Touring the Capitol

I requested tickets to tour the U.S. Capitol and the White House via my parents' congressman in California several months ago. We found out just a week or two ago that we'd been denied a White House tour because too many other people are also trying to get tickets, but our request for Capitol tickets was approved and we toured it Friday (8/27) afternoon.


We rode the Metro into the city. Little Guy sat with Grandpa for part of the ride.


I'd never seen the Library of Congress before because it's hidden behind the Capitol.


Pictures of the outside of the Capitol (before and after our tour).


Inside the Capitol we viewed the museum part (and I started wondering when my kids are supposed to learn about the branches of the government, etc. as I quickly tried to explain stuff to them). Our tour was the last tour of the day, so we donned our headphones and followed some guy around. I've toured a lot of the state capitols, this wasn't much different, but way more crowded. After the tour, we had about 3 minutes in the gift shop before it closed for the day. Why don't they keep the gift shop open a bit longer after the last tour of the day ends so we actually have time to browse and possibly buy something? My dad bought me a spoon for my spoon collection I inherited from his mom (and one for his own part of the collection) and a U.S. Capitol pencil for B's pencil collection.


After our tour ended (about 4:30), we walked down the Mall figuring we'd find somewhere to eat rather than cramming ourselves onto a rush hour Metro train. As far as I can tell, there aren't a lot of restaurants on the Mall (other than the cafes in the museums, which close at 5 when the museums do, or the hot dog carts). I figured our best bet was L'Enfant Plaza which I believe is a Mall on top of a Metro stop. We didn't quite make it there, but made it to another mall-ish place with a French restaurant that we ate at. Then we walked to the Washington Monument. The original goal was the Lincoln Memorial but everyone wimped out. So then we thought maybe the World War II Memorial, which is new since last time my parents were in DC. But everyone wimped out on that one too. So we walked around the Washington Monument, and headed back up the Mall to the Smithsonian stop and boarded a train for home. The plan is to head into the city at least one more time, the day after Labor Day, when school here will be back in session and it shouldn't be too crowded (I especially want to try to go to the top of the Washington Monument).