Day 4-Part 2

By the way, the weather was beautiful and YES it is even more lovely there than the pictures show!

After the wonderful tour at the library of congress we had lunch and headed off to our tour of the Capitol building. We arranged it through our congressman's aide, Katrina. We started out in his office and then headed off to the Capitol building through the "secret" underground tunnels...WAY COOL!



In the basement lobby there are fun details and pictures about the history of the building of the Capitol Building. There you can stand in the very center of Washington DC:



We toured the original Supreme Court where we learned that the head judge didn't like people being tardy so he set the clocks 5 minutes ahead. Now I know where I get that!

We went up a windy staircase that was a little short, it is said that Abe Lincoln would sometimes bumb his hat off his head as he walked up!


Then we entered the main lobby under the rotunda. It was amazing. The ceiling was beautiful. We learned that the secret service is posted on the roof during special events and they remove the small pink circles for them to point their guns through....



The next stop became one of the kids favorites. It is now another lobby, but originally housed the senate. Alexander Hamilton had a desk on one side of the room and would often nap while things were being debated. Turns out that the spot where his desk sat was actually an accoustical anomolly. When you sit there you can hear people standing in certain spots across the room even if they are whispering! We tried it out and the kids loved that part!



After those adventures we went to the House Floor where the Congressmen meet. Well, actually we sat in the upper seats and sat to learn about how it all works. I was awed to be in such an historical place. We talked and asked questions about how the voting is done and how it works when the Congressmen are there. So cool to think we were in the same room where the state of the union address is given!!

Then we walked around for some good views of the Capitol Building:


Of course there is always time for some silly:


Capitol from the reflecting pond, not to be confused with the reflecting pool way down at the other end of the mall:


And ended the day at the Hirchhorn Sculpture Garden and Museum. Here are some of the favorite sculptures.
Peter's:


Thomas':


Joe's:


Mark and Spencer's: (Hmmmmmm, curious why this one?)


And Thomas found Katie's "boyfriend" ;-) :


The Hirschhorn musuem had some interesting stuff. We spent most of our time in there watching this amazing strange and addicting movie of a continious chain reaction someone made in the 80's. It involved lots of rolling tires knocking over things and setting off various chemical reactions. I think we sat there for 20 minutes or so and never did see the whole thing!

We ended the evening with dinner at the hotel, homework time and swimming for some of us!