The Inauguration

We went down to the inauguration happenings on Tuesday to try and get a glimpse of our new president or maybe someone else famous. We didn't see anyone famous, but we sure saw a lot of people. Getting on the train at our stop at Stadium-Armory was easy, although our normally bare streets were lined with cars and tour buses. Getting off the Metro at
L'Enfant Plaza took some time. We had to wait in line to walk up the two sets of escalators.

Waiting to go up the escalators.

Once we got out of the Metro, it was people, people, people basically the whole time. There were all kinds of people, everywhere.

You can see some people caught a cab and were trying to drive through the crowd. It wasn't working too well, but at least they were warm!


We tried to get into the Mall, but it was full of people and they weren't letting anyone else in. I guess some people who had tickets still couldn't get in. Eventually, we ended up at 15th and Independence, near the Washington Monument, which is basically all we could see besides people, people, people.

Our view of the Inauguration

The blue arrow points to about where we were, and the red arrow points to where the main event is occurring.

So we couldn't see, but we could hear most of the time, except when motorcycle policeman kept rode by with their sirens on or during the invocation (which I appreciated) when a young woman started screaming expletives via cell phone at her friend about whose fault it was that they got separated. Otherwise, it was a wonderful experience. The swearing in was great, even if there was a hiccup, and the inaugural address was great to hear live. I really liked many of the things he said, especially this:

Our challenges may be new. "The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

After the speech we decided it would best to start heading home. We decided it would take to long to wait for a train so we walked the 4 miles back home. It was quite fun because we got to see a lot on the way and we were bundled up in many layers, so we didn't get too cold.

At the Inauguration

Everyone else had similar ideas, because there were people around us the whole time. It was cool to see everyone out and about. Some even decided to take the freeway.

People walking on the freeway

By the time we got home, we were ready to be there. All in all, it was an awesome experience. There was so much energy and excitement and hope in the air. It was exciting to get a new president, but what really impressed me was the throngs and throngs of people. If there's one thing that Obama has done he's brought people together. It was wonderful to see people from many different races, religions, ethnicities, countries, beliefs, etc, all enjoying a cold morning together. I hope it stays that way. It was a wonderful, unifying feeling. Some might call it brotherly love or goodwill towards all men (and women). It was nice.