I left my house at a quarter to four, Monday morning to catch my flight out of Midway airport to BWI in Maryland. In the dim light of the train station, the pink colored stripe on the train looked orange and I boarded the wrong train. After a few stops, I realized I was on the Pink Line and not the Orange Line that goes straight to Midway. Stood outside in the freezing cold for a while cursing the CTA’s choice of color. Nevertheless, I miraculously made my flight.
The plane turbulently descended into Baltimore in heavy snow. Walked outside, caught a shuttle to the MARC which took me to Union Station in D.C. where I boarded the red line to the blue line to Federal Center SW. Emerging from that station was my first view of D.C. It was chilly but very sunny and it was as if the air itself was buzzing with excitement. I looked at my map and started walking in the direction of the
Rayburn building. I had my tote strapped across me and my carry-on in tow thinking I would quickly walk through the front doors and pickup my tickets then head to Dupont Circle to meet my host, Lance and drop off my bags and crash.
As I turned onto Independence Avenue, I noticed that there were National Guard officers and camouflaged humvees here and there, some directing traffic and others people-watching. Then I started seeing the crowds. I walked past one large government building and then I reached the Rayburn building and their were several lines of people wrapped around the building waiting to get into the various entrances. I asked someone what the line was for and they told me it was for picking up tickets but assured me that the line was moving quickly. There were hundreds (maybe more) of people waiting and I waited for about an hour and a half to get to one of the front doors. I had no choice but to wait as the lines were growing by the minute. I didn’t care, I was so thrilled to be in D.C. and to look to my left and see the top of the Capitol building where Obama would be sworn in the next day.
The sky was clear blue, the Capitol was brilliant and then the music started. On the other side of a temporary barrier wall, Yo-To Ma (cello), Anthony McGill (clarinet), Gabriella Montero (piano) and Itzhak Perlman (violin) began the final rehearsal of the inaugural musical selection composed and arranged by John Williams for this occasion. It was being played over the speakers and it was glorious and I was in heaven.
My friend Ali and her friend, Danielle met up with me while I was in line and we made our way to and through the security checkpoint inside the building. Everything seemed massive in scale to me; the height of the ceilings, the width of the corridors, the gleaming white marble, columns and capitals and blue ceilings with gold stars. We made our way through some of the corridors, then up the elevator and then down more corridors until we reached Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s office. She was standing in the hall in a red suit talking to a group of people and occasionally glancing across the hall at a neighboring Congressman’s office where a table had been set up with about a dozen silver coffee pots. The atmosphere was lively and everyone was moving around busily and smiling and I suppose, schmoozing. We walked into the office reception area and I introduced myself and the secretary notified the Congresswoman’s secretary who emerged out of another office with an envelope holding the beautifully printed tickets and invitation. There was a lot of staff bustling about and the general atmosphere was somewhat chaotic but pleasant. Then Jan Schakowsky came in and we all introduced ourselves and she graciously agreed to photo-op with us.
It was an incredible first day, first time and first impression of Washington, D.C.
I said my good-byes to Ali and Danielle, promised to meet up the next day and headed back to the metro where I caught the blue to the red to Dupont Circle where I emerged and made my way partly around the circle and met up with my host, Lance. I had not seen him 12 years, although we’ve known each other for 17. We just picked up as if we had last seen each other the day before.
Went back to his house, dropped off my bags and went to a seafood restaurant where I ordered a hamburger and we toasted to our reunion and to Barack Obama with a glass of champagne. Back to Lance’s where I crashed into a deep nap for about three or four hours.
That evening we went to the St. Regis Hotel for dinner and drinks and fun people watching that included Leon Panetta, Liz Smith, Alan Cummings and Billy Baldwin.
Several glasses of wine later, we went back to the house where Lance and I lounged on his obscenely enormous bed (think two doubles pushed together) and watched a horrible horror flick under the watchful gaze of his bizarre cat, Beatrix "Bea" Louise. Creepy!
Tuesday, January 21, 2009 - Inauguration Day
The next morning I woke up with the mother of all migraines and scrambled out of bed and rushed to get out and make my way to the inauguration area. It was still a little bit dark outside and uncomfortably chilly. I boarded the Metro at Dupont at around 6:45am and the trains were packed. The closer the train got, the more crowded it as well as the platforms became. I stupidly decided to get off a few stops early to avoid the crushing crowds and just walk. I ended up walking a few miles sans coffee with a pounding migraine. Every coffee shop had lines streaming onto the sidewalks so I decided I’d live without the coffee and survive the inauguration with a few almonds I had in a bag.
I started making my way through the crowds until I saw the dome of the Capitol building. I had no idea where to go or how to get to the Silver Section gate so I asked a security personnel-type person or maybe it was a policeman, sitting in a truck where the gate entry was. He said there were two entrances but he said I would never be able to get to the one on the other side because of the crowds and new, unforeseen street closures so he suggested the best way would be through the tunnel. The tunnel is this incredibly long thing (think Lincoln Tunnel in New York) that goes partly under the mall and is normally only open to government employee vehicles. I took one look at the tunnel and stood there, watching thousands of people pouring into it.
With my general aversion to crowds, my vivid imagination conjuring up images of a stampede and an excruciatingly painful migraine, I weighed my options and having no others joined the herd into the tunnel that went down at about a 35-degree angle underground. People were chanting loudly which echoed off the low, fluorescent-lit ceiling of the tunnel.
(to be continued)
