I know everybody saw it on tv, but it really is hard to explain exactly what it feels like to be in a crowd of 2 million people. It is chaos, even if peaceful chaos. Ian and I have both said a million times, we are glad we went to the festivities, but it was not what we would call a "fun" day. We went to the concert on Sunday, which was amazing to hear U2, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, John Mellancamp, Bruce Springsteen and so on and so on play for a gazillion people for free at the Lincoln Memorial (who would have thought that Garth Brooks would have been the highlight for the crowd, but he was definitely the most fun!) We froze and couldn't believe the crowds but we got home pretty quickly and were so happy we went.
Then we thawed out Monday and headed to DC that night so we didn't have to do the commute twice on Tuesday with the crowds (good decision, by 6:30am the roads were jammed for miles heading into the Metro stations). We froze our tails off all night on an air mattress in the kitchen of our friend (a 2 room tiny apartment with apparently no heat in the kitchen!) but were so excited the next morning to be so close the the Capitol and the The Mall (just about 5 blocks away). Those 5 blocks took us about 45 minutes to walk with the detours and crowds but no complaining. Then we navigated through the Mall area for a while until we found a small spot with a slight elevation so that I could see over heads to the Jumbotron.
We were in the spot at 8:30am and had to hold our ground for 3 hours with thousands of folks trying to also claim the same ground. It was cold, yes, but we were happy to be there. We were at 12th street, about 9 blocks away from the swearing in. By 9am they were announcing that the parade route was already full and for nobody else to try to get a spot along the route (we had already been warned to choose one festivity and stick with it). By 9:30am they were trying to block off the area we were in. They claimed that from 12th street to the Capitol, there were a million people. But people just kept coming and they gave up trying to keep folks out. We were wedged in, with barely a view of a jumbotron, but we were there. The energy when Obama took the oath was thrilling and inspiring and we only hope that the same spirit continues. A lady named Grace stood next to us, she was from Ohio and is 81 years old. A little boy was held up by his parents in front of us and a couple from Georgia stood to our left. It was an eclectic crowd, but all there for one purpose and it was amazing to hear all these different people cheer for our new president.
When the inauguration was over we headed out (all of us). It took forever to shuffle through the crowd. We headed back to our friend's house, attempted to go to a restaurant and then decided to just head home. We got to the metro stop closest to us and there it was- a crowd of 6 people deep, wrapping around the block 1 and a half times just to get into the station. We turned around and headed across downtown, passed a couple other stops and then went into Chinatown. It took forever and we were exhausted but we were able to get right onto a train, no wait and were home shortly after. Food, warmth and a tv along with our girls' smiling faces and Lucy's recount of the inauguration (she of course, thought she knew more about it than we) made the day complete. Lucy went to bed wondering only one thing: "when do the Obama's get a new puppy?" The President already has a constituent to answer to.
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