politics – Geeky Girl Engineer

National Assembly of Quebec

Posted on May 25, 2023 by geek

I have noted before that I want to see all the U.S. state capitols. I am in Quebec, so I decided to see its provincial capitol and add that to my list. They call their capitol the National Assembly of Quebec. It consists of one chamber. They used to also have the Legislature Council, which was akin to the British House of Lords. I am sure it was explained on the tour why and when they got rid of it, but I missed it. In any event, the current capitol is the fourth one. I have noticed a theme with U.S. state capitols that they are not in the original buildings. In many cases, they need a bigger building, but in many cases, the capitol burned down. Quebec has a combination of those reasons. The first one was too small, and the second and third buildings burned down. The current building also was a bit too small evidently as they added onto it. We only saw a small portion of the building, and the new entrance for visitors is underground and then connects to a new building, which connects to the old building.

The building is very French in style. Inside, there is symbolism one would expect, including French and British. The chambers are modeled after the British House of Commons and House of Lords. My favorite bit of trivia I learned was that the National Assembly room was originally green like the House of Commons, but when proceedings started being televised, the politicians didn’t like the way they looked with all the green in the room, so the room was repainted blue with all other accents changed from green to blue. The blue works well with the Quebec flag, but it wasn’t changed because of the flag. It was changed because politicians didn’t think they looked good with a green background. The two chambers are mirror images, except the color, artwork, and furniture. They wouldn’t let us take photos in the National Assembly room, which really disappointed me. They had photos of each room outside, so I am including a photo of their photo.

National Assembly of Quebec, circular stairs was original entrance to building

Original entrance to the building with English coat of arms on the wall with maple leaves

French coat of arms with maple leaves, along the ceiling are an English rose, Scottish thistle, and Irish shamrock

Entrance to restaurant in new part of building

Stained glass in stairwell

Legislature Council room which is now used as a hearing room, conference room, or for presentations

Photo of National Assembly room; they wouldn’t let us take photos inside

Stairwell to tower

Tunnel connecting new entrance to original building with light art

New Hampshire State Capitol

Posted on August 18, 2022 by geek

Today I visited the last New England state capitol that I hadn’t seen yet. [Sort of, as I still will need to go back to Connecticut when I can see the Senate chamber.] I toured the New Hampshire state capitol. Unfortunately, they did not have guided tours, but they had a nice pamphlet explaining what to see. Then while visiting the Governor’s Reception Room, we met a couple of very friendly, informative employees, including a man, whom I think worked in facilities, who took us to see a couple of sites not printed in the official guide.

New Hampshire’s state house is the oldest state house in which the legislature still occupies its original chambers. I almost feel like some praise should be given to the original builders and designers for building a capitol that has fulfilled its original use for so long and also not managed to burn down like so many other capitols. Similar to other New England state capitols, it is not overly ornate, but it still has some nice touches. It is fairly small. The House representatives don’t even get a desk. Their chamber is essentially an auditorium. New Hampshire has the largest number of state representatives with 400 elected, yet is in the bottom fifth of states by population. However, New Hampshire has the fourth smallest Senate with 24 elected members. The printed guide did not give any explanation for why there is that dichotomy.

New Hampshire State Capitol

New Hampshire House chambers

New Hampshire senate chambers

Artwork in New Hampshire senate chambers

New Hampshire Governor Reception room

Hall of flags at entrance to the capitol

Our unofficial tour guide who works in facilities, took us to see this painting of Daniel Healy. The reason he took us to see the painting, is it appears he has six fingers on his right hand. Our unofficial guide had no insight if the man actually had six fingers or if the artist just painted the hand weird or what. I can’t find any information on this man. Thus, I am sharing this mystery with anyone who reads my blog.

