Beautiful Boston Public Library @ Boston, Massachusetts

It's hard to believe that a humble looking library building from outside but have a spectacular architecture inside. This place was not in my place to visit initially. But from exterior of this library seems fascinating. From the old books, to the courtyard and beauty of every room, it's worth your time to visit. The Reading Room upstairs is a lovely place to sit and read among many people. The reading room is like hogwarts as in Harry Potter movie. Amazingly Boston public library is the second largest library in United States. The library also full of history and unique architecture as it was more than 100 years old and established since 1852.



Boston Public library. Their slogan: Built by the people and dedicated to the advancement of learning.

Beautiful lobby.

Stairs to the main reading room.

Main reading room.

Budget Washington DC Trip Itinerary - 4 Days 4 Nights - Autumn season

Washington DC being the capital of United States offers many tourist attractions and historical places which is interesting to visit. Some of these places being features in the box office Hollywood movies and having Pentagon in spy related movies. The main attractions to Washington DC is the National Mall. The National Mall area comprises the area from US Capitol to Washington Monument. The best thing about National Mall is that most of the museums are free of charge. And at the National Mall, you can view most of the national monuments here such as Washington Monument, US Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial and White House which is the official residence for the president of United States.


US Capitol Building.

White House at night.

Beautiful main hall of Library of Congress.

Learn the meaning of freedom from Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Day	Morning	Afternoon	Evening	Night
Day 1 (Thur)	1. Arrival 6.00am at Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) via Virgin America flight from Los Angeles, USA 2. Taking Metrobus 5A from Washington Dulles Airport to Rosslyn Metro station. From Rosslyn Metro Station you have direct access to Washington DC. I took the metro train to Braddock Road Station in Alexandria, Virginia. Do take note that Washington DC is located nearby state of Virginia and Maryland. 3. Check in at Home Stay via Airbnb. Great the host allowed me to put my luggage.	1. Lunch. Hard Times cafe 2. Visit Old Town of Alexandria, Virginia. View photos of Alexandria here.	1. Washington Monument 2. Lincoln Memorial 3. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 4. US Capitol outside view.	1. Dinner. Chinatown Express having chicken noodles. 2. White House at night outside view.
Day 2 (Fri)	1. US Capitol Visitor Centre	1. Lunch at US Capitol Cafeteria. 2. Library Of Congress. This is the world largest library. Beautiful interior.	1. National Gallery of Art	1. Dinner. Panda Express.
Day 3 (Sat)	1. Breakfast at King Street Cafe 2. Arlington National Cemetery	1. Lunch. Ben's Chili Bowl.	1. Georgetown, Washington DC.	1. Dinner. Little Viet Garden Restaurant for Vietnamese food.
Day 4 (Sun)	1. Breakfast. Cereal at home stay. 2. Thomas Jefferson Memorial.	1. Martin Luther King Memorial	1. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. 2. Shopping in Pentagon City Mall.	1. Dinner. J Paul's Georgetown having baby back rib.

World Largest Library-Library of Congress @ Washington DC

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress. It is accessible via US Capitol or via the library main entrance. The building itself is huge with many mural paintings. During my secondary school years, I read about this library and during university time, my university library has subscription to Library of Congress catalog. And now, I am able to visit the real library itself. By shelf space and number of books, this is the world largest library. Explore the Jefferson Building, know for its impressive 19th century architechture and don't miss the Gutenberg Bible.

The Library of Congress was instituted for Congress in 1800, and was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century. After much of the original collection had been destroyed during the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the library in 1815. After a period of decline during the mid-19th century the Library of Congress began to grow rapidly in both size and importance after the American Civil War, culminating in the construction of a separate library building and the transference of all copyright deposit holdings to the Library. During the rapid expansion of the 20th century the Library of Congress assumed a preeminent public role, becoming a "library of last resort" and expanding its mission for the benefit of scholars and the American people.


Library of Congress main entrance at Thomas Jefferson Building.

Main lobby (The Great Hall) of Library of Congress.

The Great Hall ceiling.

Main reading room. The most impressive room in the building. This is where the majority of the books are located.


Mural paintings on the ceiling. Here the mural shows the main publishers seal of authority.

The children resembles which fields of study based on what the child holds.

Library fountains.

As usual. My self taken photo.

Coordinate/GPS: 38.888294,-77.004529
Metro station: Capitol South Station on blue or orange line.
Address: 101 Independence Avenue Southeast, Washington, DC
Opening hours: Monday - Saturday (8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m)
Website: loc.gov
Entrance fee: Free.

New York Public Library (NYPL)

New York Public Library is currently the tenth largest library in the world. The branch has almost 11 million books in collections. This library is huge and it is located quite near to New York Times Square. They have two separate main hall. One of the hall is open to the public where non-flash photography is allowed. While another hall is for students to prepare for exam and research is not allowed to take pictures. The section for exam & research is fully silent. Even taking picture in the public hall is also a challenge for DSLR as the camera produces clicking noise which taking pictures.

The internal library is an art itself. The structure is so beautiful and this attracts millions of visitors to this library every year and it frequently appears in many films.


This is the library.

Garden row outside the library.

Paintings on the celling.

My friend amazed with the celling.

Good place to read books.

Outside of the library is Fifth Avenue. The street between 49th & 57th was once the most expensive street & real estate in the world.

Subway:
5 Av station (7,7X), 42 St-Bryant Park (B,D,F,M) or Grand Central Terminal.

Address:
455 Fifth Avenue (at 40th Street), New York