Amazing five days in D.C. for the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. Seduced by a desire to see for ourselves the swearing in of the first Afro-American president, we braved minus 15 degree centigrade temperatures to bask in the collective warmth of two million people hoping for change. Surprised Rachelle at Heathrow on Friday evening. She thought we were going to Scotland. We ended up somewhere even colder!
Today was amazing. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had spent days on buses to witness Obama O’Clock. We were on the Metro early, but every Downtown station was swamped and closed. So we shot over the frozen Potomac into Virginia, alighting at the Pentagon. There, by luck, we boarded a special shuttle bus back across the river over an empty bridge, ending up just south of the Mall. Every entry point was closed, we were being directed way out west beyond the Washington Memorial, and I for one didn’t want a big obelix blocking my view. So we headed against the flow towards the Capitol and somehow lucked our way through various security cordons and fences to a prime spot bang in the middle of America’s front yard. And what a feeling as tens of thousands of Stars and Stripes were waved and tens of thousands of Americans whooped and hollared and wept as Martin Luther King’s dream finally became reality. Still got goose bumps.
Our lovely hosts Al and Jodie Goldberg (plus baby Aden) have treated us like royalty, we’ve marvelled at DC’s grandeur and incredible museums, and shovelled down Maryland crab cakes, Ethiopian meze, Trinidadian goat curry, Mexican platters and more than one helping of chilli smokes and cheesy fries from Ben’s Famous Chili Bowl. Fingers crossed 44 can deliver our dreams…
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PS: While waiting outside Ben’s, Rachelle was interviewed on Fox News. Check it out…