The Trials of .......

-

These last two weeks have been consumed with going to court - not our court case (thank goodness) but two criminal trials related to the January 6th Insurrection.  The first case involves five leaders of the Proud Boys with multiple charges including seditious conspiracy.  The second case involves six lower level Oath Keepers and includes being tried for multiple charges including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.  Anytime you get 15 lawyers and their assistants in the room with defendants and a judge, it's better than an episode of Law and Order.  Needless to say there have been a lot of objections and sidebars.  There are even groupies attending the trials!  It's been an eye opening experience to see how the justice system works and to hear the details of the planning and the actual day of January 6.  No cameras are allowed in the room so you only get these photos.


On the way to the courthouse one day, we stopped to watch Marine One land on the White House lawn to collect President Biden and team.  It was rather exciting.
We visited the Gallery of Art (yes, there are a lot of art museums in DC).


With special permission, folks are allowed to paint.  Guess they have to promise not to damage any of the works of art with their art supplies.
Even the inside to the building is a work of art.

We visited the National Archives.  The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution are all stored here as wells as millions of other documents.  They have multiple other exhibits (both permanent and rotating) related to our history.  People can research topics here with prior permission.  No cameras allowed so no photos except of the outside.
Last weekend, we went to the Library of Congress, which is the world's largest library.  There are more than 173 million items in some 470 languages - 51 million books and printed materials, 4.2 million recordings, 17.5 million photos, 5.6 million maps, 8.2 million pieces of sheet music and 75 million manuscripts.  It is also the home of the US Copyright Office.  Anyone can get a library card and can research in the more than 16 reading rooms.  The building itself was gorgeous.


Thomas Jefferson offered up his personal library (below) to rebuild the Library after invading British troops burned it down in 1814.
One of the more famous books to be stored here is the Gutenberg Bible, which was the first book printed using movable metal type in Western Europe.
Our son Conor and daughter in law gave us a gift certificate to Old Ebbitt Grill (DC's oldest saloon).  The food was delicious!

Yesterday there was a march to show Ukrainian support that went past the White House then came very near our hotel.
We visited with our friend Kim, her husband Brian and her sons yesterday as well.  They are such a nice family.  Her boys made muffins and coffee for us to enjoy.  They also took us on some local international travel - to see the embassies near their home.  A big thanks to them for the hospitality.

Went out to breakfast with Alexa this morning.  It was good to see her one last time before we leave DC.

We're off to Richmond on Wednesday.  It's been great here in DC.  We've enjoyed our stay.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Join us as we celebrate the holidays in Washington, DC through photos!

-
Image
We're having a great time here in DC during the Christmas holidays.  It's our third year in the city and we absolutely love all of the decorations.  We scored tickets to the White House through our congressman for the first part of December and you know what that means.....We were able to see some of the: 14,975 feet of holiday ribbon, 350 candles, 33,892 ornaments, 22,000 bells 98 trees, 72 wreaths and 142,425 holiday lights put up by the more than 300 volunteers that came from across the country in the latter part of November to decorate the inside and outside of the White House.  It was so magical.... The White House at night There's a funny story of the National Christmas tree located at the Ellipse just south of the White House.  The National Christmas tree is usually a live one that is growing in the ground.  However, late this fall, it developed a fungus and began turning brown.  The decision was made to cut it down.  Because there was not enough time to find another
Read more

Exploring DC on foot - new sights, new experiences and new food!

-
Image
It's so cool that we can continue to explore Washington, DC and experience new places and eat at restaurants that we've never been to before.  Will we ever tire of this city?????  Not yet, anyway! We visited the Planet Word Museum with daughter Alexa and her boyfriend JP.  It's billed as an immersive language museum with interactive exhibits that bring words to life.  We had a great time!  It was much better than expected. As we walked to the entrance, this tree of lights began lighting and chattering as if we were in a crowd of people. It grabbed our interest! The inside of the elevator was made to look as if we were in a library with books and shelves. That's Alexa standing next to Don. The interactive wall spoke to us as it highlighted the words being referenced.  It was a great way to learn about the history of various words. Don is using a brush to change the seasons and colors on this wall. We visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conceptio
Read more

Do you have $148 million to lend?

-
Image
Rudy Giuliani may need your help if his appeal is denied!  LOL!  For entertainment last week, we attended all five days of the Giuliani trial.  For background, two Georgia election workers sued him for defamation.  He had previously been found liable.  This trial simply assessed the damages - compensatory, emotional and punitive.  The  trial was interesting!  While Giuliani didn't take the stand, he certainly felt free to talk to the press.  The judge reiterated her order for him not to speak outside of court.  During breaks and waiting for a verdict, we interacted with various reporters some of which we have seen on television.  Here are a couple of photos. We ran into Harry Dunn at the courthouse.  He is a Capitol police officer that defended the Capitol on January 6th.  He was very approachable and consented to a photo with us.  Note: he had to bend down several inches to be in the picture. We toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing - very interesting stuff.  Wish we had a f
Read more