Gorgeous Spaces {Washington DC}

Hey guys! Sorry for the absence of Friday Favs last week.  Work and life just kind of got in the way of getting it posted by Friday morning, and while I meant to catch up and post it on Saturday, that didn't work out either....

Such is life. Friday Favs will be back, well...on Friday!

As I mentioned last week, I recently chaperoned a field trip to Washington D.C.   I've gone on this trip many times before, and every time I find myself in awe of the gorgeous spaces we are able to visit.

 I snapped as many pics as I could while keeping up with the kids in my group, and while I could inundate you with shots from every monument on the National Mall, I'm assuming that you've seen pictures of those places before.  Not that you shouldn't visit them.  You totally should.  Pictures just don't do them justice.  

But instead, I thought I'd share with you some of the stunning architecture that lies inside some of the buildings.  Seeing these awe-inspiring buildings is always the highlight of my trip.  I hope you like them too!

The U.S. Capitol Rotunda is undergoing construction at the moment, so unfortunately our views were obstructed by scaffolding and a plastic ring that covered most of the dome, but luckily I have a shot of the inside of the dome from last years' trip...

We took the free tour of the Capitol, which is just amazing.  The tour guides are incredibly knowledgeable and are able to provide such interesting details about the architecture and the artwork.  If you ever make the trip, I highly recommend it!

The Rotunda was very crowded, so it was difficult to get unobstructed pics of the artwork that lines that the walls, but I did get a shot of the painting that was closest to us.

Obviously I liked the gold Greek key frame...

 Once we left the rotunda, we traveled into the National Statuary Hall, which used to house the U.S. House of Representatives, but now holds statues of prominent Americans.  The room is flanked by two statues representing History and Liberty...

History

Liberty

....although obviously my favorite part was the ceiling.

...which I took about a million pictures of. 

Next we walked to the Library of Congress, which was my favorite building of the whole trip.  The outside has very cool, detailed stonework... 

....but the ceilings inside took the cake!

The shot below depicts the ceiling in the room that houses Thomas Jefferson's personal library.  The shelves were set up in a circle in the center of this amazing room.  It was so cool.

 We spent most of the rest of our day in museums and outside at the monuments.  It was a fantastic day!  I'm always amazed at how much there is to see, do, and learn for free in our nation's capitol. You could easily spend several days just exploring all of the free museums, monuments and historical sites, which is why I'm happy to chaperon the same trip over and over again.  If you've never made the trip, I highly recommend it!  

Have a great week!