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We went to the inaguration.  We didn’t see anything (besides the backs and heads of MANY people) but we can say we were there.  We could hear what was going on since there were loud speakers placed everywhere, but we could not get close enough to even see the jumbotons.  We were technically on the mall, standing to the right of the Washington Monument (as looking toward the Capital building).  We didn’t stay long partly because it was COLD and I didn’t want the kids to be outside too long, but also because when Obama finished his speach and Feinstein started speaking a giant wave of humankind began to flood our direction.  There was litterally no place to go but out of the way.  We stayed slightly ahead of the mass of people (although we were still “in a croud”) by walking down 15th street.  After about a block we cut over to 14th street and walked ON the 14th street bridge across the Potomac all the way to Crystal City, where we stopped to have lunch before we got on the metro to go home.  In total we walked over 5 1/2 miles on Tuesday (and my five year old daughter walked almost all of that, too!).

I had a blast. I was so excited all day long, actually both MLK Day and the day of the inaguration. 

The evening before the inaguration we metroed into DC. That was actually more magical for me than the day of because we went in the evening.  We could see everything so grandly prepared and ready for the event. We walked out of the metro and accidently happened upon the side street where the parade floats were kept.  We could see each one of them very close up.  Next we saw the stark white Capital so richly adored against the dark blue night sky was a sight to behold.  From there we walked the length of the mall, stopping periodically to watch the networks tape their live coverage.  After we reached the Washington Monument we walked up the Eclipse over to the White House.  The whitewashed icon set against the dark brilliant sky took my breath away!

In addition to all the sights we saw that night, everyone we encountered was in festive spirits.  Even perfect stangers were especially polite.  There was a feeling of celebration and happiness.  I am sure for many the inaguration represented a partial fulfillment of the dreams MLK once spoke of.  For me, it represents a turn in our country’s course. 

It was a special weekend.  I think that I really do love politics.  Not the backbiting fierceness of it, but the pagentry, the motives, the innerworkings and so forth.

more ideas:

parade/floats

canons

police motorcycles

Wednesday morning it looked good.  You could barely tell that anything had happened the day before except there were a lot more people in town. . . long lines to get into museums and such. Besides that it was utterly amazing how clean things were the day after.

Today is the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.  This year the MLK celebration is especially highlighted due to tomorrow’s inaguration of America’s first African-American president.  It was an exciting day for me. . . I can quite honestly say the best MLK Day I have ever had. 

For the first time ever I watched a recording of Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speach. . . .

We went into Washington DC today after dinner to see the festivity preparations. 

We were amazingly surprised at how few people were out (much fewer than we expected).  We knew metro stations that were off the beaten path, so that also helped.

We were surprised also as to how friendly everyone was .  Perfect stangers who bumped into me would say, “Oh, excuse me.”  People were laughing, smiling and generally in good spirits.

I would liken tomorrow to a wedding atmosphere. 

We saw some of the floats for the parade tomorrow – uso, like a cinderella horse and coach – Boy Scouts, big flag -State floats for Obama and Biden (Illinois and Deleware). They were impressive and it was so neat to see them up close.  All the floats pulled by brand new John Deere tractors. 

Capital building. Stark white against the blue/gray sky.  Fabulously decorated with five flags and the stands.  iced water in front

We walked the length of the mall.  Saw where different tv stations were filming their “live coverage.”  Those portable studios look like ships of daylight in the sea of darkness. 

Walked up to the white house – stark white contrastsing the black lawn and dark sky.  We meandered around the back to our secret unknown station where we didn’t have to wait in line to get on the metro.

So many thought and impressions, but I must go to bed so that I can be prepared to go into DC again tomorrow for the big day.

I am stuck. I have put aside time today and I am completely overwhelmed.  I think that I want to work on some of my travel stuff, but I have not spent the time needed to organize my travel stuff in a way that I can rework it during my half hours.

Later- Here’s what I can work with tomorrow:

August 8th 2004 We are doing good.  We are in Rota.  It is at the southern coast of Spain. We went out to eat at a Chinese food restaurant this afternoon for lunch.  Last night we are at a Spanish restaurant.   Then we went to the festival that the town is having.  This used to be a small fishing village and so their festival is in honor of a fish. It was a little lame.  They had lots of booths to drink and some stalls that sold their version of fair foods.  Then they had a row of rides and such, like a carnival inthe states.  They had a band that played music  but the band had not arrived yet.  We were there before things were happening.  we were there at 10pm.  People were just beginning to arrive.  I guess when you do not eat dinner until 9pm then you do not start your festivals until much later.  they really know how to party and celebrate life!  They have 35 hour work weeks and then they “party all the time, party all the time” We are trying to get our car from being shipped over, get the car registered in Spain and with the navy base, and get our Spanish id cards and spanish drivers licesnse. It is a beauocratic nightmare. We’ve already discovered that European “efficiency” is not quite up to
US standards. Not something they advertise for expats and vacationers but
“part of the old-world charm” i guess (not).

