Like everyone else that actually lives in D.C., the only time I ever actually go and visit the iconic landmarks of the city is when someone comes to visit. There are plenty of spots in this city I have on my to-see list, but that list rarely gets anything crossed off of it when there isn't someone else providing the motivation to not simply stay on the couch.

But I enjoy it, every time, going out among the unwashed tourist hordes. And thankfully, my uncle gave me the needed impetus this month when he arrived in Washington for a week-long visit.

Among the items on his itinerary was a tour of the Capitol, arranged by the office of his Senator in Montana (who wasn't in town for our visit, but a few days before his trip to D.C. my uncle saw the Senator in the hardware store and briefly visited with him - the Senator is an old softball friend. This seems to me to be a pretty good illustration of something about Montana, but I'm not sure exactly what). In my previous year and a half of D.C. residence, I had not seen the inside of the Capitol building - the last (and only) time I'd been inside was in 1995, when we got a tour as part of a high school trip. Needless to say, I did not have a perfect memory of all the interior details - or any of them. It had just seemed like too much of a hassle to actually wait in line for a Capitol tour or to try to set a date for a staffer-led tour. But having someone else set up a tour was perfect.

The Capitol is the most imposing building in D.C., and is even more so when you consider the fact it was built essentially in what was the middle of a cow pasture and some forestland. And there are areas inside the Capitol that have the same aura - mainly in the Rotunda under the dome, lined with paintings of battle. But the most striking thing about the Captitol's interior is how cramped, dim and unglamorous much of it is. Many of the "corridors of power" are narrow, dark passageways - often with a statue thrown up, seemingly anywhere it would fit. Offices of Congressmen are tucked into corners where you'd expect nothing more than a broom closet, or along a basement hallway with exposed pipes on the ceiling. Some of the older areas, where the earliest meetings of Congress took place, are dark enough, surrounded by interior walls of thick stone, I can't imagine how things worked before the advent of electric lighting. Even the House chamber, which looks like such a large auditorium in tracking shots during the State of the Union, is surprisingly small and utilitarian.

In all, I like this better than I would if it was all high ceilings, white marble and trappings of glory. There's some of that, to be sure, but the more austere bits seem as though they are there to insert some a much-needed reminder of the responsibility of the place, of the work to be done, of the fact all the power of the place comes from being representatives of the people.

Or maybe such things are lost on those that actually work there, where the power of the positions is easier to drink in, and certainly more heady. In this, more cynical view, I think the symbolism is no less appropriate - the grand image of government, up close loses much of the glamour.