Hot Wash

Tuesday 10 August

The Rotunda, US Capitol

I got the Metro down to the Capitol and went into the impressive newly-built Visitors' Center for the tour that I had booked. It started with a film about the origins and work of Congress and then up to the Rotunda beneath the great dome. There are all sorts of paintings depicting scenes from US history and sculptures of the great and the good all around. On the ceiling there is an image of George Washington ascending Christ-like into heaven - slightly curious, I thought! On to the National Statuary Hall which is in the former House of Representatives chamber and which apparently used to contain all the statues until the floor began to show signs of stress! The chamber has interesting acoustics which mean that you can hear quite quiet voices from the other side of it if you stand in the right places. This was apparently used to listen in on opponents' conversations!

I then queued up to see into the House of Representatives - there was a debate going on which is unusual for August. One of the Republican members from California was laying into the Democrats' handling of the economy and a Democrat from Colorado was replying blaming everything on the previous (Republican) administration. Unfortunately the Senate was closed so I didn't get to see that.

Washington National Cathedral

I went out into the searing heat (forecast to reach 98F!) to get the bus to see the National Cathedral. This is about 3-4 miles outside the city centre and took me through an interesting area called Georgetown with lots of interesting colonial architecture. The cathedral is huge - started in 1907 and not finished until 1990. It is built in the Gothic style and they used medieval techniques in its construction. There was a free tour which was fascinating - pointing out not only objects from around the world (the pulpit came from Canterbury) but from even further afield - one of the stained glass windows has at its centre a rock from the Moon!

Presidential box, Ford's Theatre

I went back into downtown Washington and had a look at the White House Visitors' Center which had displays giving details of its history and construction and then walked a few blocks to Ford's Theatre. This is where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 and it has been restored very well. The Presidential box is still there - I wonder whether and other presidents have watched a play from there! They still do productions, although not in the summer. Across the road is the Petersen House where Lincoln was taken after he was shot and where he died the following morning - it is open to the public so I was able to stand in the very room where he died!

From there it was back to the hotel to collect my suitcase (there was a panicky five minutes when they couldn't find it!) and onto the train (packed with commuters) and then the bus to Dulles Airport for my flight home. All went like clockwork (as has all the travel on this trip) and the flight to Heathrow took off on time at 10.05pm.