The Smithsonian Castle - no two turrets are the same!DC has an abundance of really interesting buildings. There are the official buildings - White House, Capitol, and so on, there are the museums - Smithsonians (all of the various branches), the National Archives etc, and the private houses...I could go on, and I only saw a small portion of DC! Here are a few of my favorite buildings - the White House you saw in the magnolia pictures, I never got close to the Capitol building, and I didn't take any pictures of the really cute townhomes in Alexandria's Old Town area...
Here is a not very good shot of the National Archives. As an archivist (I haven't relinquished that title, even though I am currently masquerading as a reference librarian) I was excited to see it. Too bad I couldn't go inside - you have to apply for tickets 6 weeks in advance! It is a nice, impressive looking building across the street from the Mall.
This building is where we spend most of our time during the week: the United States Patent and Trademark office. All the buildings on either side were also USPTO buildings - what do all those people do?
The Jefferson Memorial. S. and I elected not to walk that far, so we only ever saw it from a distance. I see it every once in a while on
Bones, which is set in DC - now I can say I have actually seen it!
This is perhaps the most important building of my trip - the headquarters of National Public Radio (NPR). I listen to almost nothing else on the radio. If my tuner broke and was stuck on a station, it would be whatever NPR is in the town I am in. I took a tour with a group of like-minded public radio geeks (proudly self-professed) on my last day in town. More about that in a later post.
And here, not too far from NPR, is the entrance to DC's Chinatown. I didn't have time to go in, but the gate was pretty cool. All the signs on the surrounding buildings were in English and Chinese, including the one for a Chipotle and the Verizon Center arena.
The Smithsonian Castle - no two turrets are the same!
Here is a not very good shot of the National Archives. As an archivist (I haven't relinquished that title, even though I am currently masquerading as a reference librarian) I was excited to see it. Too bad I couldn't go inside - you have to apply for tickets 6 weeks in advance! It is a nice, impressive looking building across the street from the Mall.
This building is where we spend most of our time during the week: the United States Patent and Trademark office. All the buildings on either side were also USPTO buildings - what do all those people do?
The Jefferson Memorial. S. and I elected not to walk that far, so we only ever saw it from a distance. I see it every once in a while on Bones, which is set in DC - now I can say I have actually seen it!
This is perhaps the most important building of my trip - the headquarters of National Public Radio (NPR). I listen to almost nothing else on the radio. If my tuner broke and was stuck on a station, it would be whatever NPR is in the town I am in. I took a tour with a group of like-minded public radio geeks (proudly self-professed) on my last day in town. More about that in a later post.
And here, not too far from NPR, is the entrance to DC's Chinatown. I didn't have time to go in, but the gate was pretty cool. All the signs on the surrounding buildings were in English and Chinese, including the one for a Chipotle and the Verizon Center arena.