Portrait of Daniel J. Healy, longest serving state representative

Vermont State Capitol

Posted on August 17, 2022 by geek

Today while on a New England trip, I continued on my quest to see all the state capitols and visited Vermont’s state capitol in Montpelier. The Vermont state capitol reminded me of the Alaska state capitol solely on its somewhat casualness and friendliness of people there. However, the Vermont state capitol is much prettier and ornate. Our tour guide was a now-retired state representative (because he didn’t run for reelection). I don’t know why I find it so funny that a state representative would be a tour guide when not representing, but I do. He was a wonderful tour guide though. The capitol is small really, but the rooms are lovely. The current capitol is the third state house. Probably by coincidence, the senate chamber is predominately green, and the house chamber is predominantly red. I noticed this because this is the exact opposite of a couple of state capitols such as California and Colorado, where the house is green based on the UK House of Commons, and the senate is red based on the UK House of Lords.

There are some neat details in the building. For example, the law dictates that the Vermont coat of arms must have five elements: a deer head, a cow, haystacks, pine tree, and mountains. However, the rest of the details are evidently up to interpretation, so our guide pointed out at least five different versions on the tour. A “bonus” detail we got to see because it not part of a the tour was a gorgeous fireplace in a lounge area that has all these different stones mined in Vermont. We got to see it simply because he was leading us to the elevator as a member of the group needed to use it. Something that I also found amusing is that the capitol does have a dome, but you can’t look into the interior as it is unfinished wood. Our guide pointed to the part of the ceiling that is below the dome at my request because I am weird.

Vermont State Capitol

Vermont House Chambers

Vermont Senate Chambers

Vermont Governor’s formal office

Ceiling in Vermont Governor’s formal office

Cedar Creek Reception Room

Vermont coat of arms on wall of House Chambers

Stairwell

Ceiling on first floor which blocks view of dome (also I think second floor also blocks view)

Colorado State Capitol

Posted on December 5, 2018 by geek

Amazingly I lived in Colorado for four years while in college and never once went inside the state capitol. I finally changed that today. Although while taking the tour, I learned that the capitol has been renovated and restored since I was in college, so I was able to see a much nicer looking building than I would have seen back then. The capitol is lovely, and if you are able to visit, take the tour because you can go up into the dome and onto an observation balcony but only on the tour. Similar to capitols, the House of Representatives is decorated in green like the UK House of Commons, while the Senate is decorated in red like the House of Lords. Much of the stone in the building is from quarries in the state, including a gorgeous red onyx. There is a lot of brass that appears to need constant polishing. My favorite feature of the building is Mr. Brown’s Attic, where there are windows to allow you to see much of the superstructure, including vaulted ceiling of the two chambers.

Colorado State Capitol

Interior space

Ground floor

The rotunda

Inside the rotunda looking up to the dome

Representatives chamber

Senate chamber

Brass elevator

Red onyx and brass decorate much of the building

Stairwell with brass decorations

Inside the dome

Window in Mr. Brown’s Attic of the exterior of one of the chamber’s vaulted ceiling

View from the dome’s balcony

California State Capitol

Posted on December 2, 2018 by geek

I am continuing in my quest to visit all the state capitols, and I am in Sacramento this weekend, so I got to add California to my list. The history of the building is rather interesting in that they started building it in 1860, but mainly due to lack of funds, it was not finished for 14 years. In 1906, much modernization was done to the building including electricity and central heat and air. [I was unclear when the indoor plumbing came.] Additions and other renovations were done after that. Some of those renovations sounded like they were more “renovations” that probably sounded good to some at the time, but now most of us at least, and cringe at what was done. Then in 1975, they pretty much completely rebuilt the capitol. The shell of the building stayed, but the interior was completely torn down and built back up again. They did a lovely job of rebuilding. The building is gorgeous with wonderful wooden staircases, gilded and painted ceilings and walls, tile floors, and plenty of little touches you just have to explore to find. The state seal can be found in all sorts of places, and many other symbols are subtly placed around the building. There are bears everywhere, including coming out of staircase railing columns. They also restored several rooms on the first floor to their 1906 appearance, so parts of the capitol are a historical museum.

