We toured The White House and The Capitol today, it was really cool!

We had 10am tour time for the East Wing of the White House, we had to be lined up by 9:30/9:45am. ACS dropped GES, MGS, EJS, dad,  LaLa and I at the White House Visitor Center.

There was a background check before we got passes to get in. GES has a friend who’s brother works at  The Pentagon and got us in, sweet!

We went through several security checks,  showing our licenses,  verifying who we are,  that sort of thing. The last one was good,  the guard told me to stand there,  close my eyes and wait for the shock,  so I did,  cracked them up! Then we we were in!

It was a self guided tour,  we started with some great black and white photos of different presidents, first ladies, visitors,  dinners and even some first pets. 

We saw the Blue Room,  Red Room,  Green Room, Library, China Room, Formal Dining Room, personal dining room.  In a lot of these rooms, they are set up just for the tours,  after the last tour,  they set the room back to the way it was at the start of the day.

See how the carpets are rolled up!

After the tour,  we went to get some lunch and then head to The Capitol for a private tour.  GES has a friend from high school who works for a senator and got us this tour,  it pays to know people! It was great to catch up with her.

She walked with us to the train that took us from the offices to the Capitol. It was cool,  you would never have to leave the office,  they have a hair salon, bank machines, food,  coffee, whatever you need!

From there we went into The Capitol and began our tour.  We saw Washington’s tomb,  where he would have been if his descendant’s would have let him be moved from Mt Vernon.

We saw THE Rotunda! It’s under some construction,  so a lot of scaffolding,  but you can see a bit of the ceiling, where George Washington is represented as becoming a god.

In the Hall of Sculputres, there are columns that you can see where slaves and pages carved their names into the columns.

The last statue as we walked out was of Ronald Reagan and as he was famous for saying [regarding the Berlin Wall] “Tear down this wall!” At the base of the statue, the light colored stone is actually pieces of the Berlin Wall.  How cool is that?

This is a tribute Flight 93, the plane that was brought down in Pennsylvania, the thought is that the plane,  if not diverted, would have hot the Capitol.

We saw where the Supreme Court sat, it was awe inspiring.

Check out the spittoon, ick!

This is a replica of a hopper!

After the tour,  we went to sit in on a sexton of the Senate! No pictures, sorry, we had to leave anything electronic at security.

Someone asked me what I took away from the being there. The interesting thing,  I couldn’t tell you what they were talking about, after all the appreciation [“I would like to thank my constituent” “I would like to thank…”].

It was more just being there, in that room,  where so much happens. It was live C-SPAN!

After the tour and goodbyes, we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest and then dinner at the hotel. GES and ACS went to dinner with some friends of ACS’ so it was just me,  dad,  LaLa, EJS, MGS, JS and AS. Lots of laughing and fun.

Then it was night night for the girls and when GES and ACS got back,  ACS and I went down to the bar for a drink, it was nice for some one-on-one time.

Now,  back in the room to talk to you and crash. Goodnight!