1.20- New President

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One and a half million folks begin moving off the Mall after President Obama's swearing-in and inaugural address

Inauguration day!

After yesterday's experiences on the subway, Fred and I decided to take the Metrobus down Connecticut Avenue. Definitely the right choice... frequent buses, virtually no other vehicular traffic, and a happy crowd on the bus.



The bus stopped at McPherson Square, and all dismounted and joined the throngs moving towards the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

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Like many other folks, Fred and I stopped at a downtown coffee shop for some coffee and restroom access before continuing our journey...

Our emptied cups joined many others in and around a trash bin:

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Coffee cups and Sugar Pops box discarded on the way to the Mall

Fred and I ended up entering the Mall between the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, then we walked up the west side of the Washington Monument hill, hoping to get a view of the Capital... We encountered a wall of people just over the crest of the hill, all along the line of sight with the Capital.

We were feeling a bit claustrophobic, and while we could see the Capital, the nearest Obama-tron TVs were pretty far away, hard to see and impossible to hear, so we back-tracked to near the WWII Memorial where we could see and hear the Obama-trons on 17th Street (and swing our arms and stomp our feet against the cold) :

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As soon as the Inaugural Address was over, folks began streaming west over the Washington Monument hill, all headed our way:

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Fred and I began walking back up-town, starting to think of finding a place for lunch, along with 2 million other people.

We walked by a few places near Dupont Circle, but all were way too full, so we headed over to El Tamarindo, an El Salvadoran restaurant we used to go to when it was up on Wisconsin Avenue, years and years ago. We got seated, and then got a menu, which now is heavy on the Tex-Mex and skimpy (almost completely absent) on the Salvadoran fare we had been hoping for. As we looked around while waiting for some signs of service, we also noticed nobody had the chips and salsa El Tamarindo used to give out... So we left...

... And we ended up back at Angle's (one of Fred's haunts) where we enjoyed two-for-one burgers (darn good burgers, too) and a few pints while watching TV coverage of the Inaugural Parade... When President Obama emerged from the Capital to enter the motorcade, the crowd at Angle's broke into applause:



We caught the L2 bus back to Fred's place for some rest, and later decided that after 20+ miles of walking the past three days, we weren't up to going out on the town tonight.

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