Old Post Office Pavilion {Accidental Tourist Moment}

After the Air and Space museum, the kids wanted to go get some Ice Cream, so I Yelped a place that looked fun.  We set out to Maggie Moos Ice Cream and Treatery.  Unfortunately, Maggie was no longer there, but Ben & Jerry's was, and we had our treat and I sat down and let the kids have a dollar to play video games at the arcade.

At which point, I notice these signs:

"Take time to tour the tower"

And I start to realize that I'm somewhere *special*.  The Old Post Office Pavillion is the largest commercial building and third tallest structure in Washington DC, behind the Washington Monument, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Tours were free, so I gathered the kids and we made our way up to the clock tower!

The view from the glass elevator

Once on the thirteenth floor, you have a pretty spectacular view of the city on all four sides.  Unfortunately, our day was pretty hazy, but I got some decent pictures anyway.

The Capitol Building

Washington Monument

National Archives

The Capitol Building

The kids thought this was pretty cool, and you could spend as long as you wanted looking around.  They had diagrams on all the walls pointing out certain areas of interest.  Down below was where the bells were kept, and this machine on the top floor also controlled the tower clocks.

On the 10th floor:

Who knew the Congress had official bells?

And a bell-ringing society!

These are the ropes that control the National Bells

There is a nice little museum room telling the history of the building (very interesting).

We went back down in the elevator with a little more knowledge about the history of the area than when we sat down for ice cream.  What a serendipitous *free* find!

Best,
Krysten
Clickable Party

A Guide to the architecture of Washington DC