Today we have a tour of the Capital Building. Brian has arranged for the Office of Ed Pastor the Representative from Arizona to give us a tour of the Capital.
We are greeted by the office staff. There is another family with us with cousins and a friend that are from Greece. They are artists and have been commissioned to do work at a church in Detroit. They are visiting Washington DC with family while they are here. There is lots of translating during the tour as they speak only a little English.
The tour of the Capital starts by walking from the Rayburn building where the Representative's office is through the underground catacombs to the Capital Building. They have everything they need in these offices and don't have to come outside often.
The tour of the Capital filled with history and art in every room. There are paintings from high school students that are chosen by the congressman. There is a statuary room where each congressman may choose two statues to be shown. Like many official buildings, the Capital Building has been remodeled several times. However, the Capital Building is modular and designed to be expanded.
After the tour of the Capital it's time to see more sights. We decided that we wanted to see the Washington Monument, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Smithsonian. We took the Metro to Smithsonian Station which is in the middle of the National Mall. One of the largest buildings on the mall is the Department of Agriculture building. Why is the USDA building on the mall? Historically, the US has been a agricultural producer. Agriculture was the most important aspect of the economy so the building was important for everyone to see.
Near the Smithsonian Station at the USDA building is a farmers market! Finally, all this driving and we finally found a farmers market. We got some fruit for lunch and some kettle corn of course. We found a comfortable spot beneath a tree and had our lunch.
After lunch we walked to the Washington Monument. We didn't get into line for tickets at 7 AM, so we won't be going inside. But the outside is amazing enough.
From the Washington Monument we walked to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. There are two sections to the museum, the permanent exhibit and the current exhibit. The permanent exhibit is free but they regulate the number of people that go through the exhibit. We got our tickets to go through the permanent exhibit. We walked through the current exhibit which was about the Olympics when they were held in Germany.
Our time came for the permanent exhibit and when in. The permanent exhibit starts on the fourth floor and works its way down through two more floors. The exhibit documents the history of the holocaust and World War II. It is a moving, thought provoking, and disturbing exhibit; how could people have been treated like that? It takes us over two hours to go through the exhibit.
It's starting to get late and most museums are closing. Looks like we won't be able to do the Smithsonian this time. We decide instead to stop at the Arlington Cemetery on the Metro on the way home.
After a quick check at the visitors center to get a map, we took a quick walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to see the changing of the guard. We arrived near the middle of the change. We decided to wait 30 minutes for the next change. It's very ceremonial to watch the changing of the guard.
Tomorrow we have a tour of the West Wing of the White House scheduled for us in the afternoon.
