Touring the Capital

Friday morning we had to be at the Capital at 9:30 at Rep. Rick Keller's office. One of his interns was taking us on a tour. We were excited to get inside and see all the behind the scenes stuff that goes on there.We went to the Cannon building to meet Lauren at Rick Keller's office.The Halls of Congress - I had a digital disaster and I accidentally deleted the pictures from the Congressman's office . . so all I have is his hallway. We met our intern and got started . . .this is a picture while we were underground . . there is a whole tunnel systems under the Capital.
Along the halls of the tunnel they have a contest from all 50 states inviting seniors in high school to submit artwork . .the winners are displayed for one year.


This is the entry way where a gunman came in and shot and killed two police officers and wounded a tourist - JULY 24th, 1998.
The bullet holes
Sierra is standing on what use to be the center of Washington DC. It no longer is because the District gave land back to Maryland and Virginia years ago because they didn't need as much as they had.
The original Supreme Court Chamber
The actual chamber . .

It was so cool to see and imagine them all here in court.
Back in the 1800's this chandelier was purchased for $1000.00 . . .it is now worth over $1,000,000.

The top of the dome
The frieze that goes all the way around Rotunda took years to be done. Actually, it took three different artists to finish the painting.

Here is a closeup of the frieze that I took with my camera. Our intern tour guide pointed out that the first artist got upset about something and painted a self portrait of himself on the tree towards the bottom. No one realized it until many years later when it was being cleaned.These large paintings are hung all around the room.



Here is some info on this picture: Click Here

This room is where all the presidents have laid in state. Landon is standing on the exact spot where the caskets are placed.This room is called the Whisper Room.
This is where congressman back in the 1800s had their desks.
Due to the architecture of the ceiling this room get the nickname the Whisper Room . . due to voices were carried very easy.

In this room there is a statue representing each state. While we were standing looking at these two statues Rep. Pence came up to us and asked if we would like to go on the House Floor. We said sure. . .as we walked away our intern said this never happens that a Congressman just walks in this room and asks people to follow him to the House Chamber.
We were not allowed to take pictures from this point on . .but it was so cool. He first took us into the Republican waiting room . . this is a room that is always banned from the public. The congress can go to this room to get some coffee . .make a phone call etc. . .our intern said to really take in this room because we will never be allowed to probably ever enter again. We were then led right on to the House Chamber floor. The public is allowed in the balcony but never on the floor. Because of the Republican protest going on concerning the gas prices . . for the first time ever the public is allowed on the House Floor. It was so strange to be able to sit in the seats of our congress. What a treat! After our tour we found a cute little Mexican restaurant where we had lunch.
We all couldn't stop talking about our experience in the Capital.

What an awesome time we had sitting down on the House Chamber Floor it is something that we will never forget.