Capitol Tour

We had the privilege of being "Special" visitors to The Capitol since we know a guy on the Capitol Police. .. and he has a friend Jack who is "a pretty good tour guide." So we just picked up and headed off to The Capitol -- no lines, no waiting, nothing.

This is Mike, the son of a friend, his friend Jack and me (without my sunglasses on). They are "in-uniform" as they currently have very flexible jobs. Mike is actually now a Capitol cop assigned to the FBI ... yikes!

 Alicia and me .. on the west plaza... not a car in sight, but we just drove right in. Post 9/11 The Capitol became much more restricted. One can walk here, but it sure doesn't look like that is well known.

Jack's dad (John Gibson) was killed in the line of duty at The Capitol when a crazy guy attacked people (before 9/11). His dad was also a Capitol cop.

We ended up in a few places that "ordinary" people will never see.

The difference between the House side of the building and the Senate was marked by a significant level of pretentiousness on the Senate side. These guys went over the top when they built this place.


The halls are ornate: floors, walls, ceilings, etc. One does not see this on a "normal" tour as the senate side is not on the normal tour. One can get a special tour if you go through your senator or rep. But we had one better, we had the cops!

The Senate Appropriations meeting room ... the place where they discuss money, debt, and whether this room looks a little shabby and could use some updating.

Just a cozy little spot in the Senate Rayburn room.

The Rotunda -- this is where George Washington is turned into a God (as depicted on the fresco at the top of the dome)

The Speaker of the House has his own little porch .. that has a nice view. Again, "ordinary" people don't get to go out here.

We shared in the glory ...

The old senate meeting room 1810-1859 which got too small when the country added the 33rd state.

We were not able to enter the new senate meeting room,  BUT,  we ran into a friend of Jack's who was guarding the room (and has been on the Capitol Police force for 27 years and has "seniority") and he asks "Do you want to take a look around?" So, we get the top to bottom tour of the floor of the "Senate floor". We were able to look into the Candy Desk drawer (see Wikipedia), got a look at Senators McCain, Paul, and Reed desks, then the desks of the junior Massachusetts senators Warren and Markey. Then the JFK desk, and Daniel Webster. Pretty tight quarters if they are all there at the same time.

Nothing was going on so we just hung out in the chambers. .. and heard some fun stories.
NO PICTURES ALLOWED!

Then a tour outside on the terraces, where virtually nobody is allowed except Capitol Police, and the only other people on the terraces were very well armed Capitol Police (assault rifles!) - and friends of Mike and Jack's. Notice the absence of people.

Then it was back to go.
Thanks a lot to Mike and Jack ... we won't say anything about the special places that we saw.