I'm Just a Bill...

That song was permanently looping through my head on Thursday as I made my trek over to Capitol Hill. I had scheduled a tour through my Senator's office, and that included a meet 'n' greet with Mr. Kit Bond himself to start things off. I was one of about 30 Missourians who met that morning for open house (doughnut holes and coffee), and we all got our photos taken with the Senator as well. He was friendly and asked our names and what brought us to Washington. All of the other groups were from KC or STL, so I was pretty much the only small town gal there. He acted like he knew where Republic was, though! :)

After the photo op, we were divided into groups for a tour led by a Mizzou intern. Zach was very friendly and knowledgeable, and only made me feel a little bit old. Sen. Bond's office is in one of the two Senate office buildings outside of the Capital building. As we left for the tour, we walked by several offices of Senators that I recognized, including Sen. McCain. We headed down to the basement where there was a little trolley that takes the senators underground to the capital for votes and such. We got to ride on that very trolley and arrived in the brand new Capital Visitors' Center, which is also underground. It was packed, but we bypassed the crowds and were led on our very own private tour.

We watched an introductory film and then went into the rotunda. It was very impressive! The dome itself is painted with a Renaissance style painting of Washington ascending into heaven, surrounded by angels. There is a painting that looks remarkably like sculpture that goes around the whole dome, telling the story of American history. There are eight large paintings on the walls around the circular room with scenes from American history, beginning with Columbus and DeSoto, then the conversion of Pocahontas to Christianity, and several scenes of Washington as a general at Valley Forge and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. There are also several life-sized sculptures of past presidents and other notable figures around the room. Overall it was a very impressive place. On a side note, during our time in the rotunda the guide had to find a restroom for one of the little children on our tour, so we had some downtime. I had mentioned to one of the other ladies on the tour that I was a teacher, and so during this time two of the other people in our group started asking me questions about various things--first about Pocahontas (who was she, really--which I actually knew from my eighth grade independent study and also from teaching 5th grade) and questions about how much homework a third grader should have. I was laughing to myself about never really being able to escape my "work".

After the rotunda we made our way to the old Senate and House chambers, which were outgrown quickly as the country added more states and therefore many more Senators and Representatives. The Senate chamber is preserved, but the House chamber is now called Statuary Hall and holds more of those life-sized statues of famous Americans. Each state is invited to provide two statues, and there is not room for all to be displayed in this room, but they are found throughout the building as well. I saw Thomas Hart Benton, a famous Senator from Missouri, as one of ours--but failed to learn who the other one was, or where it is. We also saw the old Supreme Court room, which was quite drafty and dark. I can see why they wanted a new building.

This is Statuary Hall:


This was the old Senate chamber. Much too small now.

In the basement of the building is the very center of all of Washington, D.C. This star marks the center of the building, therefore the center of the city, and all points radiate from it. That's the way the city was designed and therefore the radiating streets, which cross the grid of other streets, make for such terrible traffic. It was a symbolic move, not a practical one. The original plan was to make this floor glass and to have a vault underneath to hold the bodies of George and Martha Washington, so that the public could see them. Mr. Washington was adamantly opposed to this idea, so the took the glass floor out and made it stone and buried him at Mt. Vernon according to his wishes.

We could have been staring down at some moldy old bodies, but alas, the Father of our Country had more dignity than to allow that.

At the end of the tour, we were guided to the Senate gallery to observe the Senate in session. We of course went through all kinds of additional security including checking all of our electronic items, etc. etc. Then you have to wait in line for an usher to seat you in the gallery, which is like a balcony up above the senate floor. Once you are in you can stay as long as you wish, and I stayed and listened for quite a while. The first speech was by Sen. Brownback from KS, presenting a resolution to apologize for slavery. There was another speech from another senator agreeing with him, and then all the senators present (which was about 6) voted unanimously to pass the resolution. (I thought, well duh.) Then there was a speech by a Texas senator regarding his concerns about the confirmation of the nominated new Supreme Court justice. Then we moved into more speeches about slavery, at which time I decided to leave. It was very interesting, but I was getting very hungry and ready to move on.

One interesting thing I learned was that the Senate pages are high school juniors who are in the Senate during the school day. They attend early morning school in the attic of the Library of Congress and then the rest of their day is on the floor of the Senate. What an opportunity!

I had lunch in the new Visitors' Center cafeteria and then took the tunnel to the Library of Congress. This little trip was sort of an afterthought, but turned out to be well worth it. I had read that the great hall of the library is supposed to be the most beautiful building in Washington, and I really think that might be right. The Library of Congress was begun at the very beginning of our country's congress, when the congressmen needed a law library for reference when making and debating laws. During the War of 1812, the British burned the capital building along with the White House, and all of the library within it. (In fact, it was said that they started with the books to get a really good fire going. Ironically, the only Washington building they were persuaded to spare was the patent office because that would be the destruction of knowledge. Geez.) So when Washington was being rebuilt, former President Jefferson (apparently deep in debt) saw the need for a new library to be begun and offered his own vast library as a starting place. At first Congress wanted to buy only his law books, but he insisted that the leaders of the country should have a broad knowledge of all subjects and would only sell the library intact. Thus began the widely collected works of the Library of Congress.

The Library now requires two copies of every work (not just books!) submitted for copyright in the US to be submitted for possible inclusion in its collection. Not all works are included, but it is the job of the many librarians to sort out what needs to be kept and what doesn't. There are three buildings, plus several other storage facilities, to house all of this great knowledge.

When the first Library of Congress building was built, it was to be a showpiece of American artistry. All American artists decorated the inside and outside of the building. It is literally covered with murals, sculpture, frescoes, mosaics, and all other sorts of art. Definitely worth seeing, for anyone who has the chance. All of the art is symbolic and mostly related to literature, knowledge, history, etc. The reading room is only open to cardholders--but anyone can be a cardholder, as long as they apply and give a reason for using the library. We went into a glass-paneled area of the reading room to see the art and architecture, and there were quite a few people using the library. The librarians will bring any work you want to you, because regular patrons aren't allowed into the stacks. Another highlight of the library is its copy of one of only three perfect Gutenberg Bibles in the whole world. It is worth millions and you can't take pictures, of course, but it was pretty neat to see.

I would say that if a person only has a few days in DC, these two places should definitely be at the top of the list. It was a great experience and there's a lot of new learning to be had, even for adults who know a little bit about government. And the Library of Congress was kind of a hidden treasure in my opinion. Not a place you might think of as a tourist destination, but really worthwhile.