California State Capitol

Rotunda

The senate chamber is decorated with a lot of pink, which is supposed to reflect the color of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords.

Senate chamber

The assembly chamber is decorated with a lot of green, which is supposed to reflect the color of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons.

Assembly chamber

Assembly chamber ceiling

In one of the panels of the assembly’s ceiling, is a grotesque of man’s head and his two hands. It is difficult to see unless you are looking for it, preferably with the help of a tour guide with a laser pointer. It is in a panel with a ring of (what I assume are) prickly pears with yellow flowers. Based on what my tour guide said and my internet searches, it doesn’t seem like the origins and true meaning of the grotesque are clear, but a chubby cheeked man with his hands up in a room where politicians work kind of gives me easy ideas.

Assembly chamber ceiling grotesque

Elevator

Wooden staircases with intricate metal lamps

Wooden staircase

Stained glass ceiling light

1906 Governor’s office

Bear guarding the governor’s office

Women’s March on Washington

Posted on January 21, 2017 by geek

I went to the Women’s March on Washington today. I have only been to one of rally in my life, and that Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity. Clearly, I generally don’t go to rallies or protests, but this was one I really felt I had to go to. The day started out how I was sort of worried it might: a line to get into the Metro. I do have to compliment WMATA staff though. The trains were packed, but the workers were doing their best to keep things moving and helping people. They were helped by all the people going to the rally were in a really good mood and patiently waited for the train. Three trains went by where maybe one person could board because they were already full. Finally the fourth came, and there was barely anyone on it, and everyone in the station cheered and quickly got on. Then we got to L’Enfant to exit for the rally. We had to wait in line to get out. I think part of the problem was that all the escalators were off, which I think is a safety function when there are too many people. It wasn’t really a problem because we just started rallying in the subway station.

Then after getting to the surface, it was a slow walk towards the rally stage. I think I got as close as a block or so. After reading the news this evening, it was amazing I could get that close as all the streets were full. The published schedule was that the rally would be from about 10-1, and then the march would start. The march was supposed to be down Independence Ave, then turn down 14th St., then turn down Constitution Ave, and walk to The Ellipse. I got to the rally area around 12:30 and could halfway hear the speakers. Everyone was happy and joining in chants. After about 1:30, we started our own chants like “let us march” or just “march.” People were tired of listening to people and just wanted to march. Some time after 2:30, they said that there were too many people, so we would end on Constitution Ave, not The Ellipse. Then we thought we would march, but no, there were more speakers. There were many, many speakers. Then finally around 3, they said the route had changed, and now we would walk across 4th and then turn onto Constitution Ave. Finally a bit after 3, my area of people just started marching. Honestly I have no idea how many people had already started marching well before. I just followed people. When I was able to move, I moved. Evidently the people I followed either didn’t know where Constitution Ave was or didn’t care because everyone just kept walking to Pennsylvania Ave. There were people on Constitution Ave, and they all seemed to be walking back to join the people on Pennsylvania. So we marched on Pennsylvania, and people sat in the bleachers from the inauguration parade and cheered us on. People were in buildings all along the street cheering. I have to give props to DC police, National Guard, and everyone else out there who has to keep order. We were an orderly, happy, loud bunch, and they let us be. I am quite sure we were not supposed to be on that street, but they let us march. We chanted, clapped, and waved to people and let ourselves be known. One of the chants that I liked the best was “this is what democracy looks like.”

Trying to get out of L’Enfant Metro station

March like a girl

The guardsman on the left was taking photos of the crowd for people. They would hand him their phone, and he would take photos or a movie for them.

Sometimes things just line up in a photo for you

An interesting contrast of people exercising their First Amendment Rights, in front of the Newseum with the First Amendment written on the side of the building with people cheering from the building with a “Welcome President Trump” sign