As promised, more of the Smithsonian, albeit very late in posting.

These are from the Museum of Natural History. A lot of gems.

As I say, the pictures aren't perfect, but I want to post my mistakes as well as my good pics.

Slightly off-topic, but while there we watched this little movie and I turned to my friend and said: "Did you know the Orca is actually a dolphin?" This kid turns around and says, "No. It's a whale. A Killer Whale." Bzz, wrong. Try reading kiddo. The Orca belongs to the dolphin family, and if you actually look at its shape, it is more dolphin-shape than what we see as whale.

I wanted to see the dinosaurs as well, but it had been raining and the hall was quite crowded with people wanting shelter, so we didn't get to see them. Still, that means a return visit is in order.

Yes, I do understand the pics are a bit blurry. The cases made it pretty difficult to get decent shots, and the angles were bad too. Hey, I've never claimed to be a great photographer!

Goat

Lionesses

Moose

Rhino

Tiger

Wolf

Actually, the gems were the toughest to get decent shots, and not just because of the display cases. The reflection of the gems from the lights added to the difficulty, then there were the crowds, and ... well, you get the picture.

Aquamarine

Diadem

Gems

Golden Topaz

The Hope Diamond. The stand was spinning so it was hard to get a decent shot, plus there were so many people crowded around.

The placard from the Hope Diamond

Necklace

Sapphire

Topaz