The Main Event

Waking at the crack of dawn is one of the "best" parts of this experience and one that we got to experience again today! We woke up at 4:15 am (3:15 Wisconsin time) and got to our complementary breakfast five minutes before it even opened to make sure we left the hotel in time to get a good spot at the inauguration. Despite the time, the metro station was still packed and we had to take our second option of train. From 5:45 on, we were on our feet in lines waiting for the gates to open at 8. The security checks started taking place slightly before 8 with a very mild mannered crowd. We were lucky enough to have tickets given to us by Congressman Kagen, Senator Kohl, Senator Feingold, Patty Hoeft, Jack Kreuger, and Tony Vanderbloemen so we were much closer than the general public, but the tickets required that we had to go through security.
The amount of people was absurd. All you could see were people, from the Washington Monument to the Capitol building there was a solid wall of people. We estimated that in the ticket area alone was 4 times capacity Lambeau Field's, and the surrounding area had 40 times the stadium's capacity.
The rest of the day was spent standing...and waiting. There was some background music but all and all we were responsible for keeping ourselves occupied. When the festivities started the electricity in the air was unmeasurable. Their were several performers including the United States Marine Band, Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony McGill, Gabriela Montero, Itzhak Perlman, and Elizabeth Alexander.
The inauguration speech explained our countries current condition, outlined our challenges, and actions needed to address those issues. The crowd roared and clapped with every statement that encouraged our progress.
All and all the crowd was excited and respectful, with the exception of the introductions of former presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and other Republican dignitaries.
We managed to follow the crowd to the metro station and promptly waited 1 hour 7 minutes and 34 seconds (of course only a rough estimate). We made it to our hotel for some much needed rest. We weren't fortunate enough to receive Inaugural Ball tickets but decided to get dressed up and go out to dinner anyway.
The last hours of the day were spent bonding and writing this blog to keep you all involved in this part of history.