Early this morning, about two hours before we expected to arrive on the Mall, we had a call from our sister-in-law Jackie, an editor at Reuters, asking if we were there yet. She told us there were already about two million people assembled. Our ride downtown on the Metro was delayed by what turned out to be record-breaking ridership, so by the time we made it to the Mall things were quite crowded. The crowd extended all the way from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, a distance of over two miles. Temps were in the 20s.
As was the case for Sunday’s concert, the mood was one of excited anticipation and positive energy. People loudly cheered Obama and Biden; some booed when Bush and Cheney appeared on the screen. Both oaths of office were met with whoops of joy and tremendous applause.
After the ceremony we spent some time walking around downtown DC, enjoying the temporarily car-free streets and the festive mood. There were many vendors selling souvenirs, everything from posters, calendars, and bookmarks to buttons, shirts, hats, and scarves.
Random thoughts and pics from the presidential inauguration.
No comments:
Post a Comment