2 Million People and Me

I have returned unscathed from the events surrounding the inauguration of Barack Obama. I left for D.C. two short days after returning from adventures in Europe, hey, at least jet lag wasn't a problem. Fortunately, I had a flight in Reagan National, so much better then flying into Baltimore, Dulles or even Harrisburg, PA, which showed up as an option when I was shopping for my flight.
We started of with a meeting, which was a great chance to be reunited with many of my friends and discuss the impending chaos. I was very impressed with how the company I worked for thoroughly planned for such an unusual event; we had almost 150 tour directors, close to 6000 students from junior high and high school. I also think that the District of Columbia did a great job of preparing for the deluge of people, including bringing in every port-a-potty on the eastern sea board. I had a day to prepare myself a bit more since my group didn't arrive late on the next day. I hit a couple of places that I needed some refreshment on and visit with and got some tips from a friend who had been through the 2005 inauguration. From the time my group arrived until the moment they left, life was a whirlwind. The opening concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which was a giant hit with the people but closed off the most direct route into D.C. causing my group to be late and arrive on the wrong side of the mall. After tracking them down with the help of my local guide, we did a walking/running tour starting outside the Air & Space museum, on to the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, FDR and Jefferson Monuments. This covered close to 3 miles in 2 hours, in the cold and dark but it was the best thing to do with a busload of teenagers that had been cooped up for 9 hours traveling. The following day after commuting in from mid Maryland, we went to Mt Vernon, where we braved the crowds to visit a bit of George Washington's history. They loved the view of frozen Chesapeake Bay from the back of the home and seeing the farm buildings. In the afternoon, we visited the reopened American History Museum, which was a big hit, especially with the history teachers. Then we crossed the river to Arlington Cemetery for a tour and to see the changing of the guard. However, there were so many other students surrounding the sight, that we were unable to see anything. The finale of this long day was probably the highlight for most of the students, we took them to their own Inaugural Ball. The company set up parties, with dinner, dance floor and music for all of the groups. We stopped just short of the party so that they could change into party clothes, many of the girls brought gowns and even the guys got dressed up. They had a fantastic time. We called it a night and got them back to the hotel to get ready for our early start for the inauguration.
The big day started off with no traffic until we exited into the city. The in bound highways were closed to everybody but taxis and licenced limos and buses. In theory the buses were assigned a parking area and time slot to arrive in, however, that did not pan out for everyone. We arrived in the area but were sent in circles for a bit, so we decided to disembark from where we were and start the long trek to the mall. The distance wasn't far but the crowds were incredible and as we made our way in we were directed farther and farther away from the Capitol. Finally, after an hour of walking we made it onto the mall near the Washington Monument. We found a good spot on the rise at the Monument with some decent landmarks in case anyone needed to leave the group for any reason. We had 2.5 hours in sub-freezing weather to wait until the beginning of the event; at least is was sunny. The kids were creative in entertaining themselves and keeping warm and didn't get too
antsy. Finally, the event they were there for began. I won't go into details, since most of you saw it but I will say that it was pretty thrilling seeing such a momentous event in person, albeit from 1.5 miles away. After it was over we waited a bit for to let the crowds get moving, then headed for warmth and food. It took us 45 mins to make it to the Air & Space Museum, which was designated as a warm zone; meaning that they were letting everyone. I heard that some people took 2 hours to get that far, in horrific crushing crowds, our path was easier. The students had 3 hours in the museum and then we took them to the mall. Yes, the mall, we were supposed to go to the ESPN Zone so they could play video games until we left for dinner, however, the plans changed once the parade ran late and we couldn't cross Pennsylvania Ave. The alternative and a highly successful one, was to let them loose on the mall for an hour or so until dinner.
The final day began with sleeping in, then a trip back into D.C. to visit one last important sight, the new Capitol Visitor center. The center is full of wonderful information and history about the Capitol and allows people that have appointments to tour the Capitol to wait indoors instead of outside in the heat or cold. From there you can take the underground passage to the Library of Congress to see the amazing design and decoration, the gorgeous reading room and the best part, the original Thomas Jefferson books. The Library is definitely something everyone should see. After the time there we headed over to the ESPN Zone for some food and games before the group got back on the road for home.
I had a great time with the group and showing them Washington D.C, along with helping them witness the historical event. The mania surrounding Obama becoming president was completely unreal and somewhat disturbing. I have never seen so many items labelled with a persons name or logo, definitely capitalism at is strongest, though I wouldn't say best. I hope that the future stands up to the expectations.

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The End Has Come

I am sad to say the my amazing 6 weeks in Europe are at an end, in less then 12 hours I will board a plane for home. I will miss so many things but mostly I will miss two amazing people. I know that I have not posted as much as I intended but we have been busy, busy people and I promise that I will fill in the blanks in a couple of weeks. Since I posted last we have been to Germany, Milan and Prague, once I return home, I run off to the Inauguration. After returning from that major event, life will slow down, I will return to being the world's greatest Auntie and find some time to lose some of the schnitzel and spaetzel. Then I will write about seeing ancient castles, fairy tale cities and being in Milan after it received way more snow than it knew what to do with. Stick with me, I promise to deliver.

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Zurich

One of the great parts about spending 6 weeks based in one place is the chance to breathe and rest between the overnight trips, I like to look at it as living here. I have to admit we have been pretty lazy on those days, we wake up in time to eat with and see CF off to work and then we hang out for a while more. Eventually, we get going. Zurich has an amazing tram system that works seamlessly with the Swiss rail system. Our stop is about 3 houses down the street and has two lines that stop there, conveniently they each travel down different sides of town, with big hub just two stops away. I bought a month long pass when I arrived and I definitely have gotten my use out of it. Since it has been so cold, walking is not always the best option though we are only 10 minutes from central Zurich. And on those days when I do brave the cold and go for long walks, I will sometimes hop on a tram and travel a few stops just to warm up. I have also used them to explore the city; I will get to a stop, take the first one that comes by and ride it until I reach an interesting looking area and spend some time walking around there.

Of course, there have been planned outings. MW and I went up to Uetliburg, the mountain overlooking Zurich. From there we had a view of the lake, the cities, the nearby villages and the Alps. We went walking in a giant park, that is more like a forest, near to the house. That is were I discovered one of my favorite phrases: wanderweg. A wanderweg is a planned walk with signposts, I have seen them traversing forests and through cities. We have followed a few and they always have the nearest tram stop or train station listed so that you can leave the trail whenever you need to.

I have also spent a fair bit of time wandering throughout downtown Zurich. The city core is not that large, even though this is the biggest city in Switzerland. It is centered on the Limmat River which divides it in two, the Niederdorf, an area of winding streets and small shops runs along the east bank, while the Bahnhofstrasse, is the heart of the expensive shopping district on the west bank. Both areas are fun to walk through and cross back and forth between using one of the many bridges crossing the river. We headed downtown on New Years Eve to see the fireworks out over the lake. A few hours before midnight it started snowing heavily but stopped just before 11 pm, however, the new snow made it more interesting. Down along the river there were thousands of people, drinking, shooting off personal fireworks and generally celebrating the moment. We eventually trekked to the lake but because the air was so still, just a few fireworks created a thick smoke and from then on all you could see was the smoke changing colors reflecting the obscured pyrotechnics. The best part was watching all the people out, this was definitely a side of Zurich I had yet to see. After we walked both sides for the river, we caught a tram home, forgoing further celebration in order to prepare for our early departure for Germany the next morning.

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