Washington D.C. Vacation 12 June 08-White House-Holocaust-Jefferson Memorial

Unlike the poor man behind us who brought a camera (see item #6 below), we were allowed in to the White House because we heeded congressman Kay Granger's assistant's instructions. All we were allowed to carry was: car keys, picture id, and money. If you brought anything else, you weren't let in. They wouldn't keep anything for you; you were just dismissed. That left us without a camera for the day, so the following pictures were swiped from the internet.

Nicole Audet (Kay Granger's assistant):

"Congratulations!
We were able to obtain White House tickets for your party! Your tour is scheduled for June 12th at 12pm. The tour’s group name is Woods and the ID # is C-8A9CE.
I have attached the “Instructions for Group Tours” sheet and the “White House Area” map. Please read the list of prohibited items very carefully, because there are no storage facilities on the White House complex. Those who arrive with prohibited items will be denied entry to the White House.

Please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled time at the Visitors Entrance on East Executive Avenue.

All visitors age 15 years of age or older will need to present photo identification with information matching the name submitted previously for clearance. Individuals whose identification does not exactly match the name or data cleared for entry may be denied admittance.

If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to give me a call at 202-225-5071. I hope you all enjoy your tour!"

Nicole Audet
Staff Assistant & Intern Coordinator
Office of Congresswoman Kay Granger- Texas, District 12
440 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5071
(202) 225-5683 (fax)


White House Tour Info:

The groups should arrive for their tour 15 minutes before the schedules tour time and enter the White House Complex from the south side of the East Executive Avenue near the Southeast Gate. All guests 15 years of age or older will be required to present a photo identification with information exactly matching the name previously submitted for clearance. Individuals whose identification does not exactly match the name or data cleared for entry may be denied admittance.

All tours are significantly enhanced with a stop by the White House Visitor Center at the Southeast corner of 15th and E.Streets. Look for the three American flags and the blue awnings. Allow 20 minutes to one hour to see the videos and the exhibits. The Visitor Center is open from 7:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., seven days a week, we also recommend you visit our website at www.whitehouse.gov to learn more about the White House prior to your tour.

Tour Hours are occasionally affected at the last minute but unforeseen events. Please call the Visitors Office 24-hour information line recording at 202-456-7041 to confirm that tours will be conducted. If there is a reduction in the number scheduled, or if for some reason the tour needs to be cancelled, please notify the Visitors Office as soon as possible at 202-456-2322. Our TDD (telephone device for the deaf) is 202-456-2121.

Instructions for Groups Touring the White House

Thank you for your interest in touring the White House. Please carefully review the following rules and procedures regarding your visit.

1. Group tours of the White House are scheduled Tuesday through Saturday, between 7:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. for parties of 10 or more people.

2. All attendees aged 14 and above are required to submit their name, date of birth, social security number and country of origin to their congressional office. Attendees under the age of 14 only need to submit their name and date of birth. This information must be submitted using the proper security template and sent to the visitors office through email. Security information must be received at least 10 days prior to the tour date, Parties whose information is not submitted to the White House in the proper format and in this time frame will be subject to cancellation.

3. Groups should enter the White House complex from the south side of East Executive Avenue near the Southeast Gate. Groups arriving by bus should instruct the driver to drop them off at the southwest corner of 15th and E Streets where they will be met by a uniformed National park Service Ranger.

4. Groups should arrive 15 minutes before their scheduled time. Late arrivals may not be accommodated.

5. All guest 15 years of age and older will be required to present photo identification with information exactly matching the name preciously submitted for clearance. Individuals whose identification does not exactly match the name or data cleared for entry may be denied admittance.

6. Prohibited items include, but are not limited to, the following: handbags, bookbags, backpacks, purses, food and beverages of any kind, strollers, cameras, video recorders or any type of recording device, tobacco products, personal grooming items (make up, hair brush or comb, lip or hand lotions, etc.) any pointed objects (pens, knitting needles, etc.), aerosol containers, guns, ammunition, fireworks, electric stun guns, mace, martial arts weapons/devices, or knives of any size.

The U.S. Secret Service reserves the right to prohibit any other personal items. Neither the White House nor the U.S. Secret Service will provide coat or package check facilities. Individuals who arrive with prohibited items will not be permitted to enter the White House.
All necessary medications must be identified and remain in the custody of an adult chaperone or contact for the entire tour.

7. All persons and items entering the White House will be screened through security process. Individuals may be requested to consent to an interview or additional security procedures before they are admitted to the White House complex



White House North Portico.

Unlike what we expected after reading the strict White House e-mail procedures, going thru White House Security was the easiest of all federal building security stations to go thru (go figure). I had my speech for Mr. Bush ready, but, surprisingly, he wasn't in attendance.

Do you want to read my speech for him? This is it: "Thank you, Mr. Bush for keeping us safe."



White House rear view

White House Entrance Hall

State Dining Room

Library (picture 1)

During the tour, all the carpets are rolled up for about three feet on each end and the necessary furniture moved inward, allowing room for tour pathway runners. In response to my query, the guard said the rooms are used apprroximately 200 days a year, mostly in the evening, so when the tours are over for the day, the runners are rolled up and the rooms are made pristine and ready for guests, royalty, and mucky-mucks.

Green Room

East Room Where presidents lie in state.

Presidents are NOT ALLOWED in the Capital Building. How do they do the State of the Union Address, you may ask? They must be invited. At their passing, some presidents are lain in state in the Capital Rotunda, but other presidents are of the opinion that "if they don't want me in the Capital alive, they ain't going to get me there when i'm dead." Hence, some choose the East Room for their final farewell.

Cross Halls

Library (picture 2)

Red Room

Blue Room

Chinaware Room

Lincoln

Wilson

Franklin

Johnson

Regan

Clinton

Which one's your favorite china? Mine's Regan.

Holocaust Memorial followed our White House tour. It was very thorough and very hard to view and witness. A huge four story building filled with momentos, artifacts, and relics, including a railroad car used to transport people to their death. Some of it was too difficult for Mom, and she had to turn away. But as it says on the picture above, "The World Must Know". A sign outside the memorial says: "Never forget what you've seen here today." It's difficult to process that one man initiated all this horror.

"The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews (and others), deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community."

From the Holocaust Memorial.

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial (I definitely recommend that you click on this picture to make it larger)

If you follow Mr. Jefferson's gaze, you find that he's keeping his eye on the White House.