I’ve always loved visiting Washington D.C. I love the Mall, the grandiose buildings perfectly placed, the great green spaces teeming with business people and tourists alike. I love that the scale of everything seems always skewed to the large and substantial, and that the city buzzes with potential. My goal this trip was to see the Capitol building and possibly the Library of Congress. I am embarrassed to admit that this goal was partially spawned from reading a bit of Brown and the descriptions of these buildings that sucked me right in. The Apotheosis of Washington was calling, and I was ready. I was not disappointed.
A leisurely crisp, sunny, beautiful morning, we walked from our hotel a few blocks from the White House, with coffee in hand, the 0.5 miles to the Capitol on the east end of the mall. Feeling good, we found the visitor center entrance with the help of a police officer and were screened and x-rayed and ready to start the tour. As part of the unwashed masses without reservations, we only had a quick wait. The visitor center itself is large -- 580,000 square feet of beautiful open space surprisingly well-lit for being underground. The tour started off with a movie; Out of Many – One. Sounds corny and I had my reservations, but it was outstanding and really made me think about how our country and our people have responded to history and who we are as a country. And appropriately, that was pretty much what the whole weekend ended up being about since the Stewart/Colbert rally was gearing up outside with sound checks awaiting more unwashed masses to arrive the next morning (but that will be another blog post).
The movie got us into it and really was inspiring – if you haven’t been to the Capitol Building, you should definitely go. Best part of the building: The Rotunda. Complete with the Apotheosis of Washington painted in true fresco style by Brumidi in 1865, the piece was finished after the Civil War and is 180 ft above our heads painted on the interior of the massive dome that makes the Capitol the Capitol. Super cool not only is the painting – it is a little weird – but the surrounding architecture. The entire Rotunda is a huge piece of art both in structure and adornment. Everywhere you look there is beauty. The walls are fantastic, the art on the walls are fantastic, even the floors are fantastic. 
I learned a great deal from that visit and the Library of Congress may have been even more artistically impressive. Everywhere we looked we saw elegance, skill, mastery, thoughtfulness, intelligence, and evidence of a great understanding that this all was incredibly well thought-out and important to share with the world. They were masters, the builders and artists that worked in D.C., and I am so thankful for being able to experience their work in some small way. 
I will be back. I hope you go, too. It was a great weekend. Stay tuned for Rally fun and food fun!
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