Day 13 - Original number of states in the Union

Another day in beautiful Washington - with a visit to the Capitol building (the seat of government).  We caught the Metro to the National Mall and visited the National Museum of the American Indian.  The museum covers indigenous people from throughout the Americas, and is a fantastic looking building.  The collection seems a bit sparse, but what they have is well laid out and very interesting - providing lots of insights into the culture of the people.  Some shots are below.

Beautiful building

Bronze statue of a Buffalo dancer

Rhonda viewing a pop-out drawer of exhibits

Love the building

We then walked up the National Mall towards the Capitol, and it is both huge and impressive.  Up to now we'd only seen it from a distance - up close is a whole new experience.

View from the front

Closer view from the front - visitors enter from the rear of the building - glad we had plenty of time to walk around

View of the back of the Capitol

Inside the building was a different world - it seemed almost normal size.  The tour was very interesting and we both admired the grandeur of the building.

Emancipation Hall - where visitors enter and register for tours

Richard in the exact centre of Washington, one floor below the central dome of the Capitol

Typically (this seems to be happening to us a lot), they were renovating the dome!

Close up of decoration below the dome - it's painted not carved

It looks carved - very well done

The great man

Rosa Parks - Google her if you don't know who she is

 

Beautiful statues and decorations

We were able to get tickets after our tour to visit the House of Representatives to see democracy in action.  Unfortunately we couldn't take photos.  Both of us were struck by how modest the House of Reps was, and by the fact that all members are arranged in a semicircle facing the speaker's chair.  The arrangement seems less adversarial than in the Australian parliament.  We walked back after our visit and admired more epically grand buildings.

Library of Congress

Supreme Court

National Archives

Final shot of Capitol - threatening skies but thankfully no rain

In case you are tired of seeing columns on buildings (they do love their columns) here's final shot of a squirrel - because we could.

Vermin

Tomorrow we do a Segway tour - see you then (actually we won't see you, but you know what we mean).