Lesya and I just got back from the inauguration. Our pictures of the event are here.

Unfortunately for us, we only left ourselves and extra half-hour until Yushchenko's speech to get there. As a result, by the time we got as close as we were going to, swimming through people the whole way, Yushchenko and the rest of folks were already hugging and walking out on stage.

I was able to see a glimpse of one of the big screens, but Lesya was below the shoulder-line and the press was so tight that in or fluffy winter coats we looked like a big package of marshmallows. Things got worse, with waves of people flowing around chaotically, so Lesya and I were forced to try to get around. By the time we managed to get all the way around the cordon of police officers, (by going up the street to the end, then climbing up a slope, going through a broken fence, walking four city blocks around and then coming back down the hill) everything had already ended.

On the plus side, while we weren't able to catch the speech we were on the may route out of the square for all the Ukrainian politicians. So we saw Yushchenko and Tymoshenko and the crew drive off, then a great number of other politicians as they walked up to the waiting buses. Among them were Poroshenko, Zinchenko, Russian politician Nemtsov, Kwaśniewski – the President of Poland, Vaclev Havel, and even Colin Powell. How cool.

From my angle I wasn't able to get pictures of any of them besides Poroshenko and Zinchenko, unfortunately. I got two glimpses of Colin Powell and a picture of him the second time that is basically a blur in a dark coat getting into a bus.

Oh well.

As far as the number of people there, it beat New Years hands down. There were people everywhere. They went up the hill, down the street, up behind everything, out into European Square, and more. For safety reasons no one was allowed on the bridge we saw Tymoshenko from in late November, so some people had clambered out on the support beams under the bridge. It did Lesya and my hearts' good to see the excitement level so high for what is essentially a formality, and one that is rarely even presented to the public, let alone presented to an uncountable mass of the public.

It also did us good to see a bunch of younger Ukrainians with us clambering and slipping on their way up icy slopes and through back alleys to try to get to a speech that all of us must have known we'd already missed.

That's political participation at its most fervent.

Yushchenko's Speech

[For this we're relying on the excellent political coverage provided by Lesya's mom, who watched the events at home on live TV. Not only were Lesya and I unable to hear, none of the people we asked were able to either, there were so many people between them and the stage.]

Yushchenko started at around 11:00 in the Parliament building swearing on three books – the Bible, the Constitution, and another book, (I'll tell you when I know which one). He went through all the vows he was required to make, but just before he finished he said words to this effect: “Now, I do not want to finish my vows here, I want to go out to Maidan and finish them in front of the people who made this all possible.”

And with that they went off to Maidan. Yushchenko's campaign had invited the whole nation to his speech at 1:30. Most of them appeared to have shown up.

His speech held few surprises. He started off with thanks to the Ukrainian people for their vote, and a special thanks to Maidan and the people in Tent City. After that he went on to finish his oath in front of the head of the Constitutional Court. After that he listed the ten points from his campaign again (available on his site at www.razom.org.ua). They included fighting corruption, pursuing good relations with all neighbors – not an “eastern” or “western” focus, and so forth.

He finished with his usual: “Glory to God and glory to Ukraine!”

And that was that.

Now we wait for word on who will be in his Cabinet.