Baton Rouge is Louisiana’s state capitol, and the princess Kelly and I went to go see the capitol building and park!
We left the beautiful Mediterranean villa at sunrise, while most of its inhabitants were still asleep, and hopped on I-10 West in my Hyundai, coffee in-hand. My snail friend Rodger had said he wanted to go, but when I tapped on his shell, he just mumbled something about Scotch being best sipped slowly and went back to sleep. I thought it was best not to wake him.
The Louisiana state capitol building is easy to see: it rises thirty stories over everything. We found an old-fashioned parking meter that took pennies and set off through the gardens surrounding the huge capitol. It was a chilly morning for May, and we hurried a bit through the well-crafted hedges.
The front doors were blocked by caution tape, so we had to hunt for an alternate entrance (come to find out, it’s because parts of the building’s exterior are deteriorating… I suppose it’s difficult to find contractors that climb to those heights) but all we had to do was look for the serious suits. We followed them to the ground floor entrance. The security guard there was impressed with how early we’d arrived. “The tour guide isn’t even ready yet!’ he said, and sure enough, she ran by and over her shoulder referred us to someone named Lance upstairs. Down the hall we found a cafeteria charmingly similar to the one in Netflix’s show House of Cards, already inhabited by several serious suits eating breakfast quietly in a civilized manner.
An impressive golden elevator took us to the first floor, where we stepped out in amazement. I hadn’t been so happy about architecture in months. The breathtaking foyer had a high domed ceiling. Statues stood along the walls. On our right was the Senate; on our left, the House of Representatives.
Then a kind gentleman pointed us toward the elevators again. “Have you been to the top of the tower?” he said, and watched our eyes get big. We hadn’t. So we got on the elevator, which judging from the interior hadn’t been refinished since the sixties or seventies, and ascended much too quickly to the twenty-fourth floor. A second, smaller elevator took us to the top, the thirtieth level. And there was the view.
The balcony ran 360 degrees around the entire tower, giving us a perfect view of the city. At each compass point, the building bore a different description:
Neither of us had expected to get as far as we did at the State Capitol, and it was a great adventure, possibly my favorite since arriving in Baton Rouge. I’ve been here thirty days exactly, and it’s starting to feel like home. Here’s to new adventures in this beautiful beginning of May.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~
Bonus: from within the Senate chamber, the view through velvet curtains of the city beyond.
