Vicky and I were fortunate enough to attend President Obama's inauguration. It was great and was made all the sweeter because my lovely sister lives in D.C. and works in the capitol's political system. This meant that were able to hang out with family, attend this historic event and get some cushy tickets to a political ball put on by the Representative Barbara Lee (I think that's who set it up... ask Irene for the real details).
We took the bus down through NYC, Philly, and finally reached D.C. We were put up by Irene, in a home filled with strangers. Well, actually there were two homes... and we were in the new one. Irene was actually in the process of moving into a new apartment and was able to find her new one directly across the street from her old. This was great because it meant there was plenty of room for all. We could tell that people from around the country were flooding in for this historic day and the air was brimming with excitement.
We toured D.C. a bit and went to a movie. Then the day before the inauguration, we went to a public concert on the National Mall. The concert was great. At this point (two years later), I can't remember who was present, but I do remember that they were all world class musicians. I believe Willy Nelson, Jay Z, Beyonce, and more were there. They had all sorts of genres and styles, everything from choirs to jazz. It was awesome. Too bad it was all so cold.
What was even colder was the day of President Obama's Inauguration. It was frigid and we were out there for hours. We headed out early in order to get some prime seats. If you've ever been to D.C., you know that the National Mall is huge. Everything in D.C. is deceptively large. To organize this chaos, attendees were separated into color coded groups. Irene got us Silver Tickets which were pretty near the front. I think only two colors were in front of us and one of those colors were the honored guest up in front of the stage. Since we knew our area was pretty big, we decided to get a head start and trekked out right after lunch. Every block closer was a wade deeper into the sea a supporters. There were millions of people present... I think they estimate 2,000,000+ people. As you can see from the photo below, it was like a sea of ants and we were standing just to the right of to the pool near the white house. It wasn't easy to get there, but we did. We had to do battle in the streets and outsmart those around us. We first started on the left side towards the bottom, but backtracked and found an underground tunnel that brought us towards the top and to the right side.
Unfortunately, this is where we hit a wall of humanity that could not be overcome. We were stuck in a exceedingly long line waiting to get through the final check point towards the silver section. In the end, the police barriers were no match for the crowds and the group of people in front us crushed the plastic fence separating the silver from the blues. This was a huge advantage for us and we followed the rush to the front. Awesome. Rock it anarchy! As any good Schwoeffermann, we do love you occasionally. We had a good view for the swearing in and were able to hear everything loud and clear. But we paid the price with our bodies, which were slowly freezing throughout the entire ordeal. When we returned home, Irene greeted us, wrapped in a thick fleece blanket, watching the show on TV. Her snuggly warmth mocked our efforts, but I did not care. It was worth it for me. Vicky was a little more mixed. She was not as well prepared for the below freezing weather and was in severe pain by the time we returned. Sorry love. We even had to give her a discarded blanket to wrap around help her keep what little warmth she had.
We also did a little shopping to buy me a new suit. Irene had procured us tickets to a fancy ball and I had to look sharp. The ball was in the basement of a very nice hotel. They had live music from D.C. godfather of Zouk (a regional sound that is only found in the District). From my understanding, these kinds of balls were taking place simultaneously across the city and while ours was very nice (tuxes and bacon wrapped scallops anyone?), it was not the cream of the crop. While we shook it zouk tunes next to middle aged couples in decadent threads, the Obamas spent his night traveling all around town dancing at 10 of the official inaugural balls.
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