Natural History Museum

The National Museum of Natural History.
This huge building with eighteen exhibition halls spread through three floors has an Imax theater, sections for Mammals, Oceans, Paleontology, butterflies, Plants, Fossils, the Ice Age, and Geology, Gems and minerals to mention just a few of the areas in this building.

We just scratched the surface in this building as I wanted to see the Hope Diamond. It is a deep blue diamond of 45.52 - carats, the photo does not do it justice as taken through glass. The diamond is surrounded with sixteen white diamonds both pear shaped and cushion cuts and the necklace chain contains forty-five white diamonds.

The Geology, Gems and Mineral Hall was very interesting and we spent nearly three hours in this area alone.
In a stair well there are three totem poles, back to back, from the Pacific Northwest Salish People and nearby a stone carving from Easter Island that the Museum has had on display for more than a hundred years.