Daily Narrative    Today also began in the relative splendor of Bill and Phoebe's basement, with us again greeted to coffee and breakfast by Bill.  This morning's shuttle (in Bill's very cool convertible BMW, did we mention that?) was to Sartwell Enterprises to pick up the newly rebored Bus.  After a few fits and starts, we found the way to our now familiar BWI train station and caught the train back into D.C..  Today's walk took us through the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space, the Smithsonian Museum of American History (finishing what we missed yesterday), the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and around the Capital.  Bang for your tourist buck, there is no beating Washington, D.C..  Did we mention this is all free?  Your tax dollars at work!  We had an exciting example of east coast weather as we went to leave the Museum of American History.  As we approached the front doors, we ran into people who looked like they had just stepped out of a shower with their clothes on.  Outside it looked like the sky had turned to water.  The gift shop at the entrance had a line out the door for plastic Smithsonian garbage bag ponchos, and we cleverly headed to the downstairs gift shop and secured two ponchos for ourselves.  Of course, by the time we reached the front door the sun was shining again.  We did a better job of catching our train back today and managed to get back to Bill and Phoebe's in time to go out for an excellent meal (Brian had his first mussels and was very pleased).  After we returned to our adopted home for the evening, our hosts were good enough to arrange for one of the most energetic thunder and lightning storms we have ever witnessed.  A very successful day!

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Daily Pictures

The bus begins it's day in front of Sartwell Enterprises, we picked it up shortly after it woke up	Brian and Theresa woke, again, in the cozy basement of Bill and Phoebe's in Ellicott City
After fetching the bus, we drove to the BWI station and caught a train back to Union Station	The exterior of the opulent Union Station
The Supreme Court	A very cool, and off limits, spiral staircase in the supreme court building.  Yes, we were in the "viewing area"
The Library of Congress	The Capital Building
A very important person being interviewed on the lawn of the Capital.  He, however, would not get off of his cell phone for the interview...	The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, where we found...
Dinosaurs!	...and lots of them!
In this room they were working on a recent dinosaur find from Kazakhstan	Wish we'd seen this first, they all ran away...

The Hope Diamond, Brian bought it for Theresa

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