We finally got the green light from Dan's doctor to travel again, so it didn’t take us long to pack everything up and start moving towards Florida. Since Baton Rouge was along our route, we took advantage of the opportunity to stop for a couple of days for the Capitol tour. This capitol building is like none other we've visited before, and indeed, is quite unique, being the tallest state capitol in the United States. The building is 450 feet high with 34 floors, with an observation deck on the 27th floor. The day we were there was clear and bright, so the view of Baton Rouge from this vantage point was spectacular.
The entrance to the capitol has a grand staircase with one step for each of the 48 states, listed in order of their admittance to the Union. Alaska and Hawaii were added to the top step when they were made states, well after the March 1932 completion date of the capitol. We explored the first floor, really the only area that was open to tourists, as both the Senate Chambers and House of Representatives were being remodeled. Huey P. Long, former governor of Louisiana, was assassinated in the Capitol Building, and his body is enshrined on the Capitol grounds. There is a showcase near the sight he was shot displaying newspaper articles depicting this historical and tragic event.
We were sorry to find out that the Old Capitol wasn't open to the public, as it looked like it might have been more interesting than the current more modern capitol building, but we did manage to walk the square block around it, and take some pictures of the very beautiful structure. The rest of our tour day consisted of walking along the Mississippi River on part of a designated river walkway and enjoying the beautiful weather.
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