U.S. Capitol

Cousin K is here in D.C. interning at a senator's office. Yesterday was her last day and she gave me (and some others) a tour of the capitol. It was awesome!!! Oh, T couldn't miss work, so it was just me.

The tour started at the senator's office in the Hart building then we took the little subway to the Capitol. The subway is really tiny. You can probably only fit 8 people in a car and there are only three cars. The visitor's center was built in 2008 (I think). It was built underground so it wouldn't obstruct views of the capitol. There are some big sky lights so it's not dark and claustrophobic like.

The view looking up.

I really just wanted a bunch of photos of me and Cousin K but thought that since she was technically working that would probably be very unprofessional... So these are just photos of the building, and next time I go with T or visiting relatives I'll try to get a bunch that actually have people in them.

The original Supreme Court Room was in the capitol. Those are the original Justices' chairs.

This room is not in use anymore, but most are. Everything in the capitol is just so beautiful - the walls, the tiles, the paintings, the columns... I love it.

The original clock in that room still works!

Throughout the capitol there are two statues representing each state. Utah has Philo T. Farnsworth in the Visitors Center Atrium and Brigham Young in the old Senate Chambers. The old Senate Chambers are much smaller than I expected. The acoustics in that room are strange. Cousin K told us that people used to think John Quincy Adams was sleeping during senate sessions - but the acoustics are really just such that when he put his head on his desk he could hear what was being said on the opposite side of the room. So he was really just evesdropping! Haha! She showed us and it was amazing. We all leaned over and heard Katie speaking in a normal voice from across the room but as she left that area we couldn't hear her any more. Cool!!!

The hallways are painted so beautifully.

Cousin K knew SO much about the building. I was so excited because I am kind of a history geek. She told us things like: The actual front entrance to the capitol faces east because that is the direction they thought the city would grow (away from the Potomac). Up until Regan, Presidents were inaugurated at the east entrance. Regan was sworn in on the west entrance so he could face California, his home state. Cousin K showed us original pillars that survived the fire the British set in the capitol during the war of 1812. There are SO many cool things about the capitol that I can't even tell you all of them – you will just have to come visit!

Cousin K leading us.

This chandelier was really impressive. It was donated by a Methodist (I think) church back in the day and is now worth $250,000.

In the rotunda there is a statue of Ronald Regan. It's extra cool because around the base of the statue there are chunks of the Berlin Wall.

Cousin K telling our tour group about the rotunda.

The people in our group had a ton of questions and Cousin K fielded them all so well, covering everything from the history of the building to how the Senate works to how to get an internship and how the Senator's office works. Basically she was an amazing tour guide. Oh, and everyone seemed to know her! The policeman, interns from other offices, secretaries – everyone! It's actually not that surprising because Cousin K is very friendly. But I'm glad that everyone knows how awesome she is!

Looking up at the ceiling of the rotunda.

It is really impressive. This isn't a great photo but, George Washington is there in the middle with Lady Liberty and Victory on either side. The rest of the circle is 13 women representing the original 13 colonies. You can only see the back of three women - these women represent the three states that seceded to the South during the Civil War. So Brumidi, the artist, painted in a historical diss.

A statue of George Washington that is supposed to be the most true to his actual features.
It was done after he resigned his commission as General of the Revolutionary Army.

We went up a narrow original staircase. That would have been cool to begin with, but this staircase has a story: When the British torched the Capitol during the war of 1812 three British soldiers got stuck in this stairway. The walls had collapsed on either side of them inside the staircase. They knew they were going to die and they used their bayonets to carve three small crosses into the stairs that you can still see.

I did ask one of the other interns to snap just one photo of me and Cousin K at the end of the tour.

Cousin K hard at work taking calls from the constituents. There were a ton of calls because this was yesterday - remember the budget issue had not been resolved yet. And let's be honest, it's still not.

We received tickets to the Senate and the Senator Cousin K works for was going to be speaking in an hour so after the tour I ran out to the car to add more money to the meter. Since it was raining I got soaked going to the car, but luckily I had an umbrella in the car for the way back. Since Cousin K is a staffer she doesn't have to wait in the line to see the Senate in session, but because our group was with her we did have to wait in line, and we ended up missing the Senator speak. Instead we heard the Senator from Wisconsin speak.

The Senate Chambers are different from what I expected. It is pretty small and the person who is speaking does so from the front side facing the front center (where the President of the Senate sits) instead of speaking from the front center facing the crowd (if that makes sense). Also, there weren't any Senators listening! Just some staffers then one other Senator came in half way through. It looked like he was going to speak next because he had an easel and posters, one of which had a graph that was titled "Obama's Wall of Debt."

I'm so glad I got to go on a tour given by Cousin K. She was amazing!!!

If you visit D.C. a tour of the U.S. Capitol should DEFINITELY be near the top of your to-do list. It is wonderful. The visitor's center gives tours. There are about 30 people per group and the tour guide speaks softly into a microphone and everyone wears headphones to hear him. I'm sure the guides know a ton. I haven't done a tour this way, but I would definitely recommend setting up a tour through your senator's office instead. Let me tell you why:

You can take the tiny subway! You don't have to wait in line to get a ticket or wait in line to get into the capitol. Yay, no lines! The tour Cousin K gave us was 1.5 hours. Our group only had seven people in it and Cousin K said it was the largest group she had ever given a tour to. We went places that the general tours didn't go. And because there were fewer of us we had the chance to ask questions. So definitely call your Senator's office in advance and do the capitol tour through them. I just hope all Senate office interns are as great tour-givers as Cousin K!