Now was the time all of the older kids had been waiting for. We were going to tour The Library of Congress! For all of you reading this that have seen National Treasure, when Riley and Ben are in the big reading room where they are looking at the plans for The National Archives. We got to see that room, in person! There we were able to hear how The Library of Congress worked. First, you have to fill out a slip of paper with the all books that you want to read on it. Handing it to one of the librarians there they put it on a conveyor belt to another building on Capital Hill. There they find where all of your books are and get them for you. Putting the books on another conveyor belt they make their way back into the reading room where you are patiently waiting for your books, as long as they don't go into any of the other 25 reading rooms. If the books that you want are one of the 20,000,000 on Capital Hill it will take them around an hour to get to you. If they are in the 100,000,000 in the warehouses in Maryland, they will be over nighted to the Library for you to read in the morning. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world! It contains over 130,000,000 books, tapes, CDs, magazines, phonograph records, and many other items. Another name for it is the Jefferson Building. The bummer of it is that you have to have a library card to access any of the books. You have to be over 18, have photo ID, and a reason to access the library. But the overall beauty of the building is amazing. The Library of Congress was a fun addition to our trip.

The older kids in front of The Library of Congress.

Until a later post,

Pickle for the K9family