And tourists wandered around the National Mall, unsure of what to expect at ground zero of the shutdown. Kyle Murai had come from Hawaii with his wife, two young children, and tickets “purchased a long time ago” for the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument. Meanwhile, people posed for photos and took selfies with the marble likeness of the 16th president of the United States, unsupervised by anyone. National park rangers were among the 750,000 officials whose alarm clock didn’t go off that morning. Brendan McDermid (REUTERS)Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition