Not that kind of mall

January 19th, 2009, 11:41 a.m.

Just walked the presidential parade route up Pennsylvania Avenue. Grandstands are being set up on either side at various points. Bar the seating directly outside the White House, I believe the rest of the grandstands are open to the public beginning at 7 a.m.

(For more information go to http://www.crashtheinauguration.com/)

A few blocks from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a banner hangs off the balconies “WELCOME MR. PRESIDENT! THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT.”

Finally made my way to the National Mall and park myself under the Washington Monument.

I take in my surroundings.

Thousands of people have already littered the 1.9-mile stretch from the Capitol steps to the Lincoln Memorial. Yesterday’s star-studded celebration on the Lincoln Memorial is being replayed on the big-screens and sound system lining the perimeter of the mall.

(This is how most people will watch the actual inauguration since they will be too far to see with the naked eye and un-aided ear).

To my right: the White House

To the front: the Lincoln Memorial

To my back: the Washington Monument and then the Capitol

To my left: a Filipino woman struggling to find the words to ask for a picture.

I take a picture of her with her arms spread out parallel to the grass. You can barely make out Lincoln’s face above hers.

She then asks me to point out where we are on the map. I’m not from D.C., but coupled with my grasp on basic American knowledge and from watching Forrest Gump a few times, I point to the frozen water and tell her it is called the Reflecting Pool and so forth.

She thought the Washington Monument was going to be a statue of Washington himself.

I quickly learn not to sit in one place for an extended period of time. I averaged about one photograph per three people that walked by. One was a group of high school girls from Virginia (they’re school must have started with a “W” because they all made a “W” with their hands. And I’m assuming they weren’t George W. fans.)

I take another picture of a New Hampshire woman and her adolescent son. Instead of telling him to say “Cheese,” she says, “say Obama.”

I overhear a man still ranting about Sarah Palin and John McCain. “Those two in the office,” he said. “Now there’s the end of days. Thank God she lost.”

I take another picture, but hear the man a minute later. “If this was McCain, I wouldn’t be here.”

Also in the background, a replay of Jamie Foxx imitating Barack Obama.