The concert reaffirmed my belief that I was not going to regret the decision of venturing out on inauguration day. The atmosphere was so lively, people were friendly and all that made up for the lousy weather. I was in fact looking forward to the Inauguration Day!
We stayed in on Monday; it was our “rest day”. My friend from work and her husband joined us on Monday night. Working our way through a pizza we discussed our plan of action for the big day. We decided that getting out of the house at 4 a.m. to get in to one of the earliest metro was the wisest thing to do. That would ensure we get a decent spot. However, the coverage on CNN showed the capitol area was already filling in with people and it was just 12:00 a.m.
V threw in a crazy idea (and he was pretty serious about it), that we all should head out to the city and hang out there through the night. He was so super excited about it and was even ready to get out before I stepped in with some emotional BS (Yes! I am that mean!) He better come with all of us! Poor chap, he succumbed and quietly went to bed instead.
It was about 1:30 when we finally went to bed (except S, my friend’s husband, he was working, until 3:15 a.m.) and our plan was to get out of the house at 4 a.m.
I was in charge of the alarm and I woke up at 3:15, went to call V (my friend). We revisited our strategy and decided that we’ll leave the house at 6. So I woke up at 5 and this time I quickly checked CNN to find that the capitol was steadily filling with people and it was almost crowded. At that point, we thought there’s really no difference in trying to “beat the crowd”. In the end, we were got out of the house at 7:30.
The word “Crowded” really does not do justice to the amount of people that were waiting for the metro. Slowly, but steadily we made our way to the Federal Triangle Station. We strolled towards the Capitol and found a decent spot, near a JumboTron. It was a really cold day, but it was sunny and bright and that helped a lot. We looked at some of the aerial shots on T.V and it looked so pretty!
As we waited with frozen toes, fingers and noses, we munched on the Cheerios that we had packed… Slowly, the dignitaries started arriving one by one. There were cheers and jeers… the event started, invocation, a recital and some speeches, the V.P. was sworn in and following close behind… 44th President was sworn in! It was an emotional moment for many and I am so glad that I could witness this moment in history! We made our way out of the crowd in to the Museum of Natural History for a quick thaw.
Now, we had to get out of the city and that was almost a mission impossible. Every road to the nearest metro was closed. If there was a road that was open, the lines to get in to the station was just unbelievably long. We were hungry and tired at this point and the weather was really not helping us! S suggested that we walk towards Union Station, as there are some restaurants there. On our way we saw the parade staging area, we ran in to a group of people standing around MSNBC’s make shift studio. We saw Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and two other MSNBC anchors doing a live show. We were somewhere in the crowd outside waving and cheering. I am pretty sure we would’ve come on T.V. Later, we ran in to more blocked roads, more people, more blocked roads, more people, another parade staging area…. and then a blocked road and some more people… you get the idea. And finally, we saw “White Tiger” an Indian Restaurant. We couldn’t wait to get some food and just sit down somewhere warm. Our timing was perfect, because we were the last customers. They locked the doors after us.
After a good satisfying meal, we walked to Union Station! To our surprise, the roads were clear and there were no blocks. We picked up the commemorative edition of Washington Post. It was past 6:30 when we got home. V & S packed up and continued their journey homeward.
I changed and downed a capful of NyQuil to ease my aching throat. What a day! But hey, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it all over again.
For now, I am satisfied not watching CNN or seeing pictures of Capitol; I’ve had enough of that.
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