Flying into DC on January 20th proved to be practically impossible. Together with large numbers of other disgruntled travelers, I remained stuck in Newark airport for almost a day only to see the last flight I was checked into get cancelled and be checked into a hotel till the next available flight this morning.
Such troublesome traveling put off a lot of my fellow travelers from coming to the inauguration. I cannot say it had such an effect on me, though. On the contrary, all jet lagged, sleep deprived and heavy-armed (try carrying all the food a Greek mum packs, all around Newark airport for a day) I blissfully put on my Swarovski encrusted OBAMA glasses and marched through IAD that felt like a Barbie house to a little girl. The celebratory music and the big signs welcoming the 44th president into power made it a whole lot more fun to navigate through.
Into the taxi, the phenomenal lack of traffic and the graphically set up road blocks or checkpoints (as the taxi driver called them) completed the sentiment of uniqueness and assumed superiority of this particular day over the rest of arrival-in-DC days in someone’s life. At 10 in the morning, everyone was off the highways and in central DC, packed up together with countless others regardless of the un-pardoning, dead- freezing cold weather.
I arrived in Foggy Bottom metro about a half hour later, video and photo cameras at hand. The event was/is (as it is still going on as I am writing this) perfectly orchestrated. Latest technology screens were all over the place. The crowd fell silent and sported a beautifully determined intention to hear every word of the inaugural oath and Obama’s speech. At the end of the oath the cheering was invigorating and genuine. Something in the freezing cold air felt like hope and the excitement of the possibility of true change. And then a second later, something pulled inside and all of a sudden the atmosphere got all heavy with a strange transparent weight: will what is to come live up to our expectation? Will the future substantiate this day’s sentiments?
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
