Since I was going to Madison, I decided to hit up the state capitol building. I hadn’t been there in years, so I wanted to see it again. After I went to Woodman’s, I headed downtown.
The capitol started getting closer. I didn’t drive up to the steps though, like last time I was in Madison.
I hadn’t planned on spending much time in the capitol, so when I saw a 2-hour parking sign and an empty space, I quickly grabbed it.
Come to find out, the 2-hour spaces were behind me and taken. This was permit parking space. Luckily, across the road was metered parking. Jake stood in the parking spot as I went around the Capitol Square. He put some money in the meter, and we found out we could only park for 30 minutes. It was definitely going to have to be a fast tour!
We quickly walked about to the south side of the building.
There were definitely plenty of old rock steps to climb.
It was cool looking at the dome and columns.
The door was wooden.
.with an old and cool knob that said, “Wisconsin.”
The one thing about the Wisconsin State Capitol building is there isn’t any security when you walk in. You just walk in and are free to roam. I remember the last time I visited was one of the only times they had security due to the massive protests that were happening right after Act 10 in 2011. This time, we just walked past the statue. I also made a note of this statue so I knew where I needed to be to get back to my car.
We made it into the rotunda area.
I decided to look up.
There was a veteran’s memorial nearby.
There were people down on the ground floor below us.
There were many steps to climb. These steps led to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
They didn’t want firearms in the court.
They had a listing of what they were hearing that day. Interestingly enough, they were having a hearing about carrying firearms.
You could even see inside through the windows that court was in session.
We walked up some steps by the state library. The whole capitol building had wooden doors like what is seen in this picture.
We eventually found directions to the observation deck.
We finally made it there!
All we had left was a climb up the spiral staircase.
From there, the views of Madison were amazing! Seeing the lakes and then how it formed the isthmus definitely puts things into perspective when they talk about Madison being an isthmus.
We found that there was an observation deck for looking down in the rotunda.
It was definitely a long way’s down from where we were looking.
There were also some old artifacts like these lights.
.and this drinking fountain.
There was an old liberty bell.
By this time, it was time to leave. I quickly snapped a picture from the capitol steps on the side of the square I had parked the car.
We made it to my car with no time left on the meter. This whole tour of the capitol building took about half an hour, and it took longer to write this blog entry than the time we spent in the capitol. It was definitely good to see it again, and maybe sometime I’ll find some better parking that will allow me to spend more time wandering around.
