Two days ago, on August 18, 2017, I did my last trip on my USA journey, I went to the federal capital of the United States, to Washington DC.

After a two hour car drive we, my host Melonni and I, arrived in New Carrollton to take the metro from there into DC. We got off at South Capitol Station and walked towards Capitol Hill.

It was really impressive to see this building which I had known before only from TV, with my own eyes. Melonni told me that the Capitol from time to time had to be cleaned from workers using a scaffolding, so that it keeps being white.

Afterwards, we joined one of the free guided tours through the Capitol. The tour went through the crypt, which originally was envisaged to be the tomb of the first US president George Washington, and today is used as exhibition place for the National Statuary Collection which contains e.g. the statue of Abraham Lincoln.

Besides, there’s situated a marble compass which marks the centre of the District of Columbia.

Starting from this point, all streets in Washington are numbered. Then the tour went on to the rotunda, the room which is situated below the dome of the Capitol. Here, paintings are shown which illustrate important moments of US history, e.g. on the west side you can see events during the Revolutionary War like the Declaration of Independence.

Up in the dome, you can see the „Apotheosis of George Washington“.

After the tour, we visited the Library of Congress (Thomas Jefferson Library). There are hundreds of books stored in shelves forming a semicircle.

Also a copy of the Gutenberg Bible is kept in the Capitol:

After visiting the Thomas Jefferson Library, we went eating something at a restaurant, before we visited the other sights of the city:

 

• Allgemein