Saturday, September 26, 2015

The Dome Tour at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka





During the Statehouse Tour,
I took this picture of the
staircase that goes up
into the dome.




Eric & I reviewed the Dome
 Tour Safety Rules & joined
 Altaire, our tour guide for
the 296 step climb.










Eric and I, along with about twenty others start the climb.






Looking down...








                Climbing higher... 
                      At each stop, Altaire tells us interesting facts about the dome.






...to the floor of 
the rotunda.






               
Climbing up the stairs around the rotunda...
Including Ad Aspera, the Indian at the top of the dome, the Statehouse is 306 feet tall.






There is one light bulb
out on the chandelier.







We pass graffiti on the walls and the columns.     
For years visitors were able to come up to the dome unattended and leave graffiti behind.





The device mounted to the
top of the dome is the
winch for the rotunda
chandelier.









We continue our climb upward...
      At 306 feet, the Kansas Statehouse dome is the second tallest dome in the country.





I'm thinking hard about
not continuing
the climb.










                                        
     The inside of the dome is clay tiles.  
                                 School children often mistake the tiles for books.
                         We continue to climb....  





I could just wait here.












I'm going to continue the climb.  Many others have without incident.





A close up of the clay
tiles & bricks that line
the inside of the dome.







            It's quite warm up here....
                  The Kansas Statehouse dome is 17 feet taller than the U.S. Capitol dome.






Fresh air & the feeling
of accomplishment.




The Topeka Skyline






The north side of the
Statehouse.












One of the Kansas State
Agency buildings
adjacent to the Statehouse.






A picture from our
trip down the
stairs.











We thank Altaire for the tour of the dome.  This is a unique experience.




I wanted to get a tee shirt
commemorating today's
experience.

The only size at the
Gift Shop is XXL &
I am not buying a
nightshirt.







This is an amazing tour!  The Kansas Statehouse is among my favorite state capitols.

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