Adventures in Washington, D.C. – Day 2

I woke up and got ready for today’s adventures. We took a cab to the Capitol building and had breakfast there. It was super cheap. I got a ton of food—crispy and delicious potatoes, sausage, eggs, a croissant, and hash browns.

After breakfast, we got in line for a tour of the building. First, we saw a short film explaining how the government was founded and how Washington, D.C., was built. Next, we went to the crypt and saw statues – one for each founding state. There was a compass rose in the center of the floor, which is the center of the building and the entire city.

We walked upstairs to the Rotunda and saw paintings of important events in American history. The last one was the Wright Brothers’ first flight. At the top of the dome is a painting called The Apotheosis of Washington, which is supposed to symbolize his becoming like a god. The artist who painted the fresco was from Italy and was specially trained. He was the best artist of his kind, and the fresco took him about 11 months to complete.

We then went to the original House of Representatives chambers. There were more statues donated by each state and a plaque commemorating where John Quincy Adams’ desk had once sat. It’s also where he had the stroke that led to his death.

When we finished the tour, we explored outside and saw sumo wrestlers doing a photo shoot. (We found a video of them on the Internet, and you can see us in it walking by!) Across the street, people were protesting peacefully at the Supreme Court. We stayed and watched for a bit and then went for lunch.

My siblings decided we needed to have Indian food, so we went to a fancy restaurant called Rasika. Kate and I split chicken tikka masala, jasmine rice, a mango lassi, and naan. I made it into a little pizza by piling my rice and chicken on top of the naan. Addie and Mama had fancy food.

After lunch, we walked to the Natural History Museum, but before we went in, we stopped for ice cream! And we walked through the sculpture garden and sat by a huge fountain. There was a duck ramp, and we saw two ducks swimming in the water. They came really close to us – I could almost touch them.

Inside the museum, we saw some very cool exhibits. We spent a long time looking at all the gems and rocks, including some uranium. My mom’s high school friend and her family met us, too! They had just moved to Washington, D.C. It was so fun to see them. We looked at the fossils and explored the museum together more.

When we were done, we walked back to the hotel to see Mommy and her students. On the way, we saw the Ford Theatre, where President Lincoln was assassinated. Mom’s students were tired, so we all ordered GrubHub. I got rice and chicken, and my family and I watched National Treasure in our hotel room before we went to bed since we were in D.C.!