Capitol Tour!

Today we had class at eight and two briefings. The first was by Jack Gerard, a former Senate worker/current lobbyist firm CEO who also happens to be the stake president of McLean stake. His presentation was really interesting and Jason asked a great question at the end (while many of our colleagues were asking lame questions in an attempt to prove how smart they are). Our next briefer was Dee Allsop, who runs a market research agency.

After class, we headed to Capitol Hill. We stopped at Good Eats for lunch and both enjoyed an Obama Burger, shown above.

Scrumptious.

We walked to my office, then rode the underground subway to the Capitol, where we watched the introductory film and walked around the brand new visitor's center before beginning our tour. I wasn't able to get a great picture of the visitor's center, but it's very nice and kind of reminds me of the Conference Center. One of Utah's statuary hall statues, Philo T. Farnsworth, is housed there, right by the movie theatre.

Jason took this really neat picture of the Capitol dome through a skylight.

Notice the flag near the bottom! He's quite the photographer.

He also took this picture of me with the statue "Freedom," which sits atop the capitol dome. I think the information panel in front said that this is the mold used to make the bronze version. Anyway, it's the same size as the real one. You can't really see in this picture, but the woman has an eagle on her head. Interesting fashion statement...
This is the inside of the dome. It was nice to go on a tour together because we could take as much time as we wanted in the different rooms; we weren't beholden to an over-enthused red-clad official tour guide. I like getting to the rotunda via a staircase on east (I think east. I have a hard time with directions in this mountainless land) that takes you straight up and in--it's pretty dramatic. We spent a while just enjoying the rotunda. Maybe Hannah can help me with this, but it seems like it would be really hard to paint normal looking people on a domed ceiling and high walls, especially fresco-style.

Below is Jason with the office where he would work if he worked in the Capitol.

This is Constantino Brumidi, the fellow who painted the dome of the rotunda, much of the frieze around the dome, and a ton of corridors (fittingly known as the Brumidi Corridors. Catchy, huh?)

He looks like a nice guy. I guess he died after sustaining a fall while painting the frieze.

Here is Jason with another notable Utahn: Brother Brigham! Brigham Young is Utah's other chosen statue and is located in Statuary Hall. The likeness is one of only four sitting statues, all of which are positioned around the two fireplaces in Statuary Hall. Supposedly Brigham looks happy on one side of his face and grim on the other side, but I think it is a rumor; his face looks equally unhappy to me. The statue was carved by his grandson, Mahonri Young.

What a pair of good-looking guys. I particularly like the one on the left.

This is me in the Brumidi Corridors. The lighting there is pretty dim, but you can kind of see the really elaborate painting on the walls and ceiling.

My favorite thing about the corridors is that Brumidi left some empty space so that additional important events could be added as needed. I just like that notion that America's history doesn't end with Robert Fulton and his steamboat or the Cessation of Louisiana; great things are still happening! The most recent additions to the Brumidi Corridors are paintings of the Challenger crew and the moon landing.

This is me with my sister suffragettes: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucrecia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony. Behind them (you can't really see it in the picture) is an additional lump of uncarved stone. Rumor-mongering tour guides say it is intended for the first woman president, but credible sources say it merely represents that the women's movement is still incomplete.

Jason with the capitol. I think he looks like quite the local. We are having so much fun here together!

A friendly woman took this photo for us. That makes three featuring the two of us together. I think this one is quite nice. The weather was beautiful today: fifty degrees and overcast. The sky cleared up a little bit as we walked toward the Metro, which made the capitol look stunning!

Tomorrow we plan to hit some museums (we haven't visited any yet!) and go grocery shopping.