Today we decided to try and mix up the indoor / outdoor activities a bit to try and manage the heat a bit better, however as it turned out we ended up spending most of the day inside. We walked down to Union Station, which is very impressive, very much in the mould of grand central station in New York. I am not quite sure how they manage to keep everything so clean here, all the white buildings are actually clean. After walking round all areas, except the tracks, we then set off for the US Supreme Court, which is a spectacular building both inside and out. We were allowed to walk around the halls on the lower and first floor but unfortunately we couldn’t see into the court room as it is currently closed for refurbishment – as are a lot of the sights in Washington. But all the same where we were allowed to go was impressive enough. After leaving there it was a short walk down the road to the Library of Congress which I have to say made the British library look quite plain, we could have joined a tour but decided to wander round on our own with the information leaflet. The main hall (called the great hall – not an understatement) has stained glass skylights 75 feet above the floor, it has 2 marble staircase with sculptures of children reapresenting various occupations. The second floor has more mosaic floors and additional staircases that lead to an overlook of the main reading room. I could happily have spent the day working my way round all the books, but sadly they don’t let you get any down from the shelves and in a couple of the rooms they have put temporary exhibitions in the reading rooms – what is the point of that? All the same it was great and they did have their copy of the Gutenberg bible on display so that if you could read Latin you could at least read a part of it, the other bible they have on display is the Mainz Bible which was hand written in the mid 1450s.
By this time it was just after 1pm and in an effort to eat meals at the right time of day we went looking for something to eat, unfortunately this being a federal building area although each of the offices may have canteens and/or coffee bars on site the only thing available to the public with a panda noodle van parked down the street! We decided against this and went to the Capitol building visitor centre working on the assumption that they would probably have a restaurant which they did so we grabbed something to eat then signed up for a tour of the building. Unfortunately the rotunda is closed for renovation and you are not allowed into the senate or house viewing galleries unless you are invited by your senator – tricky when you are from the UK! However there is apparently a way we could get in if we wanted to, but to be honest the tour we did was really good, we went to the exhibition hall to start off which was good because it put the differences between the house and senate into context. The house contains representatives which are very much like our MPs, there are a maximum of 435 and they are elected for 2 years. The number of representatives is determined by the population, so each time there is a census the number of representatives is reviewed to make sure that the representation is correct. The senate has 2 representatives from each state. The main differences between the 2 houses are that both have to agree to going to war, but only the senate can agree the terms of any treaty. The senate is presided over by the Vice President, he is actually the president of the senate, and historically he actually carried more power than the President! By the time we finished the tour it was just after 4pm we had originally planned to walk round to the National Archives but as this closes at 5pm and was about a 15 – 20 minute walk away we decided to head back to the apartment for a shower, relax and a cold beer to get ready for getting something to eat and continuing the exploration tomorrow.
