I love Washington DC. It is a beautiful city. I love the monuments and the river and the military and even the tourists. But I can say that having witnessed the preparations for the Inauguration, I am happy that the Powers That Be decided to give a holiday to federal workers in the immediate area. The past two weeks, and especially the past week, have been a nightmare as far as getting out of the city is concerned. Normally, I can get home in 30 minutes, from office garage to my house, and a little over half of that time is in the city. Lately, however, it has taken me 30 minutes just to get from the office garage to the Potomac River, and then another 15-20 minutes to get home from there. Sometimes longer. For people who live in Virginia, all the main bridges will be closed to regular traffic on Inauguration Day, which means you could not get to work by car. And with 2-4 million people expected for the various Inauguration events, you can bet Metro will be too crowded and in demand to get to work that way. Same for buses, cabs, limos. And so, as you can see, I am glad to be off on Tuesday. And of course, Monday is also a holiday (MLK Day).
Only, my sister (Girl from Texas) will be here with her friend to witness this historic event. They want to go downtown for it. It will be bitterly cold (although not as cold as it was for Reagan's 1985 Inauguration), there will be more people than ever in history (if the predictions are to be believed), there probably won't be quite enough porta-potties, and there will be no easy way in or out of the city. People will be competing for the warmth of the museums (I know how those museums crowd up on the Forth of July, and that's usually attended by substantially fewer people than a million). So. I don't want to go. I told her I hoped she didn't mind if I stayed home in the warmth of my house and watched everything in high definition on my nice big screen TV (last year's Christmas gift to ourselves), and drink champagne and pop popcorn, and then maybe go outside later to watch any fireworks there might be...if there are any (I seem to remember fireworks for Elder Bush). My favorite husband says he will go along because he doesn't want to leave them to fend for themselves. He knows the city quite well. And if and when they want to get home, he will be able to show them the way. It's a three to six mile walk from our house, depending on whether they can cross Teddy Roosevelt Bridge or Memorial Bridge.
I'll be very interested to see if we get the predicted crowds...
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4 comments:
It was a cold day, that's for sure..... I won't do it again though, I don't care who is being sworn in.
However, I might do it from your living room.
My parents were by the Washington Monument. They had a great time but they froze!
we encountered a man with his young son. they flew in from uruguay for the inauguration.
GFT, it was fun. I'm glad you came.
Margo, I'm glad you parents got to be part of it. But I admit that I am glad I was the one who stayed home making the stew. It was enough for me to watch it on my own little "jumbo-tron" in my own living room. I did rush outside a couple of times to see if I could hear the crowd cheering...I never could. I did, however, hear the howitzers firing their salute.
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