here.

One wall of Thomas Jefferson's original library

Original books in TJ libary

In walking through the halls of this beautiful building, I could not pass up taking this picture of the corridor used only for reference workers for the congressmen.

Corridor for Congress only

We were able to head over to the Capitol building via an underground tunnel, so we did not have to go out in the weather.  Here is a picture of the tunnel.

The Capitol building is under renovation, as well as the dome.  We could see the scaffolding on the outside of the dome, but we didn't know that the Rotunda under the dome was also under construction.  This spoiled our visit as everywhere we went, rooms were closed or were full of scaffolding.  Here is a picture of the underside of the dome.  The only visible  area is in the center of the dome.  If you enlarge this, you can see George Washington sitting on one side (he has a pink robe over his lap, and a document in his right hand). 

Enlargement

Dome protection 

As we exited the Capitol, I spied this figure in the lobby of the Visitor Center.  It is a plaster cast of the statue on the top of the dome.  She is called 'Freedom'.  On the dome, she is being cleaned up and  polished, but she is so high in the air, you could not see the detail under normal circumstances.

'Freedom'

We left the Capitol and headed back to Union Station.  It was too late to go to the Smithsonian Castle, so I guess we will have to come back to DC again someday.  I guess that for the time we were here, we did as much as was possible.

Outside, the temperature was still in the high 30's and the rain has started to get heavier.  Tom pushed me in the wheelchair all the way back to Union Station, and by the time we got there, we were both soaked and very cold.  We were happy to get on the Metro and head back home.  

Tuesday, 12/1/15 - A last catch up day.  Today we do a little shopping, laundry, and clean up.  Also, I am posting my last DC blog (this one) and answering emails.  We will be leaving DC in the morning and heading to Williamsburg, Virginia.