What a great city! So much of everything: art, science, history, architecture, and one of the best metro systems to get around. We did find things very different from the last time we visited. There were elaborate visitor centers where none were before and more requirements for guided tours and citizen-access controls. Every building had security checks, many areas are off limits, and the amount of security must be at least 10 times. Most of the extra security was friendly and helpful, unlike the TSA of which we are all familiar. There are many things to do there and one week did not make a sizable dent. We attempted to visit places we hadn’t seen before including the Lincoln’s Old Soldier’s Home, the Old Post Office building & observatory, and places mentioned in Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol such as the Jefferson’s pier, the 77th meridian, and the doors on the John Adams annex to the Library of Congress.
The Capitol building now has an underground Visitor Center added (2008) and in typical congressional overspending fashion, cost $621 million instead of the $71 million budgeted. We had arranged a tour of the Capitol through our Senator’s office and were therefore able to skip the long lines in the Visitor Center, and also to go into the gallery of the House Chambers which are no longer open to the public. The Capitol is a fascinating place with so much history, such as Representative Brooks beating Senator Sumner to unconsciousness with a cane in 1856 as revenge for saying nasty things about his relative. Things haven’t changed much, have they? The last time (2004) we went into the Senate gallery directly from parking outside the building. Congress was trying to wrap up and go home for spring break so they were eager to vote on multiple bills before their recess. We saw a continuous parade of all the voting senators: Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Ben Night-Horse Campbell, Daniel Patrick Moynihan & 96 more. We walked right into our Senator’s office then. Now tight security prevails and guided tours are the only way. Our assigned staffer was our personal tour guide and led us easily throughout the Capitol including the tunnels and catacombs that we had never seen before.
Our Senator’s office also arranged a tour of the Library of Congress. This building is a hidden gem that most don’t get around to with all the things there are to do in DC. Since they don’t allow photography in the Main Reading Room, we borrowed a shot from online. The room is jaw-dropping gorgeous. The Library of Congress is primarily to support the Congress. However, it also is for the knowledge of the American people. It was burned by the British in 1814 and started up again with the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal extensive library. Today it houses more than 144 million items, including movies, sheet music, photographs, maps, and sound recordings in addition to books.
The process to visit the White House must be requested six months in advance through a Senator’s office. Then the White House does a background check on each visitor. This was actually an improvement since the prior system was to stand in a line wrapping around the White House and wait most of the day which nobody wants to do. So this time we had a set appointment and the group was less than 30, which was great for actually being able to see the paintings, furniture and artifacts. Apparently Obama had just arrived and was upstairs (it was just after the election). Cameras are not allowed inside nor are purses or packs either. There were approximately 3 gazillion security types and rangers for the process of herding us and checking our ID several times, running us past the sniffing dogs, through the X-ray, then watching our every move from room to room. We were told we were in the safest place on the planet. It is a beautiful building, with amazing views out the windows, filled with our entire presidential history. There are few places in the world where citizens are allowed to tour the official residence, so although cumbersome, it was still pretty cool. The inauguration platforms were being constructed out front and at the Capitol as well.
No visit to DC is complete without visiting the Monuments. While we have seen all of these before, it was a beautiful sunny day for a walk. The one thing we noted in the quotations surrounding Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, MLK – was the lack of statesmanship, depth of philosophy, and eloquence of speech in today’s politicians compared to the profound, long-lasting, philosophical words of our prior political leaders that have gone to form the best of who we are. As an example: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln. “ With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope”- Martin Luther King.
We also visited a few Smithsonian museums, the Supreme Court, Annapolis, Mt. Vernon & Monticello. Phew! No wonder we were tired out! If you have never been to Washington D.C., make sure to add it to your list. It is a fascinating place.
