Having already spent a few days in Washington, and with time running out, I thought it was necessary to go to the 'Centre' of the city, the reason for its existence, the Capitol building. Although I had not booked a tour, as I was by myself, it was quite easy to pick up spare tickets. There were hundreds of young schoolchildren on field trips but fortunately I managed to get on a small tour with a good tour instructor.
After a short movie explaining the history of the building (including when the Brits burned down the city in the War of 1812) we headed into 'The Crypt'. in the middle of this room was the central point in the city, directly under the dome. Where the spot stood was supposed to be where George Washington would be buried. However, by the time the building was complete, Washington has already been dead for 50 or so years and he in his will stated that he wanted to be buried at his own house in Mount Vernon, 20 miles from the city. So instead of a piece of historical importance, all we got was a little plaque.
The next room however was a tad more interesting. We walked into a large circular hall, directly below the Capitol dome. On all the walls around the hall were 12 amazing paintings of scenes throughout American history including Columbus 'discovering' America and the marriage of Pocahontas. The dome itself was also very impressive and it was a shame that you could not go any higher to get a better look. From this room we headed to the old meeting room of the House that was used before the numbers of representatives became too high. In this space were a number of statues representing great figures from the individual states. Each state gets to donate 2 such statues to the collection which they can change at any time. After this, the tour was over which was a little disappointing seeing as we only saw a tiny section of the entire building. I did however manage to get tickets to gain entrance to both chambers of the legislature. After many security checks, you eventually got to sit in the chambers and absorb the history from such important places. The only shame was that at the time of my visit, neither of the chambers was sitting for debate. After the Capitol building was done, I grabbed a bite to eat and headed on the underground walkway to the Library of Congress.
The library provided perhaps the biggest surprise of the Washington visit. Although I expected a nice building with some impressive architecture, I was not prepared for how beautiful it was. Immediately upon my entrance, I managed to secure a tour of the building with the greatest tour guide in America. He managed to bring the building to life and to impart the significance of the work the library does. Effectively, the Library holds millions of copies of books, newspapers, magazines, CDs, DVDs, maps, comics etc so as to accumulate all human knowledge. There is no subject of which the Library does not collect. However, although they claim to have the most documents on the planet, the British Library actually has more as they also collect patents. All over the main building are paintings, sculptures and mosaics symbolising the depth and breadth of knowledge contained. All subjects, professions, nationalities, ages and races are allowed to study within the library. Although I currently cannot put up pictures on the blog, I did take many of them and I hope to post them to Facebook as soon as I can. In the centre of the hall were displayed some incredible documents- a 15th century handwritten copy of the Bible and opposite, an original first edition copy of the Gutenberg Bible. To see with my own eyes one of the most important historical pieces of all time was quite a moment. The last part of the tour allowed us to oversee one of the reading rooms, which put the the British Library to shame.
Also as part of the Library were 2 mini-exhibitions, one on historical maps (the centre-piece being the first map ever contain the word 'America' on), and the other on the American Civil War. From this exhibit, my main attraction came in the form of the contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets from the night he was assassinated, including, interestingly enough, a $5 Confederate banknote. Also in this exhibit was Thomas Jefferson's original library, the one he sold to Congress to begin the library's collection.
After seeing what the Legislative side of American politics had to offer, I thought a visit to the home of American Justice was in order. Fortunately for me, that meant only a 40 second walk.
On the steps of the Supreme Court I had my first crisis of conscience. A man was standing with a placard proclaiming some questionable viewpoints on the relationship between the Bible and abortion. I stood around uneasily trying to think of the wittiest riposte when he asked me whether I wanted my picture taken in front of the building. I weighed up in my mind the outcome of such an undertaking and decided to sell my soul and let the man to take the photo, and you know what, it wasn't half-bad.
There was not too much to do within the Supreme Court but I did manage to tag along to the last talk of the day. Unbeknownst to me, the talk took place within the courtroom proper, allowing me to reflect upon the tremendous highs, and shocking lows of the decisions made in that room (Brown Vs. Board of Education and Plessy Vs. Ferguson as cases in point). For the rest of the time until the building closed, I walked the corridors, admiring (and detesting) the busts and paintings of previous justices.
