Barack Obama made history Jan. 20, but let’s look at the history of some of that day’s words . . . Such as blunder. Hey, in fairness to Chief Justice John Roberts, we’d all be nervous reciting anything, let alone the presidential oath, in front of millions of people. Still, bobbling a few words is a “blunder,“ or a clumsy mistake. The Old Norse blunda meant to shut the eyes, so we see a connection to our modern usage, where “blunder” (as a verb) can mean to move in a clumsy manner.

Virginia spent half a million dollars to carry more than 72,000 transit passengers free to President Barack Obama’s inaugural. The $500,578 cost works out to about $6.92 for each of the 72,293 passengers. The state initially estimated the one-day bus service would cost up to $975,000. Virginia officials say the free service—which handled an estimated 4 percent of inauguration attendees—was key to avoiding massive traffic jams in Northern Virginia during the event. It will seek reimbursement from the federal government.

Washington’s mass-transit system destroyed its records for ridership with traffic on inauguration day. More than 1,120,000 passenger trips were recorded Tuesday, an increase of 250,000 over the previous record set the day before. Before last week, the highest number of single-day riders came last March on a day when a Washington Nationals baseball game and a women’s conference brought nearly 855,000 people to the rails.

FROM THE NEWSROOM Shortly after noon Tuesday, Barack Obama raised his right hand and made history as the first African-American president of the United States. Richmond Times-Dispatch photographers were there to record the day. It began at 4 a.m. for our team of six photographers and a photo editor who fanned out across Washington, and it didn’t end until after midnight, with the president and first lady dancing at one of the many balls they attended that evening.

WASHINGTON—The classical music played for millions of people watching President Barack Obama’s inauguration was not the live performance it appeared to be. Unless you were one of the fortunate few sitting within earshot of the celebrated performers, what you heard was a recording made two days earlier. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill made the decision a day before Tuesday’s inauguration to use a previously recorded audio tape for the broadcast of the ceremonies.

DETROIT—The calls began to flood Luke Song’s hat shop not long after Aretha Franklin finished belting out “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Franklin, who wore a gray felt custom-designed hat from Mr. Song Millinery, has inadvertently caused an economic boom for the South Korean immigrant’s store. Song said he wasn’t prepared for the hundreds of calls requesting the hat with a Swarovski rhinestone-bordered bow.

Alex Sarem of San Diego was one of those who couldn’t get into the Capitol area for the ceremony. The committee on inaugural ceremonies apologized. They say Washington’s all about access. Still, this was ridiculous. First, in an episode fast becoming known as “The Purple Tunnel of Doom,“ thousands of people with coveted tickets at the Capitol were kept out of President Barack Obama’s inaugural ceremony and left waiting in a tunnel below the National Mall. Officials blamed crowd control problems.

Highlights from Cosby High School’s three-day trip to D.C. for Barack Obama’s inauguration.

WASHINGTON—Joe