The Capitol and Library of Congress

After the White House, a friend and I went to the US Capitol Building


Photo from Capitol tour website

My memories of this building include watching some propaganda set to nice music and looking up at tall things, like pillars, statues, and the painting on the top of the Rotunda. There was a room with lots of statues of important people like an imposing collection of chess pieces.

I also remember my friend (who knows these things) pointing out some locations we walked past and having a vague awareness that this is where very important people do things that have important consequences for millions of other people.

The health care reform bill was in its final days of discussion.

( I saw none of it... a friend emailed me excitedly on the day that it passed to ask what was going on in DC. I'd enjoyed having lunch with a friend that day. I recall hearing some sirens, but nothing unusual. That evening I returned to hang out in the dorm. That is where I was when the health care bill passed.)

Most of my memories of the Capitol building feel overwhelmed by the presence of lots of other people doing the same thing I was.

After the Capitol tour, we walked by the Library of Congress, and I realized that it actually is a place where people can actually do research. I'd seen it on TV before, but it mostly seemed like a fantastic book-hoarding repository than a place of active research. Also, the Library of Congress has a Gutenberg Bible that I stared at for a while.


I'm actually writing this about a week after the date listed when I started the draft. By this point, one of my more distinct memories is of eating an awesome experimental-ingredients salad wrap at Chop't. Beets, snap peas, tomatoes (i think), greens, tzatziki/blue cheese dressing ...