White House Tour, Spy Museum and the Hard Rock Cafe

Good morning everyone.  Here's a view of where I've been sitting as I write these every morning.  It's hazy and hot, but it's such a beautiful spot:

It's so hot again today, and it's only 7 in the morning.

We caught the 8:30 shuttle to the metro yesterday morning.  Before we left we read the "do's and don'ts" of a White House tour.  Instead of telling you all the things we couldn't bring, I'll tell you what we could bring:  ourselves, our passports, some money and a turned-off cell phone.   No cameras, purses or bags of any kind.  No gum even.  A little annyoing considering how far we had to go with no bags to carry anything, but we managed.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures for you now.  We were able to get some outside of the White House but they are on our phones and we don't have any way to download them here.

We got off the metro (about a 20 minute ride) during rush hour.  It was interesting people watching and wanting to know their stories.  It's such a multi-cultural place, Washington.  We were early so we walked around, finally reaching the front (or the back?) of the White House.  It was early, around 9:15 and there were already crowds of people taking pictures through the fence.  It was SO hot we were all soaked.

We walked around to the security desk where there was mass chaos with people mingling everywhere, but Dale was able to speak with some guy (Secret Service?) and we were passed through the gates.   There were 3 security checks with each time our passports being closely examined and our names crossed off the lists.  I have to say, it felt pretty cool.  :)  We were really early but there was a bit of a line up but there were very little delays.  We actually got in before our tour time of 10:30.

The first thing we came to was that famous hallway....you know, the one with the window wall on one side and all these pictures of past presidents on the right?  If you've ever seen that picture of President Obama running down the hall with his Dog, Bo....that's the hallway.  I think what struck me then is that we were standing somewhere where the most powerful men on the Earth have walked.  Intense.  We looked at pictures, beautiful paintings and sculptures and continued on.

That hallway lead to the Library to the right and the Vermeil Room and China Room to the left.  These rooms were roped off so you could only peer inside.  What surprised me most at this point is how SMALL everything is.  Even the White House isn't nearly as big as I thought it would be. 

There were a set of stairs that we were lead to, but I noticed Security standing by a rope and one of those red velvet wall dividers.  Me being me of course, asked what was beyond the dividers.  "The West Wing, Ma'am" he said.  Oh.  My.  God.  How cool, eh??

We walk up the stairs into the East Room, which is said to be the largest room in the White House.  Now, if it's the largest, it really isn't all that big.  I asked one of the Security guards (who were SO nice and SO informative) if these rooms are ever used or are they simply staged for the public.  He explained that they are used whenever there is not a tour.  In fact, the East Room was recently used for a concert with the Jonas Brothers (insert screaming girl sounds here), and Sir Paul McCartney.  The East Room is used for ceremonies and press conferences too.

We were then lead to the Green Room, Blue Room and the Red Room.  These are small rooms, some were used for dining rooms and small receptions.  You know what I noticed right away?  The smell of wood smoke.  All these rooms had (at least 1) fireplace and you could really tell that they were still used.  The White House smells like a museum, you know, that old furniture kind of smell, but these rooms smelled of wood smoke.  I found that very interesting.

Following that, we were lead into the State Dining Room.  It can seat 130 guests apparently but I imagine they would have to be squeezed in.  It was so small!!!  Carved into the fireplace mantel is this John Adams quote "I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it.  May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."

God, it was powerful..

Then we were lead down a set of stairs, and out the front (or back?) doors, and that was it.  All in all, it probably was only 20 minutes and at the time you can't help but feel a little let down.  It wasn't as big as I thought and the tour wasn't long enough.  I wanted more.  LOL!  Imagine that!!  But now that I can look back on it, what an amazing thing it is to be able to say that we walked into the White House.

The doors we walked out of are the doors where you always see people protesting something or other.  We walked down there and I did get some literature to read....there was only about 20 people so the demonstration was really small.  Their signs said "Jews for Jesus".  I was so in awe of where we were standing that I really didn't pay more attention.

I really wish we were able to take our camera.  We were thinking about driving into Washinton just so we could have a place to leave things, but even if we were able to find a spot, at $10 an HOUR, we just couldn't do it.

We grabbed some lemonaide, walked back to the Metro and came back to the hotel to spend a couple hours in the pool.  It was so beyond hot; it was hellish hot.  By the time we got back it was well over 100F.

Feeling a little more refreshed and alert, we grabbed the shuttle to the Metro and headed back into Washington.  Here's some shots of us on the shuttle bus:

From here we went to the Spy Museum.  Again, no cameras so I can't share anything with you.  The first hour we spent doing a pretty cool interactive assignment where we had to detinate (sp?) a bomb.  We had code names and rooms to search, papers to scan and stairs to climb.  You know, it was pretty cool even though at the beginning I thought it was a little cheesy.

Following that we went on a tour of the Museum itself.  To be honest, I was a little "spied" out by this time and excused myself to wander around the gift shop and wait for the boys.  They went through it in about 45 minutes or so.

By this time it was around 6:30 or so and we were all craving burgers.  We walked around Washington trying to figure out where to go....when we came across the Hard Rock Cafe.  Oh yah!

(no, he wasn't really drinking the beer - just posing for a picture.  Hahahaha!!)

And finally, our first family picture!!!!!

We headed back to the Metro, onto the shuttle and back to the hotel.  Dale and I found a nearby laundromat and spent about an hour and a half with an exceptionally nice Latino man (owner, perhaps?) and finally came back around 10:30 totally and utterly exhaused.  It was a long, long day.

Today we have Fords Theatre and the house where Lincoln died (which is across the street from the Theatre), a museum of some sort (I'm sorry I forget which one right now), followed by the Holocaust Museum at 4.  Another busy, busy day in store for us.

Relaxation at Chatam (Cape Cod) is sounding better and better by the second.  But first I have some serious power shopping to do in New York.  We head there tomorrow.

Until later (or tomorrow)....

M.