We took a tour of the White House today. Jack was hoping that we would see President Obama walking through the halls, but we told him that was very unlikely. On the first floor there are pictures of past presidents and their families as well as current pictures of President Obama along the walls of a long corridor. Then you come to three rooms that are blocked off by rope that you can only peek into: The Library, the Vermeil Room and the China Room. Before heading upstairs you can get a glimpse of the corridor that leads to the Oval Office. Of course it is blocked off by screens with a Secret Service Agent on guard. The first room you enter when you go upstairs is the East Room , which is the largest room in the White House. It is used for receptions, ceremonies, press conferences and other events. The Green Room is next, which was once Thomas Jefferson's dining room and is now used for receptions. The Blue Room is used by the President to receive guests. The White House Christmas tree is place in this room. The Red Room is used by the First Ladies when they entertain guests. The State Dining Room is the last room on the tour. It is amazing that the room can hold up to 140 people for dinner because the room is not that large. Before you leave the White House through the front door, you walk through the Entrance and Cross Halls which is very impressive. Matthew didn't want the tour to be over and Jack wanted to move into the White House. He thinks Brad needs to become President so we can live there. He asked a bunch of questions about the Secret Service and thought it would be cool to have them follow him everywhere he went. In actuality, he would think it was cool for about a week and then would want his privacy back. After the tour we went to the Visitor's Center so that the boys could get their Junior Ranger badges for touring the White House.
We had to go back to the hotel after the tour to get our camera and my purse because they don't let you take those things into the White House. It started to pour while we were at the hotel, so we got a taxi to take up to Capitol Hill. By the time we got there the rain had stopped. We ate lunch at Cosi then headed to the Capitol building for our tour. They have built a whole Visitor's Center since we were here last time, which is a vast improvement over the tent we had to go through before. To accommodate larger groups they now give you headphones so that you can hear your tour guide better. We weren't able to see where the House and Senate meet because those areas aren't open on the weekends. I know Brad was disappointed about that.
The boys have been dying to see the International Spy Museum, so after our tour we started to walk in that direction, but ended up getting caught in the rain. We sought shelter until the downpour stopped, because as you know Matthew "melts" in the rain. I don't know what Jack and Matthew were expecting, but I think Brad and I enjoyed the Spy Museum more than they did. Matthew lost interest before Jack did, but by the end, the were both "over it" and wanted to go to the Museum store. Of course they had to buy Spy Gear. Afterwards we ate dinner across the street from the museum, got frozen yogurt for desert and walked by the Verizon Center (not that impressive) where the Wizzards play. When we got back to the hotel the boys wanted to go swimming. Big surprise. We let them swim for an hour and then it was off to bed to rest up for another big day in D.C.
