Congress in Session

It was back to the Capitol today, to watch Congress in session. We went to the Senate first, Mitch McConnell who was talking about health care. No other senators were in the chamber, he was just speaking to the clerks. I sat there and fumed over some of the BS he spewed, so of course I thoroughly enjoyed it! As he wrapped up Joe Lieberman came in and he spoke after McConnell was done. The Senate pages bring individual podiums to their desks so they can speak from there. We also saw Lindsey Graham and Blanche Lincoln address the floor. John McCain came in next, he was kind of a jerk to the pages. I took great pleasure in leaving the senate as he was speaking! I actually could have sat there all day listening, that is just how much of a dork I am! In the House they were naming post offices, so not nearly as interesting.

Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The have a wonderful exhibit of the original Stars and Stripes that inspired Francis Scott Key, no photos though, so instead here is the puffy shirt! They put all the pop culture artifacts in one room (Kermit, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers) so it gets very crowded as everyone wants to see them. I also enjoyed the First Ladies exhibit, I remember it from my visit long ago. There were also exhibits of Obama's inauguration and the American Presidents that were very good.

The last exhibit we saw was America at War, which spans from the Revolutionary War to Iraq. This display was of the news coverage from Vietnam, set up as a living room, complete with plastic slipcovers! We then went to the American Indian Museum and then to dinner at Matchbox, another good restaurant. Thanks to all the great recommendations we got before we left we got to eat at some amazing places! One more day in DC, then back home. Sad to leave, there is still so much to see, but we will certainly be back!

Another Day, Another Museum

Actually, we started our day at the Library of Congress, which is just beautiful. You can go in to see the reading room, but no photos. They also had a lot of manuscripts and documents, such as draft of the Constitution and letters written about the changes to the Declaration of Independence. They also had all of Thomas Jefferson's books, an unbelievable collection.

Next, it was off to Congresswoman Jackie Speier's office. She was not there, but a very nice (young!) intern took us to Congress for our tour. Because Chuck arranged the tour through Ms. Speier's office we got to go from the House offices to the Capitol in the tunnel that runs under the street! When there is a vote in the House bells go off in the office building and the representatives all dash through this tunnel to get to the vote.

Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We were only able to get through one level, but we did see Julia Child's kitchen! It's so tiny! They removed the table and put in an island for filming. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the museum, it's on Wednesday's agenda. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the puffy shirt from Seinfeld!

Back to Foggy Bottom, where we had dinner at Founding Farmers where all the food is locally grown. This is one of the best restaurants I have ever been to, it was amazing, especially because I got fried green tomatoes! And Chuck thinks bacon lollies (bacon with a brown sugar glaze served on a stick like lollipops) is the world's perfect food. Wednesday we go back to the Capitol, we have passes to get into both Houses of Congress to watch debate on the floor. I am so looking forward to it, it will be like CSPAN unplugged!

Museums...museums...museums

Today was all about museums, starting with Newseum...the most magical place on earth! There are seven floors of nothing but news, I was in heaven. They start outside the building with front pages of papers from every state, it runs down the entire front of the building.

The first things you see are seven sections of the Berlin Wall, still intact. Then the museum becomes a multimedia experience, with artifacts, such as newspaper from over the years, movies, and computers to get more information about the exhibits. There were so many exhibits it took us over six hours to see it all, and then I think we missed things.

This gallery was about the reporting on 9-11. Newspapers from all over the world covered the wall and the antenna from one of the towers was on display. There was also a documentary about the reporting and the journalist who covered the story that day. There was a particularly moving exhibit for a photographer who died that day, one of his fellow journalists was able to get his camera and the photos he took are on exhibit. If you ever make it to Washington I highly recommend Newseum, even if you are not a news junkie it's an amazing place.

We then went to the National Portrait Gallery, no Stephen Colbert's portrait is not there anymore, he is now in the Smithsonian. Then off to the National Sculpture Garden. I wonder how may of the student groups touring the garden knew what this was...Ended the day with a fantastic meal of tapas at Jaleo. Tuesday we tour Congress and hopefully get to meet our representative. We get to go into the gallery of the House, unfortunately our tour is in the morning and the House doesn't start session until 2pm, so it's unlikely we will see anything, but I am still looking forward to it. Haven't seen any congressmen yet so hopefully we will on the tour!

The National Mall

Today we spent the day on the National Mall, seeing all the Monuments and Memorials. The World War Two Memorial is beautiful, the Vietnam Memorial is very moving.

At the Lincoln Memorial, just as you leave the building you see this sign. It didn't even occur to me to slide down the banister until I saw this! Then it was all I wanted to do. Unfortunately it was brass, and very warm from the sun and I didn't want to risk the burn it may have caused. We will have to go back if it's cloudy!


After an amazing southern brunch at Georgia Browns we headed to the Capitol where we see this interesting way of touring the Mall, a whole group of people on Segways, running over small children and taking photos. Our feet may have hurt at the end of the day, but at least we didn't look like this! I am sure this was the way our Founding Fathers intended for us to look upon the seats of power!


The sites were all very crowded, except for the Supreme court. There were only four other people there...a little surprising and disappointing that there is little interest. I found it to be an amazing and imposing building, equal to the power of the decisions made there.

On Monday we head to Newseum, which will surely be nirvana for me...seven floors of nothing but news, how can there be such a magical place??