Where the big decisions are being made

Many things that get decided in Washington DC have consequences not just for this city or country, but for abroad, too. Like the old saying goes "When America has a cold, Europe has pneunomia". It was therefore great to see some of the places where these major decisions are being made...

Four places in particular: The White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon and the CIA-HQ.

Our insights (and access) into these four places differed largely.

With the CIA-HQ, that carries George Bush's name these days and which has an inviting big exit sign on the highway, that we passed everyday on the school run, it was a relatively brief affair. Upon approaching what must be one of the tightest security gates anywhere in the world with our car we weren't welcome with the usual "So nice to see you" and "Where are you guys from", but rather the opposite... - So not much luck there. I'd say, these guards really have to go back to charm school...



The White House at least had a great visitor center (and gift shop). Access to the White House, while being possible, is something that has to be organised quite a long way in advance; so we'll keep that one for our next visit.



The Capitol was more of a success. We managed to book in advance a timeslot for a guided tour of this impressive building, which houses both the US Senate and Congress. The slot we got coincided with the USA vs. England World Cup game, which - come to think of it - was probably why that slot was still free. The tour was, however, somewhat brief and superficial and really just focussed on three or so big symbolic rooms inside - with historic paintings and statues. One didn't actually get to see the rooms where the Senate and Congress meet.



By far the best tour we had was through the Pentagon. Mike, whose family we are staying with, works there and had kindly offered to take Sabine and me on a tour of the building on the weekend. The Pentagon, which is supposedly the largest office building in the world, has close to 30,000 people working there. Its corridors measure over 28 km in length - but due to its pentagon-shape one is supposed to get from any place in the building to another is less than 7 minutes.



The Pentagon is not just huge in size, but also very informative with many displays. Plus we were also very lucky with our "tour guide"; Mike gave a great tour. At the Pentagon there are some very moving memorials to commemorate the fact that on Sept. 11, 2001, one of the hijacked planes also crashed into this building, killing almost 200 people (something that often gets forgotten, when the attacks on the "twin towers" are being remembered). It's one of the ironies of history that the Pentagon's construction started officially on Sept. 11, 1941 - i.e. exactly 60 years to the day of the terrorist attack.

Last but not least, it was at the Pentagon that we finally got really close to one of the key decision-makers' office - the US Secretary of Defense. Well, at least to its office door...