Tour of the Capitol and the Newseum

First of all, I didn't take any photos today - I didn't take my camera to the Capitol because I thought I couldn't bring one on the tour. It turns out I could, but no matter. Captain Flash still got to see it all. The upside is that I can put up another photo from yesterday - Captain Flash hanging with his fluttering friends in the "Partners in Evolution: Butterflies + Plants" exhibit. I also forgot to mention that Captain Flash made a human friend at the Air & Space museum yesterday: a girl who works there liked him so much that she took a photo!

Moving back to today's business: the Capitol tour. I set off at a decent hour this morning, and arrived there ready for my tour time. The lady there kindly agreed to shift me to the slot 10 minutes later so I didn't have to tour with 30 schoolchildren. The Capitol dome is very impressive, and thoroughly worth seeing. The rest of the tour was also pretty good - seeing where Obama walked down the stairs on the way to inauguration and plenty of other things.

After I finished wandering the Capitol building, I wandered casually back toward downtown and my hotel (about 2km). I decided (since I was walking right past it) to fork out some cash and visit the 'Newseum.' The newseum was well worth visiting. You begin the visit by going into a theatre to watch a 10 minute video: "What is news?" which was actually pretty good. You can also view a section of the Berlin Wall. After that, you take the lift up to the 6th floor (an enormous lift capable of holding 50 to 60 people). The 6th floor has an outside balcony, with some pretty spectacular views of DC.

After going back inside, they have a display with the current front page from newspapers all over the country and the world. It was quite interesting - especially seeing how many papers covered the Australian bushfires on the front page. There is no question that the fires are a tragedy, but I am so used to Australia being ignored that it came as a surprise to see coverage on the front pages of both the New York Times and The Wall St Journal. There was also coverage on the front pages of newspapers from papers all over the world. Oddly, I feel that being on the other side of the world from Australia right now is almost like being away from a loved one when they are going through a difficult time. Naturally, I offer sympathy and virtual hugs to anyone affected.

Moving on from current news to some more distant 'news': the newseum displays many front pages of newspapers from the past, dating back to the 16th century. Naturally, the newspapers of the 16th century do not closely resemble the newspapers of today. In the same exhibit was an issue of Scientific American from 1845 . . . and MANY other papers, dating right up to the election of Obama.

Also on display: the door from the Watergate building which had its latch taped open - eventually leading to the uncovering of the whole Watergate scandal. This door was FBI evidence from 1973 to 1977.

Another section of the museum holds part of the antenna from the North tower of the World Trade Centre (and part of the fuselage from flight 93). These were both part of a dedicated September 11 display, which was very well done.

As I progressed down the levels there were many more fascinating displays, exploring many different aspects of the news. Once more, I left just on closing time at 5pm.

Thoroughly satisfied with my day's endeavours, I continued on my journey home. I stopped for dinner at a delightful little sports tavern, and settled in for an evening in front of the TV. Once again, the highlight has been the Colbert Report - I will miss it once I get back home! Tonight he interviewed the guys from TV on the Radio. At one point, he asked if he could stroke the beard of one of the band members. Since Neil bet me $1 to stroke the beard of Hashim Amla, I really appreciated that.