Now I am blogging for reals...

Hey folks, The Mrs. is back... and now that The Man is back, I can finish blogging about our recent adventures that did not involve parades and/or drinking.

So, our friend Casey being a member of the press, he got to work out of the Capitol building while he was here with the DC correspondent for the Alaska Public Radio Network. While this may sound glamorous, the radio folk at the Capitol are sequestered in a series of closet-sized booths in which they work their magic. Even the NPR folks only have about 10 square feet of space in which to work. At any rate, Casey's contact hooked us up with a tour of the building.

The view from the front of the Capital. Nice. We were also standing not too far from Uncle Teddy Stevens former corner office from when he was head of the Appropriations Committee.

I was very good and did not seek out the honorable senator's new office (which I hope is in a dark windowless shaft) and leave a rotting salmon. However, I did pass by some chick's office on the tour...

The rotunda from inside.

Around the perimeter of the rotunda, it looks as though there is a bas-relief frieze...

...but it is actually a magnificent example of trompe l'oeil

The artwork in the Capitol is stunning- the frescoes themselves are remarkable.

Speaking of artwork, in the Capitol, every state is allowed two statues that represent icons of said state. They are displayed throughout, but are concentrated here in what is known as the Statuary Room, which also used to be the chamber of the House of Representatives.

One very wise man had his desk right here in the room.

Our tour guide demonstrated why he chose this spot... if you stand at the former site of Adams' desk, and another person stands 20 feet away, the acoustics of the room are as such that you can hear that individual speaking clearly even if there is a great deal of background noise and that person is speaking in a normal tone of voice. Very cool.

Another thing we got to do was go into the press gallery overlooking the Senate chamber. No pics of that, as cameras are not allowed. But, we did get to see Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) talk to a few pages and other staff about the foreclosure crisis. It was Friday, not too may folks around. However, the day before, Casey got to see Ted Kennedy and John Kerry- I'm a bit jealous, but still have hopes of running into one of them someday over scotch in a Georgetown bar ;-)

We also got to go into one of the press conference rooms, and God help us all if this picture becomes a reality (although, I really don't think I would be much worse than some of the folks in there now).

And yes, all of the books behind me are fake, kinda like the reporting that this network does... more to come soon on our trip to the National Gallery of Art!