we started the morning bright & early b/c we were fully expecting the craziness and hysteria that would be Inauguration 09. we all met at our place, ready to get to the action - here's a pic of all of us leaving the house that morning (still dark outside)!
All of our friends had tickets except for Sie & I who were definitely planning to fend for ourselves in the non-ticket holding masses!! we walked through enormous crowds of people, down to the capitol and through a tunnel (which made me slightly nervous- what if we got trapped?!) at the end of which we had to split up into ticket holders and non-ticket holders - and Sie & I were on our own.
Here we are waiting in one massive line going WAAAY out of the way (literally the opposite direction of the capitol).
So we waited, and waited annnnnd waited. winding lines, people saying to go every which way, no one angry- but still testing the limits of human patience...when finally it was starting to get close to 11 am and it was all supposed to start kicking off. We were still waiting in an enormous line that was NOT moving. (lets not forget its also about 20 degrees out!)
We started to get antsy. Suddenly we realized people next to us were jumping over the concrete barricades...The cops were sitting right there letting it happen but saying "that street doesnt go anywhere, come over if you want"... So we decided to go for it! It had to be better than not moving in a line seemingly going AWAY from where we wanted to be.
We hop the barricade, walk about 100 feet and end up RIGHT on the National Mall- with a great view of the jumbo-trons, surrounded by people. IT WAS AMAZING. We could NOT believe our luck (or that we could have just jumped over the whole time!)
here are some pics to help you get a feel for the size of this crowd:
a beautiful one of the nation's capital
here we are enjoying our new spot on the mall - ready to watch history happen!
this one looking the other direction- towards the Washington Monument- truly shows the crowd- it encompassed the ENTIRE national mall - from the capitol- all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. I can honestly say - i've never seen that many people in one place in all my life. (and will we ever again?)
a few other favs...
recognize these 2? old bill and hill :)
probably the best pic we have- Sie captured it at the perfect moment during Obama's swearing in!
all the american flags waving high- even if you're not his biggest fan- you could not feel anything but proud and tingly during this moment!!
and to end- we walked home (2 of our friends were staying with us since we were in walking distance- so our home was the meeting spot!) There was no way we were finding eachother in those crowds.
So we finally get to our street (about a 3-4 mile walk with all of the detours from the capitol, normally less than 2!) and discover there was security set up at every block! I guess with all the embassies- they decided to put the street on lockdown. Kinda crazy to think... we live here!!
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