Take all the nice things I said about the Metro the other day with a giant grain of salt. Things have changed. I got on the Red Line in Bethesda. So far, so good. Once I got to Metro Center and had to change to the Orange Line, the crowds started. Metro etiquette was a foreign language to them. They stood two abreast on the escalators so nobody could pass them. The stood in front of the doors so people couldn’t get in or out easily. They shouted. They ate. They drank. Our unseen drive was clearly stressed. Excerpts from his running commentary:

“There are 24 doors, not one. We have eight cars, 24 doors. If both sides would open up, we’d have 48 doors. Six times eight – that’s 48!”

“Please exit in all three doors in each car. You will not lose the person you are with.”

“There are only about ten people in car one and many, many people in those cars in the middle. Please consider ALL the cars. And remember, there are 24 doors. Use them all.”

“I’m just trying to give you a little humor.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

The mood was festive. African-American women dressed to the nines: mink coats, leopard-spotted fur hats, heavy gold jewelry. Men wearing Obama scarves, Obama stocking caps, Obama baseball caps. People with kids, babies, grandmothers and grandfathers who could barely go up and down the escalator. The escalator stalls. People haltingly stepping up one of the longest escalators in DC. Looks like a mile!

It takes me more than a half-hour to get from the train up the escalator and out onto the street at Capitol South. That’s because apparently every single congressperson told their constituents to come between 10 and noon Monday to pick up their inauguration tickets. I’m to go to the Longworth Building for my tickets at Collin Peterson’s office. The line is about four deep and winds around the entire building, which is about as big as the Minnesota State Capitol. It’s a bit discouraging. But everyone is smiling and talking.

I wait in line about 45 minutes. At this pace I’ll get in in another hour. I give up. I convince my contact in Rep. Peterson’s office to give my two tickets to a student of mine who did get into the building earlier.

Getting back on the Metro is no easier than getting off. They finally just wave people through without tickets. I stop at Metro Center to get souvenirs. It’s crazy. Vendors are everywhere, including inside the Metro. They’re hustled off by security guards, but they keep coming back.

I spend $60 on two mugs, a t-shirt and refrigerator magnets and somehow think I’ve gotten a bargain because it’s hard to even get in line to pay.

The cacophony of voices includes languages I recognize and many I don’t – French, German, Spanish (of course), Arabic, languages of India, Eastern Europe, Chinese, Japanese, African languages. It’s an international love-fest. People are already sitting in the reviewing stands for tomorrow’s parade. Are they going to sleep there?

Will we brave the crowds tomorrow? Stay tuned.