Well the past two days have been pretty eventful.
After returning from a long day at the Smithsonians I (thankfully) decided not to go out to dinner with everyone else. I was looking forward to a quiet night lounging and watching TV. Around 7:30 my roommate thought she heard water running so she hopped out of bed to check the bathroom and found our toilet overflowing. I jumped out of bed to call the front desk while Jen began moving things away from the bathroom door. All of a sudden the water started GUSHING out of the toilet and tub and spilling out into our room. We began throwing our stuff onto beds and chairs to avoid the oncoming sewage and water but unfortunately most of my clothes and shoes became soaked. Within about three minutes water had rushed across the carpet and to our patio doors. The hotel staff came with a shop vac to try to vacuum the water (to no avail) while we worked to salvage our belonging that had not been drenched. The manager was helpful in moving us to a new room- on the 10th floor with a great view of the city and a flat screen/plasma TV. The guys helped bring our stuff to our new room and their blog posts were a welcome distraction. They made us laugh out loud and we really needed our spirits lifted. Our accommodations are definitely an upgrade but it was still a horrible night with a few laughs thrown in compliments of our friends.
Today we threw on what few clean clothes we had and went to the Newseum. I was skeptical of going to the Newseum because I’m pretty burned out on political journalism but I was pleasantly surprised. We had a very good day. We got to see pieces of the Berlin Wall, and the World Trade Towers. There was also a gallery of historical newspapers capturing important headlines from the 1700’s. There was also a cool 4-D movie about the history of news reporting. While the topic was interesting the added simulation elements made it a neat experience. The theater was designed to to place the audience on the battlefield during the revolutionary war, and inside a mental institution (to name just a few places). The balcony of the Newseum also faces the capitol and Pennsylvania Avenue so we got a great a photo with the Inaugural stage in the back round.
After the Newseum we had a nice, quiet day. A few of us just hung out and visited H&M and walked around D.C. We found an official Inauguration shop and got some pins and stickers. It was exciting and the shop was overrun with people trying to buy pieces of history. It is freezing here and we feel like mother nature is prepping us for Tuesday. On the metro back to the hotel some might claim we saw Ray Liotta but that is untrue. We saw someone who looked similar to the actor but it was defiantly not him. Within about 12 hours it seems like the population of D.C. has tripled. As the Inauguration approaches we have begun seeing the crowds and traffic problems. I am excited for Tuesday but I am nervous about the massive influx of people.
Tomorrow we are going to the concert on the mall. I am excited but again nervous about the crowds. We are leaving VERY early so I hope we can get good spots. Here’s to hoping we get to see some celebrities!
