Library of Congress Timed Passes

It’s probably one of the last places in DC that requires a timed visitor pass. We were used to just going in and out whenever we wanted to - but that was over two years ago. The Smithsonian Museums and the National Gallery of Art are now all open without passes. But when the subject for the weekly photo challenge was “architecture” I knew the only place to go was the Library of Congress Jefferson Building. So I went on line to see how easy this would be. I prefer to take photos early in the week so I can edit and post them on Instagram to get a general feel which images are best liked. Of course, the morning hours were already taken up so that left us with a late morning time. Neither my husband nor I like driving in to town after lunch, but it probably would have been a lot less busy. On the day of our passes we parked in our old Capitol Hill neighborhood and walked the two blocks to the Library where a long line was visible from the driveway. It took a while to finally get in to the building. You always have to go through the magnatometers - just like at the airport. I did it every day when I worked at the library for ten years. Now I’m a tourist so it’s just not the same. When we got inside it was all so familiar. I used to walk that place almost every afternoon to get away from my desk and take the tunnel to the Capitol visitor center. I got a lot of great photos that day and we visited the exhibits that we hadn’t seen before. All in all it was a nice visit. I’m looking forward to not having to get passes.