When I got home to the hostel, I ate and showered, preparing myself for my first 'night out' in the States. When the rest of the group (Jesse, Jessica, Kory, Konrad, Amanda, and Pete) had congregated we headed across to Georgetown (college area) to find a few good bars. After some good American larger and onion rings, we ended up at a nice piano bar. Most of the rest of the night was spent sitting around the piano trying to convince the musician to play some of my favourite songs. Victory was finally achieved when at 1.30am, he played 'Like A Rolling Stone'.
The next room however was a tad more interesting. We walked into a large circular hall, directly below the Capitol dome. On all the walls around the hall were 12 amazing paintings of scenes throughout American history including Columbus 'discovering' America and the marriage of Pocahontas. The dome itself was also very impressive and it was a shame that you could not go any higher to get a better look. From this room we headed to the old meeting room of the House that was used before the numbers of representatives became too high. In this space were a number of statues representing great figures from the individual states. Each state gets to donate 2 such statues to the collection which they can change at any time. After this, the tour was over which was a little disappointing seeing as we only saw a tiny section of the entire building. I did however manage to get tickets to gain entrance to both chambers of the legislature. After many security checks, you eventually got to sit in the chambers and absorb the history from such important places. The only shame was that at the time of my visit, neither of the chambers was sitting for debate. After the Capitol building was done, I grabbed a bite to eat and headed on the underground walkway to the Library of Congress.
The library provided perhaps the biggest surprise of the Washington visit. Although I expected a nice building with some impressive architecture, I was not prepared for how beautiful it was. Immediately upon my entrance, I managed to secure a tour of the building with the greatest tour guide in America. He managed to bring the building to life and to impart the significance of the work the library does. Effectively, the Library holds millions of copies of books, newspapers, magazines, CDs, DVDs, maps, comics etc so as to accumulate all human knowledge. There is no subject of which the Library does not collect. However, although they claim to have the most documents on the planet, the British Library actually has more as they also collect patents. All over the main building are paintings, sculptures and mosaics symbolising the depth and breadth of knowledge contained. All subjects, professions, nationalities, ages and races are allowed to study within the library. Although I currently cannot put up pictures on the blog, I did take many of them and I hope to post them to Facebook as soon as I can. In the centre of the hall were displayed some incredible documents- a 15th century handwritten copy of the Bible and opposite, an original first edition copy of the Gutenberg Bible. To see with my own eyes one of the most important historical pieces of all time was quite a moment. The last part of the tour allowed us to oversee one of the reading rooms, which put the the British Library to shame.
Also as part of the Library were 2 mini-exhibitions, one on historical maps (the centre-piece being the first map ever contain the word 'America' on), and the other on the American Civil War. From this exhibit, my main attraction came in the form of the contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets from the night he was assassinated, including, interestingly enough, a $5 Confederate banknote. Also in this exhibit was Thomas Jefferson's original library, the one he sold to Congress to begin the library's collection.
After seeing what the Legislative side of American politics had to offer, I thought a visit to the home of American Justice was in order. Fortunately for me, that meant only a 40 second walk.
On the steps of the Supreme Court I had my first crisis of conscience. A man was standing with a placard proclaiming some questionable viewpoints on the relationship between the Bible and abortion. I stood around uneasily trying to think of the wittiest riposte when he asked me whether I wanted my picture taken in front of the building. I weighed up in my mind the outcome of such an undertaking and decided to sell my soul and let the man to take the photo, and you know what, it wasn't half-bad.
There was not too much to do within the Supreme Court but I did manage to tag along to the last talk of the day. Unbeknownst to me, the talk took place within the courtroom proper, allowing me to reflect upon the tremendous highs, and shocking lows of the decisions made in that room (Brown Vs. Board of Education and Plessy Vs. Ferguson as cases in point). For the rest of the time until the building closed, I walked the corridors, admiring (and detesting) the busts and paintings of previous justices.
When I got home to the hostel, I ate and showered, preparing myself for my first 'night out' in the States. When the rest of the group (Jesse, Jessica, Kory, Konrad, Amanda, and Pete) had congregated we headed across to Georgetown (college area) to find a few good bars. After some good American larger and onion rings, we ended up at a nice piano bar. Most of the rest of the night was spent sitting around the piano trying to convince the musician to play some of my favourite songs. Victory was finally achieved when at 1.30am, he played 'Like A Rolling Stone'.
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