Inspiring Emptiness and a Chance Encounter

Our second day in DC starts with a tour of the Capitol building. When I made the tour reservation before we departed Colorado I was hungry-for-bear to strangle a few Senators and Representatives that were entangled in political fights over raising our debt ceiling combined with deficit reduction. In fact we had avidly listened to the on-going developments in those debates throughout our road-trip and grown increasingly frustrated over the brinksmanship that was underway. One day before our arrival in DC an agreement had finally been reached, voted through both houses and signed into law by President Obama. That meant Congress had fled and gone home leaving the Capitol empty except for some of the support staff and tourists. Alas, there was just no one there to strangle so I adjusted my attitude and prepared to learn and observe.

After everyone in our tour group watches an introductory video we are separated into smaller groups. Some are directed to stand in a line where they receive headphones for self-guided tours. Somehow we end up in a group of about six people with a personal tour guide who turns out to be an aide to Senator Franken of Minnesota (an ironic twist that our good friend Vic would appreciate as a native of that state). This proved quite advantageous as we gained insight into a few side-stories related by our aide that I doubt the self-guided tourists learned of. Furthermore, in order to actually view the House gallery a special pass was required which again, our helpful aide provided. We sat in those seats and tried to imagine what it would be like to observe a live performance - but oh, I forget we have C-Span for that! Nonetheless, we are suitably impressed overall.

John outside Capitol

On to the Supreme Court

Have a look at this gallery for more of our last day in DC!

From there we decide to head to the Supreme Court. John, who started out studying criminal justice in college, is still  intrigued by the legal system. The court is also is out of session and empty. This provides us fairly unlimited opportunity to wander around at our leisure. There are various portraits and busts of past judges and the court room itself has one door open so that again we can view and imagine what goes on there. Eventually we have seen enough and try to make our way to an exit but somehow keep making wrong turns. We are contemplating this outside an office labelled Public Information Office when a nice woman steps from behind her desk there and asks if she can help. Her name is Ella.

It turns out that Ella has been with that office for nearly 25 years and proceeds to describe fascinating details of how things used to get done with regard to publication of court decisions and how it has changed with the advent of the internet. We are enthralled! She offers us a small historical booklet about the Supreme Court and asks John if there are any decisions of recent import that he would like more information about. He eagerly accepts two of them and I snap this photo of this unforgettable chance encounter!

John and Ella

At last we must get on our way back to Silver Spring where we have plans to meet our friend, John for dinner. He is now commuting to Baltimore from Cape Cod on a new phase of his own career and we are happy we can meet up there even though we know we will see him again once we are back in Massachusetts.