We had reserved parking on Friday and Saturday at the Federal Center Plaza at 6th St SW & C St SW, right under a Holiday Inn. This parking is probably the best you can get, as it is right next to the National Mall and within sight of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Once you park your car, the main mode of transportation is walking. This was a bit of a problem for Stacy. The previous Saturday she had hurt her ankle and was having trouble walking. From the Washington Monument to the Capitol building is over 1 mile. Given our plans for the day, we had over 3 miles of walking ahead of us.
We arrived in plenty of time to walk from the parking garage to the White House. However, we had to move quickly to get from there to the Capitol Building for our afternoon tour, so we decided to try the Metro. The Metro provides a convenient way to get from the Capitol to the White House and beyond, assuming you know what you are doing (which of course we didn't). However, we found that the friendliest and most helpful people in D.C. can be found at the Metro Station. We got to the station to buy tickets and while we were staring blankly at the map, a lady came up and helped us get exactly what we needed. First you have to buy a card ($2) for each person who wants to ride the Metro, then you have to load the card with money in order to use it. So we bought 5 cards and put $5 on each, hoping that would be enough to get us where we needed to go.
Once we thought we knew what we were doing with the Metro, we walked from the Air & Space Museum to the Washington Monument Gift Center and on to the White House. The instructions ask you to arrive 15 minutes prior to your scheduled tour. We found, however, that a good 30 minutes is more advisable. This is due to both the long line of people who want to enter as well as the multiple security checkpoints required to enter the White House. We were almost the first people in line for our tour time> By the time we were allowed to proceed to the security check point, the line behind us was quite long with people in line for the next tour. We got in right behind a group of new Secret Service agents who appeared to be on an orientation tour. I had to laugh while listening to them talk as you could tell they were excited about the important assignment, but never allowed a hint of emotion to show from their monotone voices. I had to resist the urge to ask them if they loved doors.
We eventually entered the White House from the ground floor on the East Wing. We were allowed to see the ground floor and first floor of the East Wing of the White House. This is the section of the White House reserved for ceremonies, receiving guests, and state dinners. The 2nd and 3rd floor are the residential area which we weren't allowed to tour. Every room of the White House was decorated with multiple paintings of Presidents, their wives, and family. We got to see the picture of Washington that Dolly Madison saved in 1814. The tour ended with us exiting the building at the main entrance onto the North Lawn. It is an amazing building.
Once we left the White House, we had to quickly grab a bite to eat, get my camera out of the car, and get to Mo Brook's office for our tour of the Capitol Building. The first thing to do was to find the nearest Metro Station. Unfortunately we had no idea where that was. So we tried getting on a bus. They kept telling us we were on the wrong one, but weren't very helpful as to where the right one was. Luckily, our Metro Cards worked for both the Metro and the buses. After much wandering, we eventually found the McPherson Metro Station and sat down for a rest as we traveled to Foggy Bottom. Of course we had no desire to go to Foggy Bottom, so after realizing our mistake, we quickly exited that train and moved to the train going in the opposite direction. This took us to L'Enfant Station which is near both 100 food trucks and our parking garage. So I ran to get the camera while Stacy got everybody some good Greek food.
From the food trucks that line Independence Ave, we made our trek to the Nicholas Longworth Congressional office building. On the 2nd floor, right next to Paul Ryan's office, was the office of Mo Brooks, congressman from Alabama's 5th district. We were greeted by our tour guide, Emma Harchanko, a summer intern for Mo Brooks. She had been working for just over a week, and we were her first official tour of the Capitol Building. Congress was adjourned so we didn't get to see Mo Brooks or any other government official for that matter.
We got to go through the underground tunnels from the Longworth Building to the Capitol and begin our tour. One of the defining features of the Capitol Building is that every state is allowed to send 2 Statues for display. These are placed throughout the building and replaced every so often as the states decide to change them. Alabama's statutes were Helen Keller & Confederate General Joseph Wheeler. Arizona has Barry Goldwater & Father Kino. Other interesting statues we saw were Sam Houston from Texas, and Ronald Reagan from California. Of course the Capitol is topped with Statue of Freedom. The model for the Statue of Freedom is in the building's main Visitor Center.
We thoroughly enjoyed our tour guide, as she showed us the Old Senate Room, the Old Supreme Court Room (which is the only room in the Capitol Building that is kept as a museum piece and not refurbished for some other use), and many other rooms. We weren't allowed into the Senate room, but we did get to go into the House Gallery. The Rotunda was having repairs done for water leaks, so much of the center room was covered. But we were able to see the Apotheosis of Washington at the top of the Rotunda, as well as the eight paintings wrapping around on the lower walls. 4 of the paintings were of the Revolution and painted by John Trumbull. We went to the Old House Chamber. Our guide showed us two points in the room where the acoustics allow you to have a conversation with each other even though there are hundreds of people between you.
One thing we learned about touring the Capitol is you can take one of two different tours. You can take a tour with the Capitol Building Tour Guides who are professionals that give tours constantly to 30 to 50 people at a time. They give you a ear piece to hear them as they roam the halls showing you the sights. Your other option is to get a tour through your congressman, where you will get a tour with the intern. They may not be as knowledgeable as the other, but you will get personal attention. In our case, we were the only people she was taking. It was a much better option for our family and a great way to experience the Capitol Building. We were allowed to take pictures anywhere in the building except in the House Chamber. I really wasn't given a good answer as to why they didn't allow pictures, so I decided that the reason must be that C-SPAN had a monopoly.
Having seen the Capitol, we took the underground tunnels back to the Longworth Building and got our picture taken in Mo Brooks office before leaving. I had wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial before we went home, but Stacy was starting to have a lot of trouble walking, so we decided to go home. But before we got there, we passed by the Botanical Gardens. Elisabeth was excited to see it and heard there was even a butterfly exhibit. So we went in and explored the flora from around America while Stacy sat in one of the rooms waiting for us. The kids got a scavenger hunt pamphlet that sent them on a hunt throughout the museum for different plants. We never did find the butterfly garden, but they found most of the plants in their hunt.
Having completed the Botanical Gardens, we went back to Beth and Nathan's where there was one last surprise waiting for Matthew. They had blown up a ton of balloons and had a cake waiting for him in a surprise birthday party. Poor Matthew was doomed to spend his entire birthday in a car on the following Monday, so the surprise was really appreciated. We ended the busy day teaching Beth & Nathan how to play Carcassonne.
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