Inauguration in the Capital City

Knowing that I’d be living in the same city as the President of the United States was always in the back of my mind before I moved to the District. In fact, it was only a couple of weeks ago that I saw President Obama leaving the Capitol Building - someone many in the District have had the opportunity of seeing over his eight years living here.

He is, in fact, a citizen of this city much like the rest of us.

However, after I moved here in July I quickly realized that I would also be in the same city which holds the inauguration of every president each and every four years. And while I realized I had the opportunity of seeing such a historical event, it didn’t become truly real to me until I began seeing this city transform over the last few weeks into an even more impressive city than it already is.

It’s actually been kind of neat.

For one, American flags are everywhere. I have one of the neatest commutes to work each day in that my bike route takes me past the Capitol Building, down Pennsylvania Avenue, and then past the White House. Each day, more flags were added to the front of the Capitol Building in addition to the thousands of chairs lining the front lawn. Grandstands have taken up much of the freespace around some of the more iconic venues around the city. And in front of the White House, barricades have been added in anticipation for the huge crowds set to be there for the inaugural parade.

That being said, the amount of security that’s been beefed up around the city has also been impossible to miss.

Roadblocks, barriers, and fences are everywhere as well as police officers, military personnel, and road closures. My commute the past few days to work has been horrendous in that the roads that I typically travel down have either, A) been closed, or B) are so packed with other cars rerouted from their usual routes that my ride has almost doubled.

Riding home from work the other morning, I rode down the National Mall to see what changes had occurred to one of the more iconic spaces in the city. With hundreds of thousands of people expected to be at the inauguration of our 45th president, it’s anticipated that much of the mall will be filled with people watching the spectacle. Speakers, jumbotrons, and media tents now line much of the two mile stretch as well as flooring to keep the grass alive from the trampling it would otherwise receive from thousands of feet.

But also, a sense of gloom has sort of overtaken this city.

Something a lot of us in the city joke about is how overwhelmingly democratic it is - over 90% having voted for Hillary Clinton in the November election. So it’s only to be expected that the number of protests occurring throughout the city has also exponentially increased over the past couple of weeks.

Down Pennsylvania Avenue is also the Trump International Hotel - another iconic building I ride past each night to work. With each night that I passed the hotel, the number of protestors outside of it grew, to the point where the Avenue had to be closed altogether.

There’s an additional march scheduled for tomorrow that’s expected to have a comparable, if not larger crowd than the inauguration itself, with sister marches occurring all around the world in solidarity.

I may or may not be going…

Yet with that being said, no matter if this was my choice for president or not, it’s been somewhat of an honor to be a part of this city during what’s unarguably a historic time for our country. The peaceful transition of power, the transformation of our capital city into an incredible sight to behold, and the reverence for what our democracy stands for have been tangible and impossible miss.

Not to mention, I now have another item to mark off my bucket list.