D.C. - Day 4 - Library of Congress, Old Post Office Pavilion, Hillwood Museum

Today has been so exhausting!! I can hardly type. While each of our stops were not very long, taken together, with all the walking we did, it made for some very tiring, but very satisfying, sightseeing. We started the morning by taking the hotel shuttle to the Metro and then riding the Metro to the Capitol South stop. From there we walked to the Library of Congress building. What an incredible building!! Designed in the Roman style, it was all marble, mosaics, stained glass, statuary and gold filigree. Truly an amazing sight. One of the more interesting facts is that part of the ceiling was covered in aluminum leaf, because at the time, aluminum leaf was more precious than even platinum! There are statues of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, throughout the building, as well as various mosaics of people who the founding generation thought best represented wisdom in their area (for example, Oliver Wendell Holmes was chosen to represent poetry). The whole theme of the building is the celebration of wisdom, knowledge and education (and interestingly not for its own sake, but for productive work).

Since we did not have a library card, we were not permitted to go into any of the 22 reading rooms. But any adult with ID can get a library card, and use the old-fashioned vacuum tube system (like at a Bank teller) to request books from the library. In addition to the millions of volumes in 3 buildings, they also have 13 warehouses in other states containing volumes that can be requested and received in 1 day.

After the tour we went to a special exhibit at the ground floor celebrating Bob Hope and the era of vaudeville. After Hope died, he bequeathed all his vaudeville memorabilia (including scripts, monologues, etc.) to the Library, and they set up a special display.

After the Library of Congress, we hopped back on the Metro to the Federal Triangle (an oddly shaped area with the IRS, EPA, etc.) and visited the Old Post Office Pavilion. There we had lunch (we went to a deli and got sandwiches), then went shopping. There was also a man playing guitar and singing on a stage in the food court area. He was actually quite good, although he was harassed by teenage girls who would go onto the stage and have their friends take pictures of them with him in the middle of one of his numbers. After that we went up to the top of the building (which is supposed to be the tallest building in the area other than the Washington monument), and got a great look of the land.

Having satisfied our hunger, in the early afternoon, we decided to go visit the Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens. This is a private estate of the late Marjorie Post, heiress to the Post/General Foods company. She gathered a huge collection of French, English, and Russian art and renovated her mansion to best display her collection to the public once she died.

The estate is tucked away about a half-mile from one of the Metro stops, and is definitely one of those oft-overlooked gems of D.C. On the map it didn't look like it would be a hard walk, but we were wrong! It seemed to take forever in the hot sun, and our feet hurt like hell by the time we got to there, and we hadn't even toured the place yet! After a brief rest at the visitor center, we toured the mansion. Sadly, pictures were not permitted. We were even forced to turn over our cameras and bags before we were allowed in.

The home is one of the best mansions we have ever seen, totally outstripping Mount Vernon in terms of opulence. Decorated in a combination of 18th century French furniture (like commodes with amazing parquetry, marble buffets, striking card tables, wall tapestries, sitting chairs and elegant dining tables) and 18th century Russian art, it was really first class. In addition to a huge variety of expensive china dishes, large Russian, French, and English vases, there were also 2 Faberge eggs on display, several 18th century Russian icons, an Orthodox liturgical room with 18th century Orthodox vestments, icons, and an amazing gold and gem-studded eucharist chalice commissioned by one of the Russian czars. One of the Faberge eggs was enameled in blue and studded with diamonds and platinum. The other was enameled in pink with ivory cameo pictures and I think studded with pearls (I can't remember). Some of the necklaces on display had rubies, emeralds, and pearls so huge that the pieces looked fake. In many ways, this private collection has rivaled the best museum exhibits we've ever seen anywhere.

Once we got done with the mansion, we simply didn't have the energy to go onto the grounds and tour the large gardens (there is a rose garden, four-season garden, putting green, sculpture garden, japanese garden, cutting garden, and more). Nor did we have the energy to walk back to the Metro. So we called a cab and took a moderately expensive taxi ride the half-mile to the Metro and rode back home.

After a brief nap, we just got back from dinner. We didn't have the energy to go anywhere fancy for dinner, so we just went across the street to Popeye's chicken for dinner. Now it's time to just collapse and recover from the day.