CAPITOL BUILDING TOUR

After the White House tour we went to a food court for breakfast.  We were all starving by this time.  Then GG said we could have some free time on the Capitol Mall to revisit some of the museums and have some time in the gift shops, which they never give us time to explore. We 4 boys took off with the promise that we would meet them at the Capitol Building at noon for our 1pm tour.  

We had a great time deciding our own itinerary and ended up in the Air and Space Museum before we went over to the Capitol Building.  We met up near the Visitor Center and went through another search and screening.  

We started our visit with a movie about the history of the Capitol Building--who designed it, when it was built, various changes and additions that were made.  The official tour of the building was lead by a very enthusiastic gal who took us all around and talked about all of the artwork in the rotunda.  Every state has two bronze or marble statues in the capitol building. 

The newest one is of Rosa Parks.  The states get to decide who they will honor with their statues and they can change them out from time to time.  She also told us about the construction of the dome and the artwork around the top of the dome, and the huge paintings depicting various important historic events.

 

After the tour we went into the senate and listened to

Senator Ted Cruz give a passionate speech about the abuse of power, using the IRS to persecute causes that the President did not like.  We kids got pretty interested in the speech and didn't want to leave.  Later that evening we saw the speech on TV with comments from the announcer.

When we left the capitol we had an appointment to visit the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, but we were so tired we decided to go home and rest.