Ford Theater and The Capitol

D and I always try to do something on the weekends, and when we aren't travelling to another state, we are usually exploring DC area.

After getting back from Vegas, we only had a couple weeks until heading to Alaska. So that Saturday  (Dec. 6th) we decided to go into DC and see the Ford theater and tour the Capitol building.

The Ford Theater you need tickets which is like 4-5 bucks. Not too shabby. If you're early they take you down to the museum and you can see the gun that killed Lincoln and other random things. It was cool but we had to wait down there for an hour (yes we were that early, we thought the metro would take longer). After we waited, they took the group into the theater. It's smaller then I thought it was. but back then they didn't have huge theaters like we do now. 

The lady who gave the "briefing" stood on the stage and gave us all the history and logistics about what went down. It was cool, but kind of long. I started to fall asleep... (school's not for me folks, I can't do lectures!) I did learn some new things though.. like the interior is NOT original due to a fire... sad. That kind of took "wow" factor away. Nonetheless, it is a must see in DC!

Us and the Presidential booth

Exterior of the Theater

Across the street is the house that they took Lincoln to get medical attention. I guess I never paid much attention in class because I didn't remember that happened... This was part of the tour to go into the house and see the room and bed he died on. 

After going into the house, they take you up an elevator and its a huge museum of the civil war history and more about Lincoln... We decided to bypass all of that and head to the Capitol.

You don't need tickets to the Capitol but I advise you call in and make an appointment if its prime tourist season. I'm all about travelling on the off season! It's cheaper, less crowded and I find you get more out of tours this way.

Our tour group had maybe 10 people in it so our tour guide, who was extremely cool, gave us a longer tour! 

D and I with our headsets on. I only had my iphone with me to take photos. I didn't want to risk my camera getting taken away. Is it just me or do government official buildings make you uncomfortable? yes, you too? okay good! 

This circular hallway was AMAZINGLY beautiful!

Brigham Young statue! I guess there are two statues of people from every state in the building. This was news to me. The state votes on the statues if the person meets certain qualifications (being dead is one for example)

The ceilings are so pretty! Very "Europe" like. I was loving it.

Unfortunately, the main dome is being retrofitted and needs to be done by the next inauguration. The exterior of the dome has scaffolding all over it too. But you could see some of the artistry done which was really nice.