The Gallivanting Ledets: Oct. 28 The Capital Building

Heading out this rainy morning, the GPS headed us on a route that we hadn't been on before. Even though it was longer and there still was a lot of traffic, it was supposed to be shorter than the other two routes we've taken which take us through tunnels going under the harbor. This route took us over the Francis Scott Key bridge. It is about 4 miles from Fort McHenry that we visited yesterday. Francis Scott Key was in a boat about two miles closer to the fort when he saw the flag still waving. It is quite an impressive bridge! When we got into Washington, we met with Joe, one of Senator Cory Gardner's aids who gave us a tour of the Capital building. From there we spent some time in the Museum of American History and saw the actual flag that was flown over the fort on that September morning in 1814. Because of it's delicate condition, no photos are allowed, but it is very cool to see.
I'll try to get a few pics posted, but then need to get a few hours sleep because we have a very early morning to get back into DC for our White House tour.

Francis Scott Key Bridge

Rotunda in Russell Senate Building where senators sometimes hold press conferences

There is a whole underground tunnel system between the senate buildings, the capital, and the house of representative buildings.
We got to ride in this cool tram with a senator from Vermont. It is apparently very unusual that a senator would invite "commoners" to ride the same tram with him. Even our guide, Joe, was impressed.

Each state could send 2 statues to be placed in the capital building. This is Jack Swigert from Colorado. A really cool thing about this is that you can see a refection of the capital dome in his shiny helmet from whatever angle you happen to be looking at it (there are some windows in the roof to his left).

Statue of Freedom-Read more about this plaster cast below.

Old Supreme Court

Plaque dedicated to the people who died on the flight in Pennsylvania on 9-11. The terrorists were planning to crash that plane into the capital building. These people who prevented that from happening.

Inside the capital rotunda. They hope to be through with the work of repairing and reinforcing the capital dome in time for the next president coming into office in Jan. 2017. They said that if all the pipe in the scaffolding was laid end to end, it would be more than 50 miles long.

There is a brass place in the floor of the old House of Representative chambers for each president who also served as a Representative.

It was said that John Quincy Adams would not let his desk be moved from this particular spot. He would sometimes lay his head on his desk and appear to be sleeping. However, they suspect that he wasn't actually catching a little nap. Joe walked several yards away and spoke to us in a quiet voice. Even with many other people in the room talking, we could hear him quite clearly and loudly! Old JQ was no doubt just listening in on some conversation from across the room!