DC

So, I'm sitting here in my new hotel room, in a different hotel in a much if not safer part of town, then definately in town (instead of the boonies!). As I mentioned yesterday the waterline in front of our hotel burst, and as a result we had no water when we checked in. Or last night. Or this morning. By 11 o'clock the fact that the toilet couldn't flush and we couldn't take a shower was getting to us, so I went to the front desk. A pleasant conversation with the GM resulted in them telling me that they didn't know if it would be fixed today and that they would send us to another hotel. One even further away from the city. So, we decided to check out of the Comfort Inn (We didn't have to pay for our night there) and check into the Best Western Capitol View. Wanna know how great this place is? Not only does it have running water, and a metro 2 stops away, it's safer, and sitting here at the desk I look out the window and actually see teh Capitol Building. It's a beautiful piece of architecture, and all lit up it does give the feeling of control and leadership.

Anyway, back to this afternoon. After moving hotels we wento to Union Station to find a sightseeing bus company, and landed getting the famous hop-on-hop-off double decker bus that seems to have taken over much of the world, or at least Europe. It's the one Loes and I took in London, and the ones that seem to be getting in the way of everything in Amsterdam. The one stop we got off at today (w have a 2 day ticket) was Capitol Hill, where we first got a tour of the capital building. First you go through a check by the Capitol Police and then you're given a headset. Now, I thought, like you all must be thinking... capitol hill, headset? Couldn't they make it a little more interesting than those stupid prerecorded visits?... but instead the headset was linked to the microphone of the guide, so instead of having to move so that you could hear the person shouting in a big room, you could stay your distance, enjoy your surroundings AND hear the man talk. He takes you to the old senate room, where Senators are still sworn in- a beautiful area mostly in dark brown and bordeau red, it resembles a gentleman's club more than anything else. The old house has been emptied and become a hall of statues, where each state can donate 2. I'd tell you who was in the room, but I myself had no clue who they all were and those that I would have thought were important weren't there. I'd have expected Davy Crockett or something, but no... the unknowns were there. The guide did say that Rosa Parks would be put there on permanent display in a fortnight. Fun Fact: If you whisper on one side of the room you can hear it clearly on the other. Apparently this was most annoying. I can imagine. Say supposing you were sitting on one end and discussing with your neighbour your 'secret plan to fight inflation' and the republican or democrat on the other side heard it.... not so secret anymore.

After the tour we got another ticket to go to the balcony of the House of Representatives. It wasn't in session, we couldn't take any electronic devices, bags, books, notebooks, etc. with us and you had to sit down when you got inside. Evesdropping on a conversation happening behind me I listened as one of the security guards was commenting to another how if Obama won he'd pretty much get to do whatever he wants, because congress is predominantly democratic at the moment. 1/3 is up for reelection, however, most if not all these states are expecting the incumbant to get reelected, which would leave a majority of democrats. The checks and balances system wouldn't actually be active, something that hasn't happened since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Leaving the capitol building we went to the Library of Congress. Suffice to say they have TONS of books! The actual library is absolutely beautiful. If you've seen National Treasure 2, you'll know what I'm talking about. What you don't get to see in the movie, while Nicholas Cage is running around looking for the President's secret book, is that above all the books there are statues. There are 8 marble statues spread evenly around the base of the dome, each is symbolic and has a pendentive above it. The first is Art, with the pendentive which states: As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, So nobleness enkindleth nobleness. The second is commerce, the third history, followed by law, philosophy, Poetry,religion, and science. Each lady is surrounded on either side by a bronze statue of someone who was renouned in said field. Michelangelo & Beethoven, for example, surround Art. Commerce: Columbus & Fulton, history: Herodotus & Gibbon, Law:Solon & Kent, Philosophy: Plato & Bacon, Poetry: Shakespeare & Homer, Religion: Moses & St. Paul, and Science: Newton & Henry. Fun Fact: James Hadley Billington was sworn in as the Librarian of Congress on September 14, 1987. He is the 13th person to hold the position since the Library was established in 1800. And no, he wasn't a public Library Librarian before this... he was actually head professor of History at Princeton.

At this point it was pretty much 5 o'clock, and because everything was closed or closing, we decided to hop back on the bus and continue on the tour while it was still running. We passed all the highlights and tomorrow we'll finish them. Finishing at Starbucks we took the subway back to the hotel and now i'm admiring the phenomenal view I have from the bedroom.

I'm off to sit in the tub and read a book.