I was one of those people who thought that the Smithsonian was a museum. Little did I know, the Smithsonian is actually something like 16 museums all over the D.C. area (though most seem to be off the National Mall). We only saw 3 or 4 of the museums, and when I go back to D.C. I am going to make a point of seeing all of them.

This Samurai Armour was pretty cool...

I think it was given to Teddy Roosevelt, if I remember correctly.

This was just a cool display.

Here is another shot.

Look at that emerald.

I see... some tubby old lady upside down...

Another emerald...

This is a fullsize of that same emerald.

Jade, and lots of it...

Big Sapphire here...

Cool crown with jade I think

Diamonds everywhere...

The Hope Diamond.

I must confess I thought that there were plenty of other diamonds that were nicer than this one.

Plus, the crowd around it sucked... took me 5 minutes of standing around just to get these pictures.