Capital Hill - Day 2

Day 2 - DC A-Day

(confirm sched with pic timeline and itinerary)

Our four-day forced-march adventure begins today. For the next four days we will be up at dawn and on the move until dusk. We will eat mostly buffets and food court meals. We will have little time to actually enjoy things because we (the adults) are supposed to be chaperoning, not sightseeing. Do not worry, Dear Reader. We managed to take in quite a bit...

Our first stop in Washington was near the Pentagon Mall to collect our tour guide. This lovely woman called Dale, who reminded me greatly of my beloved former boss, got on and took charge. She had three days of adventure planned out for us and she wasn't going to waste time. Unfortunately, the kids did, and our schedule got pretty messed up. But more on that later.

Our first stop was the Capitol Building and a walk around it. I'm not going to include much of Dale's commentary here because honestly, I couldn't remember it all if I tried. The woman was a walking factbook on D.C. During her time with us, she'd be feeding us an awful lot of history and trivia about the places we were going. I kept wandering around behind the throng of children to get close enough to hear her. This of course, meant I wound up in a *lot* of the "official" trip pics ^^ It seemed I was one of the few adults who really wanted to listen in. I do know that a number of our group has previously visited D.C., so, maybe they knew this stuff.

There was a classic VW coupe (Karmann-Ghia?) on the grounds and one of the tour medics went to take pics. A guard came up swiftly but after some chat about VW fandom, he relaxed. Before we made our way towards the Supreme Court, we were passed by a rather large Amish group. I mean no disrespect here, but just how did they get here? I am under the impression that there are differing levels of "observance" in the Amish faith, much as there are in others. Was this group OK with motorized transport? To Ape and Younger I mused: If I was going to board a motorized conveyance for the first (and possibly last) time. I'd be in a Hummer limo.

We didn't actually go into the SC. In fact, there was no getting near it. Also, some journalists were camped out on the lower steps. When asked, one gent said they were waiting for Sonia Sotomayor news. Oh! Well, it didn't happen whilst we were walking by. DJ climbed the stairs and *immediately* one of the three visible armed guards walked down from his post at the top. DJ got the pic he wanted and scooted, the guard walking through his just-vacated position moments later. The guard continued past, to the journo area. But it sure seemed to me he was making a subtle point.

Late in the morning, all 11 buses in our armada assembled for a group shot. We hope to get a copy soon. While assembling, a man was "escorted" out of the shot by two of the photographer's assistants and I heard him protesting that he wanted some notice in writing while apparently complaining about not being allowed to be there. I never did ask if it was a real incident or if he was friends with the crew.

We got to take a quick tour of the Library of Congress. Remember me saying how my two years with the local library system was my fave job (well, before my present one)? Imagine going to the "mother library"... It really was incredible. I had no idea the place was so ornately decorated! The roof mosaics, the frescoes, the statuary, all of it breathtaking!