My niece and I had the privilege of going to the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, withstanding 27 degree weather with a windchill down to 17.

Since we were some of the million + without tickets, around 7:45 AM we joined the sea of people in the streets seeking a spot on the Mall. First one, then another of the entry points closed and we realized we'd have to enter behind the Washington Mounument, which mean a 30+ block walk.

After two hours of shuffling in a crowd which spread across four lanes of streets, we arrived at the Washington Mounument. By standing on the hill we had a good view of a jumbotron and could see the masses of people in front of us and behind us. So, we decided to park ourselves right there, and thereby saw the entire 2.5 hour ceremony.

Here we've just arrived at our spot.