DC - Day 2

• Capitol tour
• National Museum of Natural History
• Senate Chamber/Gallery
• Library of Congress
• Swimming
  

If you want to see more pictures of Day 2 click here.

Clara had so kindly scheduled us a private tour of the Capitol building with an intern. We had to wake early AGAIN to be there by nine. And more walking to get to the correct building to start the tour. We felt very special when we went into a Senator's office to meet the intern and we passed the large group tours.

Sitting in the North Carolina's Senator's office waiting for the intern to start our tour. Isn't it fancy?

This is the "subway", more like a little kiddie ride, that goes a short way so that the Senators don't have to walk outside to get from the Russell Senate Office building to the Capitol building. We got to ride on it. Weee!This was the Whisper Room, I think, this may be the wrong picture but at any rate we did get to experience the whisper room. The whisper spot was started by John Adams. They say that he would pretend to sleep so he could hear his opponent opinions across the hall clearly. This is because of the shape of the roof and floor. The intern went over to the spot and whispered "Can you hear me?" while we stood on the other side of the room where John Adam's desk would have been. And yes we could hear her plain as day!The top inner mural on the dome/rotunda of the Capitol. Look for George Washington in the right side of the inner circle. He is surrounded by 13 women, thought to stand for the 13 colonies plus 2 others that stand for liberty and freedom. What a stud, right?

This spot, that Keegan has his foot on is the very center of the Capitol and said to be the center of DC, if you touch it you will have good luck! The floor sloped down in that spot, I guess from so many people touching it.

We asked about access to the Senate Gallery, although I didn't know it was called the Senate Gallery. I described it as that room that you always see on C-SPAN. The intern was able to get a us tickets for 3:30 that same day. There was going to be a vote. So we trekked back at 3:30. Although there were only two senators present it was a very surreal experience. We went through numerous checkpoints where security measures were taken, all food, cameras, electronics, liquids had to be given up. Once we finally got in, we sat at the top, prayed with the Chaplin, said the Pledge Of Allegiance, and got to listen to one Democratic and one Republican Senator take on a housing bill and the Global AIDS bill that Clara got to protest for with Africa Action. So that was full circle for her. We left early because it got a little boring. We were given a booklet that told about the process of a hearing and the seating chart. Clinton, Obama and McCain of course weren't there. I told Keegan that Barack Obama wouldn't be there because he was out 'campaigning'. When he talked to Josh later that night and told him about our day he said, "Barack Obama wasn't there because he was out camping." All the vocabulary that I sometimes forget to explain. :) We obviously weren't able to take pictures but here is one I found on the Internet.

We took these pictures on the front balcony of the Capitol after we visited the Senate Gallery. You can tell we are on The Hill. It is absolutely beautiful. It almost looks tropical doesn't it?
In between the Capitol Tour and going back to the Senate Gallery we visited the National Museum of Natural History. We saw the Mammals, watched a neat video about evolution, saw the dinosaurs and the Hope Diamond. I was hoping I could have it! Since, we have been to the Chicago Natural History Museum and several other things of that sort we made it a quick trip so we had time to go home and rest. That's what is great about the museums being free, you can stay for as long or as little as you would like.
Keegan being a T-Rex

The Hope Diamond is 45.52 carats! If you tamper with the case a cage falls down from the ceiling and traps you in. I was just wanting to borrow it.

After we left the Senate Gallery we headed over to the Library of Congress. We had a half an hour until it closed but it was plenty of time to see rough drafts, with pen marks, scratch outs and edits of The Declaration of Independence and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech". This is a picture of the interior of the Library of Congress. They didn't allow pictures of the documents.

That night we thought Keegan needed some down time so we went to Jessi's apartment. She is Clara's friend from IC that goes to GW. Ironically I use to babysit her when she was little before she and Clara knew each other. The apartment has a pool on the roof top.

Good Night, had to get up early to catch our bus to New York.