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The Capitol Visitor Center reopened to the public this morning. Tour guides outfitted in crisp, red blazers dotted Emancipation Hall as individuals and large groups streamed in through the main entrance.
“We’re glad to be back,” one guide beamed.
Rusty Doggett, who was visiting from Raleigh, North Carolina, told CBS News he and a friend landed in Washington last night.
“We were coming up anyway and unfortunately the Capitol and the government was closed up until last night,” Doggett said. “We got here and it was a ghost town. Cab driver had been waiting three hours for me. He had two jobs the whole day. So it’s not just affected SNAP and TSA and air traffic controllers but the whole city of Washington, D.C., as well as America was punished, and I’m just glad that we’re opened back up.”
Another couple from the Netherlands told CBS News they were aware of the shutdown when they planned their trip to the United States.
“We found a lot closed, like the Smithsonian museum,” Melle Jorritsma said alongside his wife, Tiny.
Asked how they perceived the shutdown coming from another country, Jorritsma explained “the only thing I can say, I think there’s a lot going on in the world, and there are many people opposing each other on many subjects, and I would love to see that people would stand shoulder-to-shoulder again and make things work again in the world. That will be my wish.”
The Library of Congress and the U.S. Botanic Garden, which is on the Capitol grounds, also reopened to the public today.
