We felt right at home in her office, she even came in and talked to us for awhile. We learned from two representatives (Georgia and Texas) that she’s well repected on both sides of the isle. She even had a bit of PDX in her office. Tomte approved.
Andrew gave us a pretty much private tour...there was this guy in a suit that came along but seemed to be doing the tour as a requirement, cause he spent most of his time on his phome. Everything is connected through underground tunnels. We felt like we were in the Paris metro tunnels!
And now...after going thru security way more intense than TSA ....here we go!
The Capitol is very beautiful. Here’s looking up in the rotunda, where many state events happen.
We’re surrounded by statues, huge paintings, and it’s all quite impressive. Even more impressive is what goes on in this room...in 2020 the current president will (hopefully) meet in the middle with the prsident elect, then will walk out one direction to a waiting helicopter while the president elect will contine on to his/her swearing in. Recently, Senator McCain laid in state here. Someone else did too, but I forgot who it was.
This is a scale model of the Statue of Freedom, which is on top of the Capitol Building, facing East. The real one is 19 1/2 feet talk and 15,000 lbs!
You may have wondered about the title of this post...?
WELL...we got passes to attend both the Senate and House galleries, as both were in session. The Senate didn’t have a line, so we went there. So, we’re sitting high above the floor, with NO camera because the bad security people made us leave everything behind...and senators are just walking in and out, casting votes for something. All of the sudden Bernie wals in, same old wild professor look as always, talks with some other senators, walks out a different door, then walks back in, walks to some more colleagues, waves to us up in the gallery, and walks out again. Somewhere in there he must have voted. We were thrilled! We also saw Wyden, Gildenrand, Romney, Cruz, and many more that we didn’t recognize. I guess these actually are real people, not just characters on TV! We noted that the dems were voting nay (Wyden was demonstrative with his vote), and the repubs were voting yey. No idea what they were voting for, though. It was very cool to see, and very cool that we at least try to have transparency in our government!
As we left and went around the West side to await our Big Bus, the sky darkened. It totally felt like the epitome of what our democracy is going through right now! The only thing Andrew said about the current divide is that he’s busier now that the house has a. democrat majority, and that there’s quite a divide between the house and senate. The two sides of the building don’t mix.
And finally, we made our way over the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery.
We walked, and walked, and walked. We saw the changing of the guard, which was very cool. And.... missed our return bus by 1 minute😝. Oh well, I’m a Lyft pro now.
Phew, what a day! Now we’re doing some laundry and having a New Seasons dinner. Likely we’ll all sttle down to an evening of binging Madame Secretary tonight!
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