I toured the White House yesterday! Ask me anything!

[leftyclimber]

Part of a school trip. My ankle (torn tendon) hurts from all the walking. Hope there's a cancellation soon to get it fixed. Right now I'm on the Glorious American Waitlist.

[3.14158675309]

1. When did they start allowing the public to tour the White House again?

[leftyclimber]

2. That I do not know.

But it's a pretty short tour.

[3.14158675309]

4. We toured it in August 2001 (!) and I was literally shocked at

how small the White House actually is inside. Great experience, though. :hi:

[leftyclimber]

6. Same here.

You see these shots on TV of the East Room and it looks so huge. It's not terribly big IRL. (They were getting ready to have dinner with Gordon Brown et al. while I was there ... the flower arrangements were GORGEOUS!)

Beautiful, beautiful place, though. I'm an architecture nut and an art history nut, so I was pretty happy to wander through.

[Nevernose]

7. A student of mine toured it in 2005

He's in the 11th grade now. So they've at least let kids in for the last four years. Don't worry -- there's still plenty of reasons to hate *.

ANd I'd never heard of them reversing the "new" policy, either.

[rurallib]

3. Lucky thing you don't live in socialist Canada

according to what I hear from my republican senator, you may be retired before you got it fixed.
Did you see any faces you recognized from the news or TV?

[leftyclimber]

5. I lived in Canada for 7 years.

My ankle would have been fixed about 7 months ago if I were still in Ontario, if my previous experience is any indicator. In the US, I may be DEAD before I get it fixed. Of course, it will be of some obesity-related problem, because I am gaining weight like a madman b/c I haven't been able to exercise since about, say, last July.....

I got my picture taken with Nick Rahall (D-WV) but didn't get to chat with him due to the coal lobbyists waiting to lobby at him. Talked with one of his senior staffers briefly, but was sort of overshadowed by the faculty lobbying for research money. :P No big guns that I recognized in the Rayburn Building when I was there.