An early morning was needed to get to our appointment at congressman Putnam's office. One of his staff was to give us a tour of the Capitol. We tried out the subway and only took the wrong escalators a couple of times. Arriving at the Longworth Building almost on time, we realized we would need to go through security. All passed except for dad who had to go through the scanner several times, in less and less clothing. Finally he was released to go to Putnam's office.
Meagan, a senior at UF who is interning for the summer, was our guide. Into the tunnels we went to get to the capitol building. Alas, another security check. Mark had to donate his pocket knife and lighter, dad had to disrobe somewhat again to get through. Then we started the long walk under the streets of Washington to the Capitol building. We arrived to find a labyrinth of hallways and rooms broken up by large and small rotundas with beautifully painted ceilings and crystal chandeliers. We visited the room where the original supreme court would meet,and then the room where congress originally met - complete with bronze tiles depicting where famous politicians once sat. Story goes that John Quincy Adams would 'sleep' during meetings and still be able to argue an impressive discussion. The reason? The curved ceiling allowed him to hear what was being whispered across the room.
This same room now houses quite a few statues. Each state gets to contribute 2 statues to reside in the Capitol. Among the towering statues was one of Florida's, the statue of Willis Haviland Carrier, the inventor of air conditioning. Thank you Willis!!
Then on to another security check so we could sit in the gallery to watch a vote being taken in the House. What a confusing mess of suits all talking and walking around, seemingly ignoring the house speaker pro temp's instructions. But it was interesting to see how our government actually runs.
After our tour, we headed to the Smithsonian. Dad and mom targeted the Air and Space Museum while Mark and I hiked over to the Natural History Museum. After all, I had to do inventory on the Harry Winston jewels and Hope Diamond. We got to go into the butterfly house and saw an impressive group of them flying, sitting on the floor, sitting on our shoulders. We also caught up with their latest mammal exhibit which was impressively displayed. Dad and mom came over to catch up on the dinosaurs which were all waiting patiently to see them.
Off to the Archives building to see the documents that formed this country. The line snaked around the block, but we decided to hang out anyway. 45 mins later, we were inside..ready to go through security. Dad had it down by this time and didnt get held up. The line inside was not quite as long, but we finally got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Magna Carta among several key legal and social legislation documents. We discovered an extensive interactive area that, even in its volume of displays, only hinted at the breadth and depth of content stored at the archives. We could view early films and radio recordings of important events, see handwritten notes taken during battle, read bits of the census from the 1930's, and even notes the astronauts took with them on Apollo 11 to ready the LEM for the moon. Quite an interesting museum.
FOOD
After 11 hours of walking and standing, we decided to get back to the hotel and think about dinner. Across the street, we now saw Raku, a japanese diner. It had been packed the night before, so the food was probably good. We headed over for sushi, noodles and szechwan beef. It was delicious! And we could sit outside and enjoy the warm evening air, as well as the lively neighborhood.
Mark headed out later to the park to find a band playing into the late hours. People were dancing on the sidewalks and having a great time.
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