d.c.- the capitol building tour {pre-icelandic escapades}

Visiting the Capitol Building is something every citizen should do if they are in Washington D.C.  But I must say, visiting it when your best friend works there is a special treat.  

I was so excited and nervous about getting in through the staff entrance/security checkpoint I’m afraid I made quite the spectacle.  I forgot to take off some of my jumbo turquoise jewelry.  And coins from my pockets.  And maybe the cell phone from my back pocket.  I set off the alarm more than a few times.  Poor Jamie has to see these guys daily and I’m worried they still give her a hard time about her friend from Texas who clearly doesn’t know proper security procedures. 

Jamie works for Senator John Cornyn who serves as the Minority Party Whip.  She spent several years in his office over in the Senate building then transferred to his whip office after the last election.  Which puts her in a position with enough prestige to take us on the floor of the U.S. Senate chamber….this is a pretty big deal.  The public tour of the capitol doesn’t even take you by the door.  A tour set up through your congressman’s office (typically given by an intern) may take you to the door of the balcony and even let you sit in the balcony if you are lucky or pre-arranged for a pass.  But NO ONE goes onto the floor without special permission.  And it’s not like you’d end up there by accident…the only way in is through the main doors if you first make it past a slew of security guards and capitol police.  The other way is through the Senate cloak room/lounge area, which is kind of like a very private and prestigious country club.  You can see the Senate Chamber on C-Span, but NO cameras are allowed by commoners like me (I begged but Jamie said no and I didn’t want to get her fired) so you’ll have to make do with this pic I grabbed from Google Images. 

  

The Senate was on recess when we were there {i.e. the main reason Jamie could even travel to Iceland with us that week}, and since they were all gone we got to walk around the floor, sit at the Senators’ desks and ask tons of questions...but no pictures.  Did you know there’s a desk on the Senate floor that is the “candy” desk?  The drawer of this desk is normally full of candy, but it was devoid of any on our visit…very disappointing for me.  The Senators usually sign the inside of the drawers of their desks so it was kind of neat to look around for some famous signatures.  The funniest part of our little tour was when Laree asked the staff member in the Republican Senate cloakroom if she had anything we could take.  Even though the intent of the question was more about the idea of a souvenir like a pen or something that said U.S. Senate Chamber on it that you can't get at a regular gift shop, the look of shock and embarrassment on Jamie’s face was priceless.  

We spent some time touring the Senate Minority Whip’s office, which happens to be the office space once occupied by JFK prior to his presidential inauguration. {Sidebar- I used a new collage template in Lightroom for this set of pics...easier than other templates I've used.}

Another funny quirky thing you get to see on private tours is something like this:

Oh yes, that is a tiny private bathroom disguised as cabinetry in this office.  Kinda makes you wonder about some of our elected officials….why can’t they just use a regular bathroom down the hall like the rest of us?  Hmmmm.

Fun fact you may not know:  Senators and Representatives each have their own little private room somewhere in the capitol building.  They are commonly called their ‘hideaways’ and selected by each Congress member based on seniority.  There’s even an entire staff responsible for remodeling, painting and moving furniture every time these little escape portals change over to a new person…and that happens non-stop.   I get it, sometimes when they are in the capitol they need a place to have a meeting or make phone calls but these things are all over the place- down hallways and hidden just about everywhere, many of them unmarked other than a number on the door.  Just what exactly has to be hidden away so privately?  Hmmmmm. 

  

They are scattered throughout the building, many of them on the interior and lower level, so Senator Cornyn has worked his way up the list quite a bit to get one with this view of the National Mall and the Washington monument.

I’ve taken tours of the capitol building on previous visits to D.C. but not since they created the official visitor’s center and tour program.  Guided tours are scheduled throughout the day. The tour is free {well, technically it is paid for with our taxes}; reservations have to be made in advance but it is well worth it.  

After a brief introductory video, everyone gets a headset to hear the tour guide.  The first stop is the crypt.  It is actually on the ground floor but since most people think of the main floor being one level up at the large rotunda room it seems like this is the basement.  Plus it is dark and feels like a basement.   There is a star in the center of the room that supposedly marks the center of D.C. 

This is me standing at the center of D.C.

  

Next on the tour is the rotunda room and to get there you have to go up this stairway…this is the same stairway the President comes down to exit the doors out to the stage area for the Inauguration. 

 

view of the stairway looking up into the Rotunda room

view of the stairway looking down to the doors
that exit to the stage on Inauguration Day

detail of the ceiling that arches over the stairway

The interior of the beautiful Rotunda (dome) of the capitol building:

The final stop on the tour is the National Statuary Hall, which houses statues donated by each state to honor persons notable to their history.  This is the same room where the House of Representatives met from 1807-1857.  The design of the room and building materials create a unique acoustical feature.  Because of the way sound travels, if you stand in one corner of the room and talk in a normal voice you can be heard all the way across the room in a particular spot.  The current dome of this room, which is crucial to the acoustical effect, was installed long after the room was used by the House of Reps so it is doubtful any eavesdropping actually took place at that time.  Your tour guide will show you how it works.

That’s all for my review of D.C. for this trip.  As always it was a great time checking out some of our nation’s history and spending time with Jamie {and Julie!}.  But it was only a brief stopover before the real destination: ICELAND!