My friends are going to Washington D.C. in a couple of weeks. One of them, C, has never been before and is getting excited about planning what sightseeing she wants to do. She's completely geeking out about it to the point of making a spreadsheet (which is usually my department when it comes to vacation planning because I like to make sure I can fit everything in that I want to do). She is calling her vacation planning activity "nerdery," so at least she understands the gravity of the retentive situation she's putting herself into.
Anyway, I noticed that she had left off the Library of Congress from her list, which was my absolute favorite thing I did the last time I was in D.C. Maybe because I had never done it before and so it was absolutely unexpected. It was just up the street from the Capitol, and being left alone that day I was wandering around more or less aimlessly -- not having, for once, created a spreadsheet but was just playing things by ear.
I got myself a Reader Identification Card, because I could (and have used it, on occasion, as an official ID. What? It's government issued!), and requested some sheet music from the stacks because now that I had the Reader Identification Card, I could.
And then (insert glorious angelic chorus here) I saw the Reading Room.
An entire room. Dedicated to just reading.
Ahhhhhhhhh.
And. And? It was beautiful. Perhaps the most gloriously beeeeeyoooootiful room I have ever seen, and I've seen some doozies, believe you me.
Which, several years and many pop-culture references later makes me say, "It's so fluffy I could DIE!"
Because that is how much I love this room:
If reading and books and light and wonder give you that peculiar fluffly feeling, I highly recommend visiting this place next time you are in Washington D.C
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