Friday, January 16, 2009

Inauguration Countdown: Day Two


Four Days Before the Inauguration:

I woke up at around 4 a.m. to hear someone wailing outside ouf our hotel. I couldn't figure out where the cry was coming from, or even if someone was serioiusly in distress or just fooling around. I kept wondering if some homeless person was out in the cold, freezing, with no way to get warm. Or if someone had been mugged and left wounded on the streets. Or if, maybe the sound was really some wayward air conditioning/heat unit making human like moans.
I went to the window a few times to try and determine where the sound was coming from. I almost called the front desk a few times to see if they knew what was going on. I even thought about phoning the police to check it out. I ended up just laying in bed, wondering until it was gone.
Of course, I also noticed that the hotel is directly across the street from a cemetery and wondered if someone was just having a joke on the expenses of hotel patrons. Which, I guess I'll never know.

After I got over the crying in the
 wilderness, the rest of the day was cold, but interesting. We went to the National Archives and the Natural History Museum so that my friend could talk to vendors about her greeting cards. We had lunch at L'Enfant Plaza at the little French restaurant and I bought an Obama bobble-head doll from one of the stores.

We got the chance to visit the Native American Museum and see a few of the exhibits.

We later ventured out to the Reagan International Trade building to see a wonderful political satire/parody group called Capitol Steps. It was hilarious. One of the best comedy skits I've seen in a good while. I particularly liked the way they started using songs from ABBA/Mamma Mia to introduce their political satire. "Obama-mia.....here we go again...My my, how can we resist ya..." Then "McCain" sang "Winner takes all..." You get the idea.

More later...

No comments: