Washington, DC - Day 2 - Capitol, Museum of Natural History, Willard Hotel

Monday morning we packed up our suitcases to move into the City to stay with our friend Dan.  Dan and Richard were business partners when we lived in Washington, along with Mike, who you will meet in a later entry.  We unloaded everything and went to lunch at the Chesapeake Room with Dan.  He lives in the Northeast quadrant of Washington, DC and it is referred to as the Capitol Hill area.  His apartment is very convenient to all of the sites around the City.

After lunch we ventured down to the National Mall to visit the Museum of Natural History.  On our approach to the Mall, we couldn't help but take a few photos of the Capitol and the surrounding grounds since we had to walk right by there to get to the Mall.  Here are some of the photos we took there.

The front of the Capitol Building - we actually visited the Visitor's Center beneath the Capitol, which is new.  It displays the history of the building, as well as other information.

House of Representatives

Senate

The back side of the Capitol which faces the Mall.

Here is a grotto with a natural spring that feeds a fountain inside.

The window to the spring

Slate seating

Davis relaxes for few minutes

Richard decided to take a rest as well.

Here are the photos of the Museum of Natural History:

The Hope Diamond - 65.52 carats

The setting for the Hope Diamond has 16 brilliant diamonds surrounding it.

We had to cut our day short today, as Richard and I attended a dinner sponsored by Jones School of Law at the historic Williard InterContinental Hotel.  This hotel has housed presidents and dignitaries since 1863.  You can take the slide show tour of The Willard Hotel.  This was the prelude to the main reason we came to Washington.  Richard was sworn in to practice before the United States Supreme Court.  Here is a photo of the lobby of The Willard.

While we were there, after dinner, we had a cocktail in the Red Robin Bar.  Roaming the hall, I encountered a group of important looking people who were speaking Russian, I believe.  Their importance was indicated by the fact that Secret Service personnel were everywhere.  It makes one wonder........