A Slower Day

A combination of heat and fatigue led us to take the day slower today. We started with a small reception that Senator Amy Klobuchar hosts at her offices many Thursday mornings called, cleverly enough, "Minnesota Mornings." Her staff is there as well as the Senator, along with some unique Minnesota treats (including "potica," which I'd never heard of) that were mostly gone by the time we got there. We did get to take our obligatory picture with the Senator. Here's the one from our camera, and there should be another on her website within a couple of days.




We had signed up for a tour of the Capitol through her office, so we separated in 3 groups (there were almost 30 Minnesotans touring the Capital through her office) and away we went. Our 19-year old intern did a pretty good job of leading the tour, although since there were groups from several Congressional offices, the Capitol was a little crowded. We saw the rotunda, the old Supreme Court chambers, the crypt, and sat in the gallery of the Senate chamber to hear about 10-15 minutes of oral argument. Actually, since the Republicans are filibustering something or other we heard three Republican Senators discuss oil prices - the staffers at the head of the chamber were doing paperwork and the pages all looked like they were discussing where tonight's party was going to be. No cameras allowed in the gallery itself, but here's a few shots from the day:












After that, we came back to the room, did some laundry at the hotel, and took naps. We went to a local mall to see a movie ("Hancock," about 3 1/2 stars), swung by the Marine Corps Memorial, and then back to the room for an earlier bedtime.

Tomorrow's our last full day in DC, so we're planning to visit several of the Smithsonian museums.