My friend Laura drove me to DC in the wee morning hours of Saturday. That was a great idea as we avoided much of the traffic and tourist jams. We found the Cairo in the Northwest residential Dupont Circle neighborhood. A concierge on duty in the lobby allowed us to roam around after signing in at the desk. It was a small lobby, the original floor space now utilized as separate apartments. There were four photos on the wall of the lobby: the Cairo exhibiting its steel skeleton as it was in the process of building, a newly completed Cairo in 1894, a roadside billboard advertising the new Cairo with Mrs. Schneider standing next to it, and a portrait of Mr. T. Franklin Schneider. We went up to the roof but access was limited to residents only with a high-tech gadget to unlock the door. We could see through the window that the view was still stupendous. The grand spiral staircase is confined behind closed doors--I guess due to fire code. The original elevator was modernized with a new door and there was a separate second elevator.  The egyptian/moorish design of the floor tile I think is original to the building--they were in the process of carpeting it over.   ​​Next, we went to Rock Creek Park. It was refusing to bloom--no dogwood blossoms reaching across, no azaleas yet, although the daffodils were "peeping their tiny faces from under Mother Earth"--so there is hope for Spring.