WASHINGTON -- Braving tropical temperatures and a blistering sun, thousands of people, from infants to senior citizens, waited for hours in line through the day and night yesterday to pay their final respects to former President Ronald Reagan.

Susan Walsh, Associated Press President Bush touches the casket of former President Ronald Reagan yesterday while he and first lady Laura Bush pay their final respects. A funeral service will be held today at the National Cathedral before being returned to California for burial at the presidential library. Click photo for larger image. Official Day of Mourning In observance of the funeral today for former President Ronald Reagan, federal courts and offices will be closed. But city, county and state offices, common pleas courts, liquor stores and banks will be open. Regular mail will not be delivered, but will be collected. Express mail will be delivered. Gov. Ed Rendell has called for a moment of silence and reflection at 11:30 a.m., just as funeral services begin at the National Cathedral in Washington. Related article Analysis: Reagan's impact on culture, arts a mixed bag

The line snaked along the edge of the National Mall and onto the grounds of the Capitol. Officials estimate that more than 200,000 people will have filed by Reagan's flag-draped casket in the Rotunda by the time the viewing area is closed today and the former president's remains are brought to the Washington National Cathedral for a special funeral service.

Outside the Capitol, the crowd was good-natured and patient, with many striking up conversations with others in line. Inside the Rotunda, however, all talk ceased as mourners, some with tears in their eyes, walked past the casket.

Everyone received an engraved card as a remembrance. The card, with the dates of Reagan's birth and death, also read: "In final tribute from a grateful nation: the lying in state of President Reagan."

Blocks away, street vendors were charging $5 for another kind of souvenir -- gray and white T-shirts emblazoned with Reagan's face.

Many people who viewed his casket took time to write their thoughts about Reagan in oversized black "condolence books" set up in a tent outside the Capitol. The books will be given to the Reagan family before being donated to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

In one entry, a woman noted that she felt such a strong bond with Reagan that she named her daughter for him. In another entry, John Barsa of Alexandria, Va., wrote: "The most wonderful lesson he taught me was to not accept that bad things had to stay that way."

Most of those waiting in line said they were drawn to make the farewell pilgrimage to the Capitol by their strong fervor for Reagan's politics and personality.

"I loved Ronald Reagan," said Sharon Shipley of Owings Mills, Md. Shipley held her 3-year-old grandson, Jaden Baker, and held onto his stroller as they watched the changing of the honor guard around Reagan's casket.

Amy Ayers of Bowie, Md., shepherding her five children, ages 7 months to 7 years, added: "This is history. And Reagan was the first president I voted for."

President Bush and his wife, just back from the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Ga., was among those who came to say a final goodbye yesterday to the man fondly known as "the Gipper" -- from his 1940 Hollywood movie role as George Gipp in "Knute Rockne, All American."

Prince Charles of England and Mikhail Gorbachev, former head of the Soviet Union, also paid their respects to Reagan, whose coffin was placed on a pine bier constructed for Abraham Lincoln and surrounded by a five-member honor guard.

A number of dignitaries also called on Nancy Reagan, who is staying at Blair House, the president's official guest residence across the street from the White House. Reagan family spokeswoman Joanne Drake told reporters that the former first lady was "doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances."

Dignitaries who wanted to pay their respects to Reagan at the Capitol didn't have to wait in line but were ushered to a special reserved section of the Rotunda. Members of the general public, however, faced waits of as long as five hours in lines often unprotected from the unrelenting sun.

Although a strong breeze brought some relief, many ended up with sunburned necks, arms and legs. Several collapsed from the heat and were treated in temporary first-aid tents. Most took advantage of free bottles of water passed out by the American Red Cross, and portable bathrooms were in constant use.

Cheryl Satryan of Squirrel Hill, a self-described "big Reagan fan," was among those in line yesterday morning. She and her two sons, Nico, 11, and Tony, 9, drove down to Washington on Wednesday in time to sit on the National Archives steps and watch as the motorcade bearing Reagan's casket drove slowly up Constitution Avenue to the Capitol. Then yesterday, the trio waited several hours to spend barely a few minutes inside the Rotunda.

The children "didn't have a choice about coming," their mother said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It's not mournful, really. It's more of a celebration."

Satryan said her husband, attorney Stanton Levenson, was "at home, or on the golf course." But she said there was "no way" that she and her boys were going to miss the opportunity to pay their respects to Reagan. "He came into office when I was a sophomore in high school, and he made it cool to be patriotic," Satryan said.

Satryan also had a personal connection with Reagan. When he visited Lancaster, Pa., before being elected president, her father was head of security for the event. Reagan passed up an official dinner in favor of cheeseburgers and milkshakes in his hotel room and invited Satryan's father to join him.

"So there they were, two old Irish guys together," Satryan said. "Ronald Reagan could move mountains, but he had the touch of the common man." Her father died in 1994.

For Anthony Holmes, being part of the crowd was all in a day's work. Holmes works at the Capitol and was detailed yesterday to help clean up the mountains of empty water bottles that overflowed from trash cans.

Asked what he thought of Reagan, Holmes, who lives in suburban Maryland, replied: "He was O.K. Like a lot of people, some of the stuff he did was cool. And sometimes it's good to disagree."

One of the youngest to wait in line yesterday was 6-week-old Hannah Jones, who came with her mother, Bonita Jones of Denton, Md.; her 2-year-old sister, Emma; several young cousins; and other family members. The group got up at 4 a.m. to travel to Washington and then waited several hours in line. The adults kept the children happy with "food, drinks and looking at the squirrels," said Jones' sister, Betina Barcus of Centerville, Md. "It was hard, but it was worth it," added her husband, John Barcus.

Claire Poole and Jeff Keating drove all night Wednesday from Scituate, Mass., to wait in the line yesterday morning. They brought with them their children, Joe, 8, and Ava, 2. Dressed in a red-white-and-blue dress, Ava scampered around as her parents and brother kept a watchful eye on her. "Ronald Reagan, to me, really represents America," said Keating.

As he came out of the Capitol after viewing Reagan's casket, 10-year-old Will Simone clutched a Beanie Baby bear attired in a "USS Ronald Reagan" sailor suit. "I got it for Christmas from my mom," said Will, who did a report this year on a biography of Reagan.

Will, his 8-year-old sister, Libby, and their father, Christopher Simone, live in Garrison, N.Y., and took a 6 a.m. train from New York City to Washington. Libby said waiting in the heat for three hours was "a little hard, but we kept very hydrated."