One thing I've ALWAYS wanted to do was visit the Whitehouse and not just hold on to the bars outside but walk through it. I've been visiting DC on and off since I was 4 years-old and never had that chance. Until now. Byron had a buddy who was a 'higher-up' in security and was able to arrange a tour. Tues. 10am. I was so excited, the trip of a lifetime. We love to visit old, historic, restored homes, like when we visited the Biltmore in Asheville, NC, last summer, so this was the ultimate historic home, the most famous in the world!
Well, we got there at least an hour ahead of schedule, one reason is my husband likes to plan ahead, another is that you never know what kind of parking your going to get. Be aware that if you go to DC the parking is scarce! The weather was dry, too, I remember slathering lotion on my dry hands. We found a parking spot several blocks away but I had to go to the bathroom (I know, TMI), so I jumped out of the car and into the closest building - oops, wrong entrance said the security guard, now I had walk half way around the Old Post Office which has been converted into a shopping center. It was bitter cold but I had no choice. So finally I got back to the car and we left on the long, freezing walk to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
We got up to the gates and a guard had our names on a clipboard and we were ushered into a small but fancy tent, like a trailer, with HEAT! Soon after Byron's buddy, Tony, showed us through to the East Wing also known as the First Lady's wing. I had to go to the bathroom AGAIN and Tony let me use an office bathroom off the beaten path I later found out was Laura Bush's office bathroom. I was surprised because it was not ensconsed in gold or anything. Frankly, I thought it looked like the bathroom in an old church basement. It wasn't dirty or anything, it just looked like it was remodeled in 1941 and never updated - except for a glass shower. I wondered why there was a shower in there but never asked. So, as I went to the sink to wash my hands I looked down and noticed that my wedding ring was missing. I searched my gloves and pockets but nothing! How was I supposed to tell my husband waiting just outside the door that I lost it? Should I wait until the tour was over so it wouldn't ruin our experience? Would he get mad at me in front of Tony? Did I leave it in the car? Did I drop it in the street when I put my ring on my lap in the car to put lotion on and it fell off?
I couldn't stand not telling him and he was very non-chalant, like, oh, well, that's what insurance was for. Oh, I'd better tell him bad news in front of Tony more often, too bad Tony lives in the DC area! Well, we started our tour. Many times I asked my husband what it was going to be like but he acted like they led him through with a blindfold because he'd been before with this mom a couple of years ago and didn't say much. Details, people! I want details! What did it smell like? Did Bush walk by? Anything?
Well, it was marble and carpet and smaller than it looks on TV. We were NOT allowed to carry a purse, let alone a camera which was killing me but rules are rules. There are halls that connect the rooms and doors that lead from room to room. I guess this was the architecture of the day. One minute your in the green room, then the red. It's all fancy paintings and furniture, much is original to the house thanks to Jackie Kennedy. One room had some horrid fake wall paper that looked like drapery that you'd see in the 1990's but now is out of style. Hillary had that made, it just looked tacky but I guess Laura Bush could have changed it and choose not to. I'm not sure how these decisions are made. It didn't really have a smell, like musty or moldy probably because people live there AND they use all the furniture!
Trivia: there cannot be a portrait hanging of the current Pres. only past ones, and there was a large portrait of Hillary in the East Wing and a large one of Bill in the main part of the building that has a corridor - that's where the Pres. walks to when he's going to deliver a press conference, for example. Also, there is the art form of an eagle in every room of the Whitehouse - either carved into furniture or crown moulding or wherever they can find it but it's not obvious. I wasn't walking through the Whitehouse going,"This looks like the Eaglehouse!".
We chatted with Tony quite a bit before heading back to the car hoping to find the ring but not having high hopes. Byron was just ahead of me and looked down on the ground where our rented car was parked. There between the right front wheel ande curb was my ring lying in the street! I was speechless, Byron couldn't believe it either. Now we have a pact, if I take my ring off he's going to wear it on his pinky finger until I'm done applying lotion! I have a theory that if anyone saw it walking by that it was too cold to bend down and pick it up! Miracles do happen!
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