Exceedingly Mundane

Busy busy day today! Kirk setup a private tour for us at the Capitol, through Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson’s (of Missouri) office. We had a nice intern named Ben who took us through the underground tunnels under the 3 office buildings (Cannon, Longworth and Rayburn) and over into the Capitol. We saw parts of the old capitol, a room where the Supreme Court met for about 50 years in the 1800’s, the old House of Rep. Room, the Capitol Rotunda, the Cox Corridor and finally, to the viewing gallery. We sat in some of the upstairs visitors seats and looked at where the representatives vote, and where Bush gives his State of the Union address. Way cool.

After the tour, we went to the Library of Congress. We saw the Great Hall, one of the original Gutenburg bibles and also another old bible called the Mainz bible. We didn’t want to wait on a tour, so we didn’t get to go into the Reading Room. We left the Library and walked down to the Supreme Court. We took pics outside and noticed a bank of cameras, as well as several groups of protestors (we heard later on about Sandra Day O’Connor). Then, we hiked further down to Union Station and had lunch at the first place where we could find an open table! In this case, it was Johnny Rockets. Tim had a burger and I had a patty melt and we split an order of fries and onion rings. I know, very healthy on this trip!

We took the Metro from Union Station, switched trains at Metrocenter and then took a different train to the Smithsonian stop. From there, we started our long, hot walking trip of all the memorals and monuments. We went to the Washington Monument, the WWII War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial (the wall). We thought about going over to Ford’s Theatre (where Lincoln was shot), but it was after 5:00 PM and they closed at 5. So, we walked several blocks down to Pennsylvania Avenue and took pictures of the White House from the gate. We’re excited about our upcoming tour on Sunday!

We took the Metro back across the river to Arlington and got off at the stop by our hotel. We were both sunburned, sore and exhausted from being on our feet all day and walking most of that time. We talked about resting, cleaning up and heading back out for supper and a movie. But, after we got in and rested, we didn’t feel like getting out again, so we decided to stay in. We ordered a pizza from a local place called Armands that would deliver to the hotel, and watched our DVD we brought of National Treasure (to get ready for our trip on Monday to the National Archives to see it in person!). Not everyone’s idea of a great night out on the town, but it suited us just fine!

Gotta get some sleep now, and get up for another long day. I had meant to wear my pedometer today, to see how many steps we took and how far we walked. Both of us feel like we walked at least 6 or 8 miles today, maybe more. I’ll try to remember to wear it tomorrow – we’re going to go to the Smithsonian castle, the National Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American History.