Our focus over the last 2 days was to visit the Capitol, The Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and the Newseum.
First we went to Senator King's office for a planned tour. It originally was to be at 2 in the afternoon but we arrived early and they changed our time to right now. We had a private tour with Andy, one of his interns, that went from his office to the Capitol by way of underground tunnel. We had the advantage of not only a private tour but also escaped the tour groups with multiple people in a group. A bonus was that we got into both the House Chamber, and also the Senate Chamber where Sen McConnell spoke for a bit about some Commerce Bill followed by Senator Reid who admonished a group for not "getting the job done".
Senator King's Office was the first door on the left.
The Old Supreme Court Chambers
Remember when I put a picture on that was taken of George Washington's burial place at Mt Vernon? A Crypt in the Capitol was supposed to be his burial spot but because he determined the location of his body by a Will, he was not interred here.
The inside and outside of the Rotunda is undergoing repairs and upkeep.
In the Capitol, 2 statues from each state are allowed, but may be changed. The 2 from Maine are, immediately below, the first Governor of Maine, William King,
and Hannibal Hamlin, a Vice President.
The Hall of Statues
A replica of the statue on top of the Capitol
The Library of Congress is the library of Congress and also the peoples library. In the picture below is the Gutenburg Bible, a manuscript done in 1452-3. It took 15months to complete in 3 volumes.
A picture of the main Reading room of the library. There are 21 other reading rooms. The library is not a lending library.
We got to the Supreme Court early enough to be in the first lecture of the day in the Supreme Court Hearing Room. No pictures allowed at any time. In the picture below, the person on the left at the top of the stairs is qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice.
We spent the last part of the day today in the Newseum. It is a museum about news people and news organizations. We only saw a part of it today but our tickets are good for tomorrow. One of the non- permanent displays was the War in Vietnam... again no pictures.
Freedom of the Press
Parts of the Berlin Wall
The Tower that was on top of the World Trade Center that was destroyed on 9-11
From the section on Freedoms.
Tomorrow, one more day in the city and then closer to home.
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