Touring the West Wing of the White House & Exploring the U.S. Botanic Garden

Alexandra Keleti

January 15, 2023

One of Zach’s good friends from law school asked us last week if we’d like to tour the West Wing of the White House. We canceled our plans to make room for this tour and had a phenomenal time! We learned about the various history-filled rooms, including the Oval Office, and about how fun it is to work in the White House.

First, we toured the EEOB (Eisenhower Executive Office Building), where most of the White House staff works. This is one of the magnificent, ornate rooms in the building.
Zach smiled behind the podium of the Indian Treaty Room within the EEOB (Eisenhower Executive Office Building). There’s mystery surrounding this room – no one knows what treaty was signed here.
This is the Press Briefing Room in the White House. One of the Reuters reporters gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of the spaces the different reporters use for their journalism.

Zach and I also had a great time at the US Botanic Garden. The US Botanic Garden has multiple sections to represent the plant life in different parts of the world. There was a room for Hawaii, for example, where the signs in the room explained how more plants there have become endangered. There were interesting rooms that explained how farming techniques have become more efficient and sustainable. There, Zach and I discussed the evolving role of the farmer in today’s society. Another room discussed hybrid plants such as the Venus Fly Trap. Apparently, many of the foods we eat today are hybrids- they are a cross-pollination between the original plant and the wild, ‘tougher’, plant so that the crops we grow for food are more resilient.

At the US Botanic Garden, Zach stood in front of a papaya tree.
Several grapefruit trees grew in the main area of the US Botanic Garden.
I was awestruck by the gorgeous succulent landscaping and beautiful arched frescos.
Zach’s and my time at the US Botanic Garden was not only very fun, but educational. We learned that there was a lot we didn’t know about different plant species: how tenuous their future survival is, and how innovative new crop-breeding techniques have become.

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