The Ceremony was supposed to start at 11 am so we made our way down to the interesting part of town and got in line with the thousands of others under the Washington Monument (complete with scaffolding for earthquake repairs) to complete the required security checks. The whole process was agonizingly slow, it was 30 degrees, overcast and we were packed in like sardines (see our previous post on the Yankees game). It took over an hour and a half to get through, but once were inside the place was probably only half full.
It was pretty interesting listening to the speeches although not being an American it was somewhat difficult to relate - and at time's a bit cringe worthy. They would have speakers interspersed with musical or cultural performances which included a Haka (Canadians, see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka) from Destiny Church in NZ (we wondered if TVNZ reported that it was in fact Destiny Church that Performed the Haka?). We were also quite amused by some of the people that were sitting around us. One morbidly obese Africa American woman provided us with a few gold moments. She was sitting by herself on a deck chair probably about 3 meters away from her nearest companion. The distance didn't prevent her from engaging in rather loud and somewhat inflammatory conversations with those around her - whether they wanted to or not. The funniest moment was watching her sing along with the Gospel Music, it was all "whoop-glory" and "hallelujah" and at one point she exclaimed at the top of her lungs "That's my Girl, I love that Girl".
As the day progressed the speakers got more interesting and there were some pretty high people in attendance including Jamie Foxx, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. For me (Sam - writing from Kimilla's account just to mess with you) the most interesting speech was from Congressman John Lewis who was integral in planning the original March On Washington in 1963. His speech was very heartfelt and was given significant weight because he was able to talk first hand about the different racial landscape that there is now compared to when he was younger. I also found the speeches from Martin Luther King Jr's brothers and Sisters to be fairly moving too.
 |
| President Barack Obama giving his speech - if you look close you can see him to the left of the platform. |
After the Ceremony Finished we spent another 45 minutes trying to leave the venue with the thousands of others before nipping over to take a look at Barack's House on our way to get some breakfast/lunch/dinner - we hadn't really managed to eat until this point in the day.
We found a little Indian takeaway - which will forever (in our minds at least) be the best Indian food in Washington D.C. - it helps to be hungry. Afterwards we went for a big walk through the city checking out some of the important landmarks including Capitol Hill.
They day was really full on and after the ceremony and all the exploring we were pretty grateful to have a relaxing train ride back to New York. We got in at Midnight and due to some construction disruptions and a misinterpretation of the letter 'E' (side note: turns out when Kiwi's say 'E' as in the 'E-train' American (and probably Canadian's too) hear 'A' as in 'A-train"), managed to take over 2 hours to get back to our apartment. So it was a big day and we didn't bother getting up till 12 pm today - so its been a pretty quite one.
In the afternoon Katie and Kimilla went and got there nails done, while I went to the barber and got a haircut and a shave with a straight razor, which I think my ex-military wife likes a little too much - which kinda creeps me out. This evening we hit Little Italy and had very tasty pizza and pasta for dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment