Yesterday was the official start of the inauguration celebrations. Quite a few of us decided to attend the “We Are One” concert at the Lincoln Memorial. I did not leave the hotel until about 10 AM but still managed to get fairly close to the front. Unfortunately, there were a lot of real tall people up front which made it impossible for me to see anything so I moved back to watch on the Jumbotrons. This seemed to be a good idea until the Jumbotrons went dark and everyone became concerned that they would be left with nothing but audio. Thankfully the issue was resolved and we were able to see everything that was going on on the stage.
The estimates are that there were between 500,000 to 700,000 people at the concert. I was on the left side looking toward the Lincoln Memorial and, surprisingly, it did not appear to be that crowded. As long as you were not right up at the front you could move around without too much difficulty.
Leaving the concert was another story. It took approximately 4-5 hours for the crowd to gather, but everyone was leaving at the same time. It was a sea of people for as far as you could see. I finally made it to the Metro and managed to get on the train but it was so crowded I couldn’t get to the door when my stop arrived and had to ride a little further, get off, get on another train and go back to the Rosslyn stop.
I was going to add some more pictures here but apparently I am having technical difficulties with the internet connection at the hotel (once again!).
Today is a down day – off to D.C. to pick up those last gifts for people back home and then a quiet evening preparing for an early morning tomorrow.
How is the weather there in dc and are you ready for the big show?