Capitol + Gallery + Food Tour

It was a rather action packed weekend, so I'll try to give you the play by play =).  On Saturday morning I met up with my friend Uyen and we toured the United States Capitol.  I had scheduled a 9:30 tour, but they made us get there early.  In the visitor's center there was an "Emancipation Hall", where there were statutes of famous people who served as emancipators.  Before the tour stated we watched a film about the Capitol, and then we were divided into groups of about 20, where we were given tours of some of the main rooms in the Capitol.  The first room we saw was the Statue room.  There were probably about 20 statues surrounding the circular room.  The most interesting part was the center of the room which was supposed to be the exact center of the Capitol, which determines which quadrant of DC you are in.  The neatest part was a bust of Abraham Lincoln.  The artist left the ear off of the statue, to symbolize his unfinished presidency. 

This little child stood in the middle of the Capitol, so cute!

Next we went to the Rotunda, and that was absolutely beautiful.  They had these artists construct the art around the band of the rotunda.  Apparently it took three different artists to complete the work.  At the top there are the 13 maidens to signify the 13 colonies, George Washington, Liberty, and one other?  Lastly we went to the room where the House of Representatives used to meet.  It was a small room, and the tour guide showed us how the room echoed and John Quincy Adams used to pretend he was asleep at his desk and he would eavesdrop on the other members.  We also got to see where the desk spaces were for the members.  The tour ended there, and I wish I could have seen more.  So if you or any of your friends has access to the Capitol, please give me a more extensive tour!

Nonetheless, the day continued in an upward pattern.  Uyen and I got mimosas at brunch, and then went to Tru Orleans and had a hurricane.  I got my hair done, and then met up with Jess at the Hamiltonian for a gallery opening.  Apparently the gallery had given several artists a scholarship to work over the year, and their end of the year project was to make a piece of art with some obstruction based on what they may have normally done.  So there were two or three requirements of things that they could not have in their art.  One artist had a picture of what looked like growing mold, one had a project with rocks sticking out of it.  My favorite piece were these beautiful lanterns that were hanging in the middle of the room.  They were paper lanterns with outlines of different people and things.  Apparently the artist made these during a block party on her block in Baltimore, and there was a picture of people helping her make them.  Part of her requirement was to have neighborhood involvement, so she had that. 

After the gallery we had dinner at Alero and then went to my friend Mira's house for her goodbye party.  I got home late, did some things around the house on Sunday morning, and then met up with Katie to do this food tour.  I had no idea what to expect, except that we would (hopefully) be eating a lot of food.  We went to four different restaurants.  The first was District of Pi.  They have an awesome beer list, and they served both deep dish and thin crust pizza.  I got to sample both types of crust.  The deep dish had meat and tomatoes, and it was quite delicious.  I am partial to deep dish pizza though =).  I also got to try the thin crust pizza with zucchini and onions.  It was delicious, and just thinking about it again makes me hungry.

Hungry and sad at District of Pi!

We went to Restaurant 701 on Pennsylvania Ave, and that was a total bust.  The restaurant was completely empty, but they did not let us sit down.  They gave us an amuse bouche of rockfish tartare, and sent us on our way.  I was pretty annoyed at that point, because I was still hungry. The tour guide said that there was some miscommunication with the restaurant.  Our next restaurant was Rosa Mexicana.  They made a ton of guacamole, and Katie and I ate a bunch of it while drinking sangria.  My mood improved greatly after this!  I am a sucker for guacamole, I could probably eat it daily.  Our last restaurant was Ping Pom Dim Sum.  I was excited to go there because I have recently discovered my love for dim sum, and I had not been to this restaurant.  I got to have a vegetable roll, and a shrimp dumpling.  I was pretty full at this point, and Katie and I left.  The food tour was fun, but we had also paid half price for it.  I would not have paid full price based on the quantity of food we received.  I now want to go to District of Pi and Ping Pong Dim Sum for full meals!!!