More Photos of Washington D.C.

Our tour guide told us the story of this painting that completely circles the rotunda. Apparently a man whose name I've since forgotten, started painting this mural of the progression of our country. It started out with the pilgrams and then continued with all of the major historical events of our country. While painting this, the man fell off of his ladder and injured himself. After he had healed, he was too afraid to get back on the ladder to finish the painting so he had his assistant finish it. The assistant realized that the original painter would be receiving all of the credit for this beautiful story of our country even though he wouldn't be the only one who had painted it. When the assistant started painting, where the original painter left off, he painted a picture of his very own face in the trunk of a tree. That was his way of leaving his personal signature on the painting even though it was really signed by the original artist himself. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, take a look at the tree that is in the middle of the photo. At the base of the tree there is a cluster of leaves--at the very top of the leaves is the assistant's face. We would've never learned about this fact if we wouldn't have had a tour guide leading us through the Capitol.

This was one of the hallways in the Capitol. The paintings were very exquisite and very beautiful to look at.

This is the base of the rotunda. It held statues of important people from each state.

This is our whole family standing in the exact middle of Washington D.C. inside the Capitol building.

This was one of the older cable cars that took the Senators and their staff members to and from the Capitol via the underground tunnels.

These are the underground tunnels leading to the Capitol building.