Lifted straight from the Wikipedia website, I quote, “In the Middle Ages, most of the present territory of Moldova was part of the Principality of Moldavia. In 1812, it was annexed by the Russian Empire, and became known as Bessarabia. Between 1856 and 1878, one of the eight counties was returned to Moldavia, which in 1859 united with Wallachia to form modern Romania. Upon the dissolution of the Russian Empire in 1917, an autonomous, then independent Moldavian Democratic Republic was formed, which joined Romania in 1918. In 1940, Bessarabia was occupied by the Soviet Union and was split between the Ukrainian SSR and the newly-created Moldavian SSR. After changing hands in 1941 and 1944 during World War II, the country became again part of the Soviet Union until its declaration of independence on August 27, 1991. Moldova was admitted to the UN in March 1992. In September 1990, a breakaway government was formed in Transnistria, a strip of Moldavian SSR on the left bank of the river Dniester, and after a brief war in 1992 became de facto independent, although no UN member has recognized its independence.” Wow, that is one of the best, concise recounts of the history of Moldova.   Just thought that I would post this for general reference.

9-9:12

Everyday I tell myself that I am going to start back up again writing for a half an hour a day and each day I don’t.  So I decided today that before I even allowed myself to check e-mail I have to log in a half an hour to practice my writing skills. I will feel so accomplished with myself when I do!

I have been thinking again and again about wanting to write. . .mainly the travel memoirs.

But today I am going to write an observation that I have about riding on the metro each morning.  There are two key rules for metro riders who ride during the daily commute times.  Rule #1) Stay in your own space, which is mainly a 2′x2′ square of personal space around you, whether you are sitting or standing and #2) Don’t make noise – any kind of noise, electronic or verbal.  These rules don’t apply to tourists or weekends.

I walk one mile to the metro and then I ride the blue line for almost exactly a half an hour.  Usually I use this private time on the metro (truely my only private time of the day) to do my homework.  In the winter I have to bundle up quite a bit due to the long walk, but by the time I reach my platform I have warmed up to the point that when I get on the metro I feel I must “unbundle.”  While this is a very uncommon occurance on the metro (most people ride their whole half hour with coats on completely bundled) no one seems to pay any attention.  In fact, no one seems to pay any attention to anyone else on purpose.  Each person pretends that they are the only people in their awareness.  Each person stays in their respective 2′x2′ space and remains perfectly quiet.  Some people read while others close their eyes.  A few people dare to look around and observe, but they are almost always careful not to seem to be looking. 

One day when I entered the metro there was a lady sleeping on three seats that were together.  She was covered in coats and did not move. No one acted as if they even saw the sleeping homeless person.  They walked past her, unphased and unnoticing.  After 10 minutes on the metro I was concerned with the idea that the homeless lady could actually be dead and no one would have noticed.  It is actually possible.  I watched her intently until I saw her chest rise, assuring myself that she was, in fact, breathing.

I have ultimately come to the conclusion that any person could quite possibly do any sort of unusual thing, barring lude and indecent acts and remaining quiet in their respective space, and people in their daily commute would pretend as if that person did not exist.

For school Paige was given the assignment that she had to write a story about a cat.  She came up with a pretty good story for a five year old girl that has never had, or even been around, a cat.  She doesn’t actually have much experience with animals in general, outside of the zoo. (Also, I need to say that it took Paige a while to “get into” the story.  And once she did her brother was so distracting that she had a hard time staying focused.  Never the less, she tried hard and I want to chronicle her efforts.) So here goes. . .

Lily was walking her cat and they saw a dog on the way.  The dog growled as Lily and hr cat ran until they were away from the dog. The dog’s owner said, “get away from that cat.”  Lily knw the dog’s owner. It was her friend from school.  Her name was Jessica.

Passing by a little walk, they saw another dog.  Lily knw that one, too. The owner said, “Get away.  You don’t need anything with cats.” Her name was Ellie.

They were walking to the park, passing by and by.  They saw another dog.  Lily saw the owner.  It was Amy. They were close to the park. They saw another dog.  They knew that owner, too.  Everyone knowed her name. It was Katie.  Katie just liked to be called Katie.

 more later . . .