Exploring Washington D.C.
Having been raised Catholic, I wanted to see the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, few miles NE of the Capital,
Directly under the main floor is the crypt chapel, where they were reciting the Rosary:
http://www.nationalshrine.com/site/c.osJRKVPBJnH/b.4719297/k.BF65/Home.htm
I biked a little ways Southeast of the Capital to the Washington Navy Yard, had my I.D. checked for a few minutes, and they let me in to see the.Naval Museum, on the waterfront of
the Anacostia River, a tributary of the Potomac River, The museum has models of ships from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, etc. My favorite exhibits were of navigation equipment, and in the back, the bathyscaphe Trieste and a replicas of the sub ALVIN:
The red tank with white stripes was filled with gasoline to provide flotation in the heavier sea water. Photo on right is of the pressure vessel that held two men, looking out of a 2 inch diameter window, when they descended 35,797 feet in 1960, to the deepest part of the ocean, Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench.
Outside the building, a U.S. Navy gun that was shipped to France during WWI and fitted on a special rail car.
More exhibits at:
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/exhibits.html
Later, I biked up to the Library of Congress, which many agree is the most beautiful building of the Capital, the great hall is like a palace, and I took a photo of the main reading room from a balcony enclosed by glass, so that we tourists wouldn't bother the researchers below. I could have gotten a readers card if I wanted to do some research.
Outside are the bronze sculptures of "the Court of Neptune," which was drained of water, but can bee seen at this link:
https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-grounds/neptune-fountain
I then went a few hundred feet to the Capital visitor center, and used my card from Senator Patty Murray's office to visit the House of Representatives, after checking my smartphone etc downstairs. I can guess why they don't want us to take photos or videos, it appears different than C-Span, after speeches to a mostly empty house, the voting is more like a gab session, and nobody pays attention to the presiding official banging his gavel. I was lucky to be there to see the representatives, during a vote, which was about flood insurance, HR 616.
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