Thanks to a wonderful friend in the office of Congressman J. Randy Forbes, I was treated to a tour of the White House yesterday. While it’s fairly obvious that you are being guided through as a rancher herds cattle through chutes, it is still fascinating to think about who has stood in “these halls of power.” A few interesting facts and observations:
- The White House uses energy efficient bulbs
- The wallpaper colors in the Green and Red Rooms are brilliant
- The Green Room contains a silver coffee urn owned by John and Abigail Adams and French candlesticks owned by James and Dolley Madison. It’s somewhat mind-boggling to see items and think that they were once used by some of our first presidents. (Europeans would probably scoff at my enthusiasm for two-hundred and fifty year old items, but, hey, we’re a young country.)
- President Cleveland is the only President to get married in the White House and did so in the Blue Room (which is mostly not blue).
- The piano in the entrance hall has carved eagles for its legs.
- The portrait of George Washington that Dolley Madison saved from the fire is significantly too big for her to have been the one that hauled it out, as the popular myth depicts. Luckily, the White House sets us straight on its website.
Having toured the White House, we decided that we shouldn’t give undue attention to the Executive Branch and decided to head over to the Capitol, where we got to walk straight by everyone on the “official” tours.
The Capitol is absolutely beautiful on the inside, especially the Senate side of the building, which is quite decorated in places. A few interesting things:
- If you go, check out the whisper effects in the old House meeting room, they’re very nifty.
- The frieze in the main rotunda is actually painted, not carved. It’s a beautiful piece of art.
- The main columns have corn at the top to depict both the ancient and the modern (agricultural?) aspects of the United States. I was very proud of myself for correctly identifying the crop at the top of another set of columns in the Senate rotunda: tobacco.
Finally, after completing the Capitol we decided to try and hit all three branches of the U.S. government in one day. Unfortunately the Judicial Branch is lazy and the Supreme Court building isn’t open on the weekends.
All in all, however, it was a fun time getting to see our nation’s seats of governance. I would heartily recommend anyone getting taking the tours. Just try to find yourself a friend on the Hill as good as mine.
Tags: Capitol, tour, United States, White House
