DC Day 1 - DC has gone to the dogs

Wow. It is cold here.

We started off the cold, bristly day eating breakfast at our hotel. We haven't located a good breakfast spot yet so it was our best option. When we arrived downstairs, no one was in the restaurant. That makes me nervous. We stayed, ordered, and were pleasantly surprised by the food. Alan ordered the waffle, which came topped with a pile o' fresh strawberries and bacon. I went for the brioche cinnamon french toast and sausage. The french toast was amazing. It was very thick but super airy and just the right amount of cinnamon. Mmm. Tasty.

Next, we had scheduled a tour of the Capital Building but we wanted to go to the galleries of the House and Senate. We ventured to the Rayburn Building to visit DeFazio's office and the Dirksen Building to visit Wyden's office. DeFazio's office was bustling and we did catch him on the way out somewhere but alas, not quick enough for a photo. Instead, we snapped a shot of the friendly staff hanging out (dogs... hee, hee).

Gallery passes in hand, we headed from Dirksen to the Capital via the underground train. When we got on, we asked a young guy where the train went. He didn't know where the train was going. He was on his lunch break. Dude, the train is less than 4 minutes and has only 3-4 stops. How do you not know? We got off in an area and didn't know where to go but a friendly chap from North Dakota showed us right to the line for our tour. He wondered why we were not with a staff person from Oregon so I tried to tell him we arranged the tour online by ourselves. He didn't know about that but figured since Oregon had more people than North Dakota, they could do personal tours easier... uh, yeah. Folks from North Dakota, you can schedule the tours on your own too.

The Capital is really nice. Sculptures from all the states, the building itself made of materials from all over the U.S., and we even got the chance to see folks at work. Nancy Pelosi walked right through our tour group. I was slow enough to get a blurry photo as she shook the guy's hand from California. The galleries were ok, the Senate has Burris at the Chair, Patty Murray (WA), Chuck Schumer (NY), and Daniel Inouye (HI). Schumer went on and on about Russia and Iran, nuclear weapons and such... No one paid any attention and the pages looked bored. The House was in recess and those pages looked equally bored.

After the tour, we rode the Metro to the Convention Center doors and I checked in for DrupalCon. I am glad I went early because they had 2 colors in the t-shirt so I got green a decent size. I also got a block of wood and a DVD for Princess Cruises... uh, yeah.

Still not sure of food in our area (no one wants to walk in the windy cold), we found an Indian place close to us on the internet and walked over. The place was Mayur Kabob House. The menu online reminded me off Taste of India in the good old days (prior to 3 bouts of food poisoning). It is in a building that looks like a Bavarian house. They had 8 or so guys in the kitchen, a walk up and order counter, and a tv playing clips from music videos/movies (very Bollywood). It was supposed to be open until 3 am but they closed shortly after we got our food. The food, tasty but spicy. Alan ordered the Chicken Makhai and I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala. I think in the end they were the same dish... Add a mango lassi, garlic naan, and veggie samosas and call it good. I had to add a ton of raita to be able to eat it but it was fun all the same.

Caramel drizzled carrot cake from the hotel and a couple of mint teas in our room and call it a night.