We arrived at Union Station with plenty of time before our tour so Will, Mary, Maggie, and I stayed and chatted for a bit with my cousin Ann who volunteered to watch the three little ones at her house before walking over to Senator Collins' office. After cooling our heels in the Dirkson Building for 20 minutes or so our tour guide escorted us on the little train that runs under Constitution Avenue into the basement of the Capitol. We wandered around the Rotunda looking at the statues and paintings, such as this rendering of the signing of the Constitution,
and the painting The Apotheosis of Washington, which was painted by Constantino Brumidi while suspended nearly 180 feet (55 m) in the air. It is said to be the first attempt by the United States to deify a founding father. Washington is depicted surrounded by 13 maidens representing the original colonies.
We wandered through Statuary Hall, featuring several American Catholics studied in Seton's first grade history such as Blessed Junipero Serra, who started 9 missions in California:
and the Crypt. We all rubbed our foot on the marble star that is the exact center of Washington, DC before peeking into the Old Supreme Court room
for a few minutes before our guide said that our tour was complete. "Won't we would be able to see the Senate and House chambers?" I asked. "Those need separate tickets, we can go back to the office and get them," she replied. Of course by then it was already lunchtime, Julia Ellen was likely getting very hungry, and my childless cousin was probably overwhelmed with the care of the boys. I wished that the staff member who I talked to on the phone had mentioned this to me last week, but I had to decline the too late offer. Lunch resembled a quiz show with my cousin's husband grilling the children on their tour, schooling, and extra-curricular activities. His obvious disdain for our large family/homeschooling lifestyle, our politics, and our eating habits made it an uncomfortable experience so as soon as possible we took our leave. We finally arrived on our doorstep at 3pm, quite wiped out. It wasn't our best field trip to date, but at least I can check one more DC tourist spot off our master list.
4 comments:
Katherine, you misspelled "disdain". He must have ruffled your feathers. LOL! Your cousin doesn't read your blog? That, or she already knows her husband disdains your lifestyle.
Bravo to you for taking your kids to see these things. We lived in the D.C. area for about 2 years and did not go see anything. I was sorry to miss- but we moved there in August and the terrorist attack was that September 11th. We could hardly get MD drivers licenses, much less get a tour anywhere in the capitol. So I am a little jealous!
Alicia
Yes, I was quite flustered (I did go back and correct the spelling, thanks!). I was always taught that it is rude to discuss politics and religion, especially around family, example being a better way of persuasion than argument.
Anyway, we are forging onward in our quest to see DC and will see the National Gallery of Art again next week.
Looks like you had the same experience we did in DC. You have much better pics. We got the tour when the current prez was our Senator (sorta...he was mostly campaigning). His office was very gracious since we were running late.
When we were in the underground train thing heading back to get our coats in the office, our guide left us (for some reason) and we were traveling alone. I had no clue that the pleasant lady sitting across from us on the train was the newly elected MN Senator Klobuchar, until she introduced herself. She asked where we were from, and told us that "Barack had campaigned for her". (He was uhh..busy when he was Senator.) I told her we homeschooled, and she was pretty cool about that. I liked her, just doubt that I'd vote for her.
I agree, great photos! Too bad your cousin was so rude. I don't get why people have to be unkind to others.
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