What I Did on My Winter Vacation

  In home school I have been learning about the three branches of government, the Charters of Freedom, and what then ensure for us.  After I finished my studies, my brother Zane, my best friend Dylan, my mom, and I went to Washington, D.C. to visit the National Archives and to take a tour of the Capitol Building.

 
   We arrived at the Pentagon City Mall and took the metro to the Navy Memorial/Archives stop on the Yellow Line.  At the National Archives, we hopped into the line of people waiting to have their bags checked.  Soon thereafter we were stepping up to see the Charters of Freedom:  The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.  The Declaration of Independence was very faded from sitting in the U.S. Patent Office in direct sunlight many years ago.  You can still read parts of it clearly, like John Hancock's signature.  The Constitution is in perfect condition.  You can still read the preamble at the beginning of the four-page document.  I also spotted Benjamin Franklin and George Washington's signatures.  The Bill of Rights was in good condition, and you can see all the words to it.  Zane even spotted John Adam's signature.

  After that we took a taxi to the Capitol Building.  We went into their amazing new visitor's center and watched a short movie before we began our tour.  We started in the room called the crypt, where George Washington was going to be buried, but he refused the offer because he didn't want to be treated like a monarch.  This room holds up the rotunda above, where we went next.  Its dome is huge, bigger than I had thought it would be.  Above us was a painting of thirteen ladies representing the original thirteen colonies and right near the front of them sat George Washington.  Around the room were paintings telling little bits of American history.  We then visited the old House Chamber.  It was very small and domed at the top, and was full of statues.

 On our way out, we stopped in at the Library of Congress.  It was probably the most extraordinary building I have ever seen.  It had tons and tons of books inside.  The Grand Hall lobby had a tiled ceiling, corinthian columns, murals, and mosaics everywhere.  I would have stayed there all day, but we couldn't.

Seeing these historical documents and visiting the Capitol Building meant so much more than just reading about them.  I'm looking forward to our next big visit to DC!