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.
An a big day was had for all. It will be a good memory.