2000 Oct 26 White House & US Capitol

Guess where is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington D.C. Yup, that's The White House!

This is the North Portico of The White House. It is the home of the US Presidents since it was occupied by President John Adams and his family in 1800. The colonnaded portico designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1807 shatters the main ceremonial entrance to the building, which is recognized worldwide as a symbol of the American Presidency.

United States Capitol Building

After The White House, we visited the United States Capitol Building. 

Sculpted by Thomas Crawford, the bronze 19.5 foot Statue of Freedom was raised high atop the Capitol Dome on Dec 2, 1863. It depicts a woman whose right arm rest upon the hilt of a sheathed sword and whose head is covered with a crested helmet, encircled with starts and topped with an Eagle's head and feathers. She stands on a base with the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM. This figure represents the most predominated characteristic in all of American history - the love of freedom.

The Apotheosis of George Washington - This masterful work of artist Constantino Brumidi in the Eye of the Dome of the Rotunda glorifies the character of George Washington and the principles upon which the United States of America was founded. Covering 464 sq ft, the massive fresco began in 1864 and completed in 11 months. Following this masterpiece, Brumidi, the Michelangelo of the Capitol, spent many years gracing the interior of the Capitol with his exquisite frescoes and in his own words, "beautify the Capitol of the one country in which there is liberty."

The West Front of the US Capitol in Washington D.C. faces the National Mall. Since Ronald Reagan took oath of the office there in 1981, the West Front has been the site of Presidential Inaugurations. The ground were designed in the late 19th century by Frederick Law Olmsted, the renowned landscape architect of New York's Central Park.

After that, we visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ...

... National Museum of American History (see my First Lady there?) ...

... US Capitol Library of Congress ...

... Union Square ...

... Liberty Bell (the other one is in Philadelphia).