The West Wing

We had quite an exciting and unique experience this afternoon.  We were taken on a tour of the West Wing of the White House by one of my husband’s patients who works for the National Security Council.  We were able to see many areas including the Cabinet Room, Press Room and Oval Office.  These tours are fairly new, and must be done through and with a staffer, and can only occur when the President is out of town.   The Oval Office, a place of such historical significance, is very familiar to all of us through the news, but seeing it personally was such a thrill.  It was quite a bit smaller than I had imagined so I suspect that Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing TV reproduction took some license with size (among other things.) 

This is the main entrance at the front of the West Wing.   Any visitors for President Obama would enter through here and wait in the reception area to be taken to the Oval Office, which faces out the back.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside, which just tortured me.  I have included two other shots of the White House from the west side.  One shows you this same entrance looking towards the Main entrance of the White House.  The other features the palladian window on the second floor of the White House which is the West Sitting Room and is part of the Obama  private living quarters.  The large window below it is the State Dining Room. You can see the sharp-shooters on the roof. 

The hallway walls of the West Wing are covered in large candid photographs taken by the White House photographer, some taken as recently as a couple of weeks ago.  These photos are updated routinely and ultimately when they are removed, White House and Executive Office Building staff apply to obtain one or more for their offices.  Apparently a lot of negotiating and pulling weight and strings is involved in scoring one of these. Eventually, many end up on the White House Flickr page.