Today, I am trying out blogging from my blackberry. (Tedious, boring figuring it out- "blah blah blah").
Here is the story about my experience in the so-called Purple Tunnel of Doom at President Obama's Inauguration. I was in Washington DC with my son Alex on President Obama's Inauguration Day. We were among the lucky thousands of people holding purple tickets to the swearing in ceremony. The ticket was supposed to provide access to a roped-off area on the Capitol lawn, in view of the stage. Before 7 AM, we arrived at the "purple ticket holders" line-up at the police blockade near the Capitol. We, along with thousands of other people, were diverted into the cold 3rd Street Tunnel under the National Mall. We were told by police that the line formed in the tunnel. We spent over four hours waiting underground. While the holders of blue and sillver tickets were apparently passing through airport-style screening in the tents set up next to the Capitol lawn, we purple ticket holders were stuck underground in a cold, crowded tunnel. Fast forward to the very happy ending that Alex and I were close enough to the front of the line that we eventually managed to shuffle out and pass through Capitol security onto the Capitol lawn just in time to hear Aretha Franklin sing and to witness the moment of the swearing-in ceremony. Thousands were not so lucky. There are blogs, photos and videos posted on the internet. NPR's All Things Considered" ran a story called "A Frustrating Inauguration for Many". One of the more descriptive captions I saw in a blog was: "The Purple Tunnel of Doom - the 395 tunnel under the Mall 4-5 hours - 50k people, a mile long, no bathrooms, no cops, no food, no light... No Hope".