U.S. Capitol

We awoke to rain as expected and it lasted through most of the day.  The Supreme Court building is on our list and it is one of the only ones that is not open on the weekends so we knew we needed to head towards the capitol area today.  We ended up staying in that area all day seeing the U.S. Capitol, The Library of Congress, the United States Supreme Court and the Botanic Gardens.

 We decided to walk. In the Rain. It actually wasn't too bad.  Our jackets with hoods did great keeping the top parts warm and dry and we weren't the only ones out walking in the rain but it was raining pretty hard by the time we got there.

 U.S. Capital from the south side.

 For the visitor center you enter on the east side of the building and you go in underground.

 You could sign up for a tour online but everything was booked for the week.  They said that some same day tour passes might be available so going into it I was not sure if we would get a tour but we ended up walking in and getting on the next tour.

 For some reason my selfie mode is making everything blurry, so sad.  But this was awesome.  Everyone gets a headset and the tour guide talks through your headset so there is no yelling or trying to hear what he is saying.  If I didn't mention this, the tour is free as well.  It was crazy how many people and tours they had running through the building and how many people it took to pull it off, but  they did great!

 This is the very center of the capitol and of the city.  It is a marble compass that is directly over George Washingtons tomb.

 But the tomb that was meant to house George Washington is empty.  Washington wanted to be buried at Mount Vernon where he and his wife are both laid to rest.

 Bust of Abraham Lincoln

 This is the ceiling of the rotunda area.   This is the room where President George Bush laid while in Washington. The painting is 5000 square ft.  When you die you go to the clouds and meet the gods.  It is a tribute to George Washington.  Painted in 1865, the year the civil war ended. 

There is also 450 years of America history painted on the walls of this room. 

 Picture of the Declaration of Independence.
Unfortunately the National Archives is one place that is closed due to the government shutdown so we can't see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

 This is the hall of statues or National Statuary Hall.  The House of Representatives used to meet in this room until it got to small for them. Now it is gathering place.  It has statues placed around the room.  Every state has 2 statues placed somewhere in the building and they get to decide what statues and who to commemorate with them.  

 The only qualifications is that they have to be bronze or marble, states can only have 2 each and the statue must be of someone that has died.

 Rosa Parks

 One of the ones from Texas is Sam Houston.  He is in the Hall of Statues.
The other was Stephen Austin and he was in the hall of columns that we didn't go and see.

 Speaker of the house rooms.

 My Batman on the escalator. Too funny.

 And yay,
House of Representatives and the Senate are traditionally only viewed with a pass that you have to request at least 15 days before hand but today they made passes available to see the House of Representatives.

 Waiting in line.

 Kids waiting in line. A few minutes later, they did get in trouble, apparently there is no sitting on the floor, they were asked to stand. No pictures from here because before we could go in, we had to leave all electronic devices and pretty much everything we had on us at the desk and then we had to pass through another security screening before we could take a peek inside.

But this is how it would look filled with people.

 Yep, we were gallery pass holders.

Next stop was the Library of Congress.  There is an underground tunnel that passes from the Capitol to the Library of Congress so we didn't have to go back outside and we realized, we wouldn't have to go through security again either.