Our tour manager, Ariel Fielding, sent this message to the office earlier today:

“8:30 AM and already hundreds of 1000’s of people outside. Anyone who goes through a ‘hard’ checkpoint must have every belonging sniffed by dogs. I went to bed at midnight, up @ 2, left on the bus @ 3. The bus couldn’t get anywhere near the embassy for security reasons. Ushered my people through dark and crowded streets well before dawn, dodging some of the many so-called ’soft’ checkpoints and speeding through others, our photographer sprinting ahead and scouting out the best routes. Thank goodness we had each been given ‘credentials’ the day before, nothing more than a laminated paper pass on a lanyard. Once we got inside, I was ushered into a corner office overlooking the Capitol bldg and the parade route on Pennsylvania Ave. Dead tired and hoping to nap sometime soon, but will have a primo view of parade.”

~Ariel Fielding, NDC Tour Manager