In my previous visit to Washington D.C. back in 1995, I went to the National Museum of Natural History, which is part of the Smithsonian Institute. I took a picture of the Hope Diamond, which really stunk, mostly because the flash went off by accident. Since then, I felt a little bad about it.

Well, I decided to go back to the exhibit and try it again with a digital camera that's better suited to the job. Here are two new and much improved pictures. The flawless deep blue colored diamond is 45.52 carats in weight, making it the largest one of its kind in the world. It was discovered in the early 1600's in India, and is over 1 billion years old. It's surrounded by 16 white diamonds and suspended from a platinum chain that has an additional 46 diamonds. The diamond was donated to the Smithsonian in 1958 by Harry Winston.

This is the Capital Building.

This is the Washington Monument, looking west.

This is the Smithsonian "Castle" building.