Photo Gallery

Capitol Hill Washington DC

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Off on a bike ride with friends to visit Capitol Hill

The Alexandra Calder sculpture in the lobby of one of the Senate Buildings

Me and Barbie waiting outside the State of Colorado Senators (their home senator) office where we managed to get an appointment for a private tour around the building

We had some time to kill before our appointment so took a detour downtown and the Ford's Theatre where John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865

Here is the presidential box that he was killed in

and here is the gun that shot him

Back to Capitol Hill and the Senate, here is the Directory of Senators

Wandering through the basement corridors of the Senate, its funny a bit like an small underground town. They have all sorts down there, shops, furniture makers, dentists! Also you see a few of the senators offices in the janitors cupboards, they are generally stuck down here whilst they are waiting for their new offices to become available.

Waiting to board the underground tram to take us over to another of the Senate buildings

The old fashion trams that they used to use

We're not allowed here!

The new trams

A ridiculously expensive chandelier I think it was worth 2 million dollars, it gets taken down once a year and the crystals are taken off and hand cleaned individually. I couldn't help laughing when our guide was talking about this as it just reminded me of the episode of 'Only Falls and Horses' where they undo the wrong chandelier and it goes crashing to the floor!

Brumidi fresco on the ceiling of the rotunda, you can't really see it here but when they were cleaning it once they accidentally rubbed a load of the paint off, to cover up their mistake they painted in a large rainbow!! What a mistake to make!

Brumidi frieze at the base of the dome, you can see his signature of a face painted at the base of the tree.

The Statue Room, which there are lots of arguments over as to who's statue is placed where, apparently they are so heavy that they can not be place in the centre of the room as the floor won't take the weight so have to be space around the room via weight. Well that's what they say anyway I bet there is still a lot if politics that goes into it.

The poor Hawaiians weren't very happy with the positioning of their statue it was hidden behind a post at the back of the room

This is used to be the supreme court but hasn't been used as such since around 1880

We're not allowed in this elevator either!

One of the conference rooms

The Senate from outside

Next off to the Botanical Gardens at the foot of the Capitol

Lots of different flowers, have no idea what most of them were called!!

We knew these were Orchids!

We think this is a thistle of some sort!

We know this is an Old Man Cactus (as we can read the sign!)

Theses were fly eating Pitcher Plants

This is a stuart!

On the way back to the boat we caught these cheeky ducks taking a nap on a motor boat

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