Gosh.  Anyone looking at these photos is going to think Indianapolis is some kind of creepy ghost town.

I should say that there were plenty of people walking the streets of downtown Indianapolis.  But Sunday was Manning-Bowl, and the blue and white be-jerseyed denizens of Indy were too busy migrating to the Lucas Oil Stadium to stop and get their pictures taken.

No Colts fans in the capitol building, though.  No anyone in the capitol building.  Technically speaking, we probably shouldn't have been in the building, either, since it wasn't exactly open to the public.  But members of the party had state-issued key cards, and as there wasn't anyone there to tell us to leave...

It looks like I suspect all capitol buildings must look.  Grand arches and high ceilings and doors carved out of heavy wood.  A ring of statues circle the atrium from the second floor, standing on pedestals with labels like "AGRICULTURE," or ''ARTS AND LITERATURE," or "SCIENCE."  The figureheads of Hoosier civilization.

The marbled halls don't just feel empty, they feel hollow.  The rubber squeak of our shoes against the tiles vibrates in the open spaces, and follow us like ghosts down the stairs and past the governor's office.  We sneak as quietly as can out the front doors, but like the rest of the city, the concrete steps leading up to the building are empty, so there's no one to see us breaking rules.