Michelle & Tony Trip: Day 2: Morning Monuments & Museums

Tony found a parking garage that we were able to prepay for a spot.  We drove to the garage and then walked up to the Union station where we picked up The Circulater bus.  We then took the bus to the station that was closest to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  We wanted to see how money is made.  In order to make sure that we got tickets for a tour we wanted to be in line by 8:00 am and we were.  After we got our tickets for the tour we walked down and saw the Washington Monument.  It was very impressive.
After that we walked back up the hill to be ready for when they opened the building for our tour.  We were able to look around their gift shop and visitors center while we waited for our tour.  Then it was time...we were excited.  We got to see how they take the paper brought in from another company and make all the different printings on it.  Then we saw how they cut and trim notes and then set them up to be completed.  It was a neat tour and I am glad that we were able to see it.
After seeing the money being made we walked to the Smithsonian Institute Building (The Castle).  Inside we saw models of the Smithsonian on and near the National Mall area.  We also got a pamphlet about all the different museums to help us know which ones we wanted to visit.
First on our list was to visit the National Museum of American History.  We got our map of the building and made our way through each of the exhibits.  Their were lots of interesting things to look at and we both really enjoyed this museum.  We then ate lunch at the cafe in the museum.  It wasn't too bad.  We then saw the rest of the museum before checking out the gift shop.  We didn't find anything we wanted so we headed out to our next stop.
We stopped at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for just a little bit before going up the hill to the Capital.  We walked around and saw some pretty interesting paintings and sculptures.  We felt that the half an hour we were there was plenty for that type of art.
We didn't want to be late to meet with the intern from our Senator's office so we planned lots of time to get there.  It was a good thing we did because it took us longer to walk there then we thought and then we had to walk around the building where her office was located.