Apotheosis of George Washington and the Donut

Saturday, we got an earlier than normal launch. The weather today was beautiful, the pick day of our trip. Our first stop was the Eastern Market, a farmer’s market, but also a Mecca for artists, gift shops and tourists. We had breakfast at a corner coffee shop that featured communal tables and an abundance of crockery. We toured the Library of Congress and then the Capitol building. According to Anne, we were on Dan Brown’s “Lost Symbol” tour. A central feature of this Dan Brown novel is the Apotheosis of George Washington, which is a fresco at the top of the ceiling of the Capitol dome. You can partially see it through the ‘donut’, another artifact of the dome’s restoration. After the Capitol tour we went to see the Supreme Court, which was not in session. In fact almost all of DC was not in session today. On our way over to the National Botanical Garden, we were passed by what I took to be were two congressional aides. As they passed us, I heard the guy ask the girl, “So, he is willing to let 5,000 people get laid off, just to make a point?” After the gardens we had a late lunch / early dinner. We waited for sunset on the Mall, then hopped a train and called it an evening.