The business portion of the convention has begun. This morning we did have some free time so we took in a few more sights. That is, after we decided to give up on our room service breakfast. It never arrived; after many calls and waiting patiently for over an hour and a half; no breakfast. I will have to let the hotel know that they are confused about room service. One thing I can help them with...hint...it's supposed to actually come to your room. What a frustrating waste of time.
One of the places we visited was the Library of Congress. It is the mother of all libraries. The picture is of the main reading room. Wow. Our government sure got fancy with our tax dollars. We did get to see a "perfect" version of the Gutenberg Bible. One of the 4 that exist. The library receives 22,000 submissions, books and other items seeking a copyright, every day. They keep about 10,000 per day. Holy moley...that's a lot of mail. It explains why they have their own zip code. Another interesting tidbit; books published in English only account for 30% of the books in the library. Smallest book, one twenty fifth of an inch...it simply says Old King Cole was a Merry Old Soul...they had to read it with a microscope. Largest book, weighs 135 pounds, 5 feet by 7 feet and its a pictorial study of Bhutan. I wonder what the paperback version would weigh?
Here are some other amazing facts about the Library of Congress for the year 2006. I didn't have any idea about the magnitude of this institution. Wow.
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