The Capitol

Today, Philip and I were invited to join Eli and his friend Daniel to tour the Capitol of Virginia! Eli is a Virginia Capitol Police Officer so he was able to give us the GRAND TOUR of the Capitol and the surrounding historical buildings. I had never visited the Capitol before (isn't that terrible? :), so I thoroughly enjoyed having a behind the scenes look!
Of course, before we left, the moms had to take a parting shot :) (from left to right: Eric, me, Philip, Eli, and Daniel).
Here we are walking downtown from the parking deck. I loved walking through downtown Richmond and seeing all of the old buildings and architecture. It was a perfect day for it too. :)
This was taken near the Capitol. The cathedrial-looking building in the distance is the Old City Hall.
From this spot, the distances from Richmond on the highways are measured. How neat is that?Here is a view of the Capitol from the street. Isn't it huge? We went in the underground passageway(the door to the right) that led to the Capitol itself. Philip was astonished when he saw the whole inside of the passageway was made of marble. :) There was a gift shop, cafeteria (where we ate lunch), and a gallery of various historical paintings.
Eli took us throughout the inside of the Capitol. This is a picture taken at the Capitol 's rotunda. A statue of George Washington stood right in the center and the busts of various presidents lined the walls.
This is a picture of the dome in the rotunda, although I have to say, this picture doesn't really do it justice. :) The archetecture was outstanding!
On the next floor, we saw paintings of all of Virginia's governors. Speaking of govenors, we caught a glimpse of our current governor, Governor Tim Kaine walking in the rotunda! I'm sorry to say, I didn't get my camera out in time. :)

Here is a picture of the Old Senate Chamber.

I thought this was the neatest part! Eli got us into the Senate of Virginia Chamber where we were able to sit in and listen to the senators of Virginia in session. How many times do you get to do that? It was neat to be able to actually see the senators that you hear about all of the time in action! I didn't take a picture while in session because I didn't want to get in trouble. :)
I was the annoying photographer on the tour. :) Thanks guys! Here, we are back outside in front of the Capitol building. We were able to go in the General Assembly Building where we saw the Senators' offices and the Old City Hall.

The Governor's Mansion

Here is another view of the Capitol building from the Governor's Mansion.

Our last stop: The Library of Virginia! Phil liked this place! This picture does not capture the millions of books that are all around! If you are looking for a book, this is the place to go! This library even has shelves of phone books from many years ago up until now. :)
And that was the end of our visit to the Capitol! Philip and I really enjoyed seeing the sights for the first time! I hope I got all of the facts right in my post, there was so much to take in! :) Thanks Eli for taking the time to show us around today, we had a great time! ~Alli