From Pennsylvania Avenue, over Constitution Avenue, passing Benjamin Franklin in front of the Old Post Office, we cut between the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural History, turned left onto the National Mall, and walked straight ahead towards the U.S. Capitol Building.
We swung left around the Capitol and, like at many other places, we were astonished to be offered these crowd-free views. We’ll come back to the Capitol later, but right now, we have a date elsewhere.
Here, we are approaching the steps of the Supreme Court in awe. I don’t know how anyone could stand in the presence of these institutions and not be bowled over by not just the magnificence of their buildings but also the role they’ve played in shaping the United States. Once inside, we were first in line for the 9:30 orientation presentation by a clerk of the Supreme Court – we were stoked.
I would like to think that being here might have extra significance for Caroline, knowing that her father, Hanns Engelhardt, a judge retired from the Federal Court of Justice in Germany, would probably enjoy visiting this extraordinary building with her and so in some way, she’s acting as his surrogate.
For 220 years, two months, two weeks, and a day, this institution has operated as the arbiter and interpreter of the law, and since 1935, it has sat here in this purpose-built, immaculate courtroom.
A mea culpa: technically, there is no photography allowed inside the chamber of the Supreme Court, but it’s not in session, and I’m at the threshold, so I believe this was kind of okay. The fact is that I just had to have this photo to remind myself as I reach old age that I actually stood at these places and saw them with my own eyes.
This is not easy to photograph as we are not afforded all the time we might wish to have, nor are we allowed to explore all the other treasures that likely exist just behind the walls and doors we cannot visit. In addition, our day is full of other wonderful locations that must be taken in.
Barely a five-minute walk away, we’re arriving at our next destination.
Who plans this stuff? Seriously, the Supreme Court tour at 9:30, and then at 10:30 we are scheduled to tour the Library of Congress. We are nothing if not ambitious.
With my mother-in-law in tow, this trip is about bang for the buck, and it was long ago decided that it is better to spend a little time seeing a lot than to use our time immersed in granularity.
Update: I wrote the above 13 years ago, and as I’ve grown older, I’m now in love with granularity. I’ve been updating this series of posts from 2009, and as I pointed out elsewhere, I’m adding photos that bandwidth restrictions wouldn’t allow after we returned from this trip back east. In returning to those old musings, I’m being drawn into wanting to spend time exploring these places we rushed through in more granularity. I’m penciling in a 2023 return.
The tour was fantastic, giving us enough history about the building, its uses, and the opportunity to see the major highlights, including an original Gutenberg Bible.
I’ve not seen the interior of every building in America, but if someone told me that this is the most beautiful, I’d likely believe them.
After nearly two hours in the Library of Congress, it was time to take the underground tunnel over to the U.S. Capitol building.
Upon reaching a security desk and showing a letter from my Congressman regarding our scheduled tour of the Capitol, I explained that we were looking for the Senate dining room. Thanks to my exuberance and mentioning how my great uncle Ken Burke was with the Secret Service as Chief Inspector at the White House starting with the Roosevelt administration through Johnson’s time in the Oval Office, the three of us were given badges to seek out the security desk on the Senate side of the Capitol – we were allowed to travel unescorted.
We could not believe our luck when the lady offered us badges to use the Senate elevator to the Capitol Subway to catch a ride to the Rayburn Building – again, unescorted.
At the Senate reception desk, we learned that we could eat on the Congressional side as it was my Congress John Shadegg who’d arranged our tour. We were ecstatic by now. Our tour of the Capitol was led by Sara, an aide to our Congressman.
We may as well have been delivered to the moon as we stood there in the Crypt at the geographic center of Washington DC
Prior to the building of the Supreme Court we had visited earlier, this room was the Chamber of the Supreme Court.
The dome of the Capitol is not misshapen, but photographing it with a lens not suited for this purpose and then trying to stitch together all the images I shot produced this slight distortion.
Close-up of the painting at the top of the Capitol Dome.
How is this even possible that average people should be able to visit such an important place of government? It can only happen in a system that is “mostly” open to broad participation by leadership that works by at least some level of transparency. This place in the rotunda might as well be hallowed ground where people such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Rosa Parks have lain in state; what an honor.
I can only hope that I will hold onto this grand respect until the end of my days.
Old Senate Chamber, where the business of the senate was conducted before the wing dedicated to their business was built.
The ceiling of the National Statuary Hall.
Finally, our guide, Sara, brought us into the House gallery, where we caught the tail end of a vote and were able to see Nancy Pelosi and a number of other representatives we recognized. Sara, you made our day and have helped leave us with indelible memories. Also, a special thanks to Congressman John Shadegg’s office for helping with our plans.
The day still had a lot more in store for us. Our reservation to enter the National Archives was still more than an hour away at 4:45 when we finished with the Capitol, so we visited the National Botanical Garden for the briefest visit ever.
Apologies should be offered to my mother-in-law as this is certainly a grueling itinerary that is pushing her hard, but what a sport she is; I can only hope that the intensity of the experience is carrying her through.
From the Botanical Garden, we walked across the Mall to a side entrance of the Archives.
Within minutes, we were standing in front of the original Declaration of Independence!
Followed by the Constitution, in addition to the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta.
After many a mile walked on now very tired feet we still had the energy to make our way to China Town for dinner. Since it was still relatively early afterward, we were not about to waste perfectly good daylight and decided we’d take a leisurely walk down towards the Washington Monument and then pass the White House for a sunset view. By now, our feet were in serious pain. We’d been walking the better part of 14 hours, covering countless miles, and were ready to call it quits for the day.