A very West Wing day.

With the Liar tucked safely in bed, the rest of us got up early to tour the Library of Congress.  I had been for a run the previous evening, which let me have a bit of a look at the mall and the river.  This was the first real exploration of the city.

Even the nice buildings in Washington look sort of fake.

The walk down took about twenty minutes; we were staying right in the middle of downtown.

National Archives

Some dork walking up to a fountain.

With only one major war having been fought on US soil, there was a level of predictability to the statues around D.C.

General Winfield Scott Hancock

General George Meade (and friends)

As much as I disparage the 'fake' nature of the buildings in D.C. they were certainly very impressive.

The Capitol

I don't know what I expected the Library to be.  It was an amazing building.

The Library of Congress

The decorating is pretty crazy.

The total lack of books, we were told, was part of the design. The opening rooms of the building are designed to welcome people, surrounding them with images and names and phrases of learning and inspiration.

Look! Up on the ceiling!

"Too low they build who build beneath the stars."

After the tour we went for a walk up and down the mall.  The Smithsonian dominates, a splash of red in the field of white.

Joseph Henry

The most impressive Department of Agriculture I've seen.

Squirrel! And he has a nut!

It's easy to find the monuments people know best.  They're not subtly designed.

The Washington Monument isn't hard to spot.

Nor is the Lincoln Monument.

Oh, that's what the pool is for.

The Lincoln monument was my favourite, I don't know that pictures can do it justice.

What a great statue.  It's so big!

On our way back we stopped for some photos of the White House.  People around us were making a fuss about seeing Michelle, but we didn't see anyone.

Is this the White House?

Just a few blocks from where we were staying, we found the Talk's favourite diner.  I don't know why he made such a fuss about Ollie's Trolley, when the Skeptic didn't care at all.

Famous for its Ollie Burgers and Ollie Fries.

That night we went to dinner in Georgetown with a couple of cool people we had met in the hostel.  I read the description of an item on the menu (a Wisconsin burger) which stated it was a burger between two grilled cheese sandwiches.  I checked with the waitress, and she confirmed my suspicions. One of our new friends overheard my conversation and said, "Shut up! You have to order that."

So I did.

Oh yeah, I ate it.

Afterwards we went to Capitol Brewing and had a scotch, and a few beers, and a "Monumental brownie."

I ate some of it.

The night was a total victory for Washington D.C.  We were sad to be leaving in the morning.