Inauguration Weekend

All is ready for the inauguration ceremony

It’s been quite an Inauguration Weekend for the Washington, DC, region. I didn’t travel down to the National Mall for Inauguration Day 2009, but watched the proceedings on TV. 

Federal, state, and local government offices, schools, banks, and libraries throughout the region were closed for Inauguration Day. Many coworkers took advantage of the extra holiday to leave town. One went to London for the week and another on a Caribbean cruise.

I have to admire those who made the effort to be there in person for the historic day. The temperature was 16F (-9C) overnight when people began to gather and only reached 28F (-2C) during the day. A local TV weather forecaster had given advice during the preceding week on dressing for prolonged cold weather exposure.

Closed area

Bridges across the Potomac River from Northern Virginia to Washington, DC, were closed to private vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles on Inauguration Day. Metro was the only transportation option as train tickets northbound had been sold out before the weekend began. (Metro ridership topped 800,000 passengers on Monday, the Martin Luther King holiday, and had passed 900,000 for Tuesday, Inauguration Day, with the count still going on. One friend tried to go into town on Monday, but was turned away by long lines at Metro that ran from the ticket machines out of the station and onto the street.)

The TV coverage was excellent, though, with many memorable images of the ceremony, the new President and First Lady, and the surroundings. I was inspired by the wide view down the National Mall from the Capitol to see the entire two miles filled with people gathered for the occasion.

Here are a few before and after photos.