Chili dogs, the LOC, and the highest court in the land

We started out the day at a DC institution: Ben's Chili Bowl.  They are famous for their chili dogs and  the fact that the restaurant has been around since 1958. It's in U-street, which is called Black Broadway--a key cultural centre for African-American culture, music, and activism through the decades.

D had a veggie dog (left) and L had the classic beef chili dog (right)

Bill Cosby was the only person to eat here for free but apparently Michelle Obama and her daughters also cracked the nod (not Barack, though).

After Ben's, we got back on the DC Metro, which is a fabulous tap-in-tap-out system using SmarTrip cards (below). The New York MetroCard is also in the picture but still uses the swipe-stripe.

The DC Metro is pretty cool and has lots of lines so you can get pretty much anywhere downtown with a few stops, changes, and/or steps.

 Emerging into the light...

Next we went to the Library of Congress. We actually ventured into the Madison building (there are three LOC buildings) before figuring out the Jefferson building was where we needed to be.

There was a great view of the Capitol buildings by day (under construction) and the Washington Monument to the left.

The entrance hall is quite spectacular...

As is the Jefferson library collection that started it all...

We saved the best for last: the Supreme Court. They were not hearing arguments the last two days so we could not go in and listen. But we paid due respect anyway.

The marble spiral staircases are a sight to behold...

But more important are the words and deeds of the people connected to the court.

We went home via Union Station, using the metro and the bus system (viva D6, viva)

An outstanding day of public transit and historic landmarks.

And to top it all, an evening of build-your-own tacos!