The event that took place at the U.S. Capitol last week brought me back to the time when we visited the nation’s capital. If you watched the news, I think you already knew that I am talking about when Billy Graham was honored at the U.S. Capitol. Graham, known as America’s Pastor,  was a North Carolina boy who lived about 20 miles away from us, and he was only the 4th private citizen to ever be honored with lying in honor in the Capital rotunda, joining Rosa Parks, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson on that notable list.

It was in 2011 when we visited Washington, D.C. and toured the U.S. Capitol. I realized that I haven’t shared about that trip here on our blog yet. We visited the White House first before we headed to the capitol which I shared here before. And although we weren’t lucky enough to tour the White House, we were lucky to tour the U.S. Capitol.

The tour was part of my Alma Mater’s Alumni Reunion activities. I had only been here in the U.S. for six months back then when I heard about the reunion from my SIL’s younger sister who lives in New Jersey. As you can see, I’m wearing our Alumni Reunion t-shirt like all the other Alumnae.

This was taken at the left side of the U.S. Capitol. Our tour bus dropped us all off at the front, then we had to walk to the back where the entrance for the tourists was located. That was quite a walk.

It was summertime so there was quite a line of tourists. But before we reached this part of the U.S. Capitol, we had to fall in line outside too and had to go through security. The organizers of the Alumni Reunion where the ones who booked the tour. It has been more than six years now so I have forgotten if we paid for that tour.

The line may be long and the wait was tiring, but it was so worth it after seeing the inside. That’s the inside of the dome. Look how amazing that is! I think this photo doesn’t do it justice, but the details of the architecture and decor inside were just so fascinating. I was already fascinated with the facade of the U.S. Capitol, but the inside was equally fascinating, if not more so.

This photo was a little blurry, but I still want to share it just to give you an idea of more of the fascinating details inside the dome. I was using my digital camera then.

And there’s my little one, still so young. 🙂 We were given headsets to listen to. We had a tour guide that tells us every story of the things we were seeing while touring.

I forgot exactly how long it took us to tour the U.S. Capitol, but it took us a while. And this was after the tour. That’s the back of the U.S. Capitol and that’s the hubs in stripes and the little one with just his head showing.

We only had a few hours to tour Washington, D.C. so we didn’t see much. Hopefully next time we will have the chance to see more of what the nation’s capital has to offer.

Have you toured the U.S. Capitol?