Mr. Laing Goes to Washington

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Touring the Capitol

Here are some of the sights we saw, walking through the Capitol building:



 
 

Statues sent to the Capitol by each state, lining the halls and circling the Hall of Statues.  Montana's offerings: Jeannette Rankin (first woman senator) and Charlie Russell (a pacifist and an artist!).



 
 

From Hawaii: Father Damien and King Kamehameha (decorated with leis for a special commemoration a couple weeks earlier); and from Washignton State, Marcus Whitman (white figure behind him unidentified -- forgot to check).  The other Washington figure is Mother Joseph -- we didn't find out where she was, so no picture -- still, it's nice to be from two states who each honored a woman -- there are only 6 women represented this way.



 
 


Ceiling murals -- Lewis & Clark

The Rotunda

 
Women in the Capitol, classical and modern: Women's Sufferage (l) and Strength and Wisdom (r.)

And after seeing the murals and statues and monumental art work, we visited the Senate Chamber and watched the last day's debate on the Patients' Bill of Rights.  Teddy Kennedy and Tom Daschle and John McCain and Patty Murray and Hillary Clinton and Phil Gramm and Jesse Helms and others were there, wandering about, chatting and consulting, undertaking in what seemed a casual and relaxed manner the business of the country.  (No pictures allowed.)

Afterwards, we continued to tour the building, descending to the lower level to seek out somewhere to get a bite to eat.  It was in those basement corridors that we ran into (literally) Jesse Helms, who was hurrying in his little go-cart to get back to the Senate chamber for a vote and ran smack into Mother in her wheelchair!  (Too bad we couldn't hold him up even longer, but the vote went the right way anyway.)  A little ways further on, and we watched as other senators -- Diane Feinstein, Hillary, Phill Gramm, et al., left the underground trains that run between the capitol office buildings as they returned to the chamber.  It was rather amazing, realizing how up-close and personal we could get to our nation's lawmakers.



 
 

Here we are in the upper hallways.

Pages and senators (Phil Gramm, obscured)



 
 


Capitol guards

Marble floors

And on our way out we shopped.  And waited.  And then headed across the street to the Supreme Court.

  


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