Capitol Idea!!

Our East Coast tour has been phenomenal, a trip of a lifetime.  I have not been able to keep up with visiting with friends here, running from place to place, and blogging all at the same time.  I am way behind on posting and since this is our family photo album and journal I am beginning to feel like the mom who has a shoe box full of photos that are not yet in the scrapbook (Yes Jill...remember our phrase!) so I figured I'd better catch up a bit.  Therefore I am going to do a few posts here all in one evening, or that virtual shoe box will never get emptied!

I last left off in Washington, DC and we were just beginning our last day there.  We were gearing up to meet long time friends and visit the Capitol Building.  We were really looking forward to the Capitol Tour, but soon found it was the worst of all DC attractions in terms of the rudeness of security staff.  What is it about DC?  I really through New York would be where we wound encounter the most rudeness, but we were treated so warmly there by many strangers who happened upon this utterly lost group of tourists.  Everyone at attractions was courteous and helpful.  DC?  I daresay I have never in my life been treated so horribly by those working with the public in every single location, without exception.  At the Capitol people...including us...were literally being yelled at as if they were drill sergeants...and the security is a joke.  Cursory inspections of back packs, sometimes with computer scanner monitors not even turned on, yet acting as if this was life or death.  I am tired of the average American being treated as if we have committed some sort of heinous crime, all because we wish to visit a location that is open to the public.  

But enough of that little rant...

The Capitol Building was far more incredible than any of us expected.  It was one of the places we had done little study on before arriving, so none of us had any idea what to expect.  What a work of art the building is! You are swallowed up in the history of our country there, surrounded by sculptures, paintings, architecture and lore.  Although we were once again in the mobs of kids on end of the year field trips, and our tour guide said he had never seen it this busy ever, we still had a marvelous time seeing our Capitol.  The kids were quite impressed.

No picture can do this justice!

In the hall where there were many statues...so many they eventually had to spread them out throughout the Capitol Building because the floor wasn't strong enough to withstand the weight!

The painted ceiling was spectacular.

Our Tour Guide did a great job, but it was so busy it was sometimes hard to hear his voice!

Some of the statues

Everyone really enjoyed this visit!

Kenny wasn't the only one whose jaw dropped, he was just the only one I caught  with the camera!

Mosaic floors, chandeliers, original art work, beautiful chambers...all agreed this was the best of DC.

 This was the end of our sightseeing in Washington, DC.  Next, on to Virginia to visit our dear adoption buddies and spend time together.  More sightseeing awaited us there as well, more to follow later this evening!