Update: The Opening Inaugural Ceremony January 18th, 2009

Today was a good day.
First we found out that Air Canada found our bags and they should be arriving tomorrow morning.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
We had a quick breakfast and quickly went to the Metro station to see the opening Inaugural ceremony. The metro station was not as crowded as I thought but once we emerged from the station we were stunned by the huge sea of people that crowded the streets and the surrounding areas.
We walked past the Washington memorial where we saw many US army men equipped and standing at alert.
Also, despite what reports said, there were plenty of washrooms available to the large crowd and people were allowed to bring backpacks and snacks into most areas surround the Lincoln Memorial.
The ceremony was interesting as well as entertaining. The event was entitled, the We Are One event.
Celebrities spoke of great times in American history and famous singers from all over the world came to sing American songs of praise.

The event's line included Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. Among those reading historical passages will be Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington.

During one moment, Bono gave a brief shout out to Palestine and the bloggers went wild. The comment was, "This is the American dream, and an Irish dream...an African dream...an Israeli dream...and a Palastinian dream!" - So, it was good for him to say it on American soil, however, it shouldn't be overanalized, it was three words.

At the end Barack Obama gave a short but inspiring speech and Beyonce sung, America the Beautiful.
The metro ride back was also not as bad as I thought. Transit authorities were surprisingly nice and helpful and we made it back to my friend's apartment in once piece.

The Sunday afternoon performance was grounded in history and brought to life with entertainment that related to the themes that shaped Barack Obama and which will be the hallmarks of his administration.

Until next time, over and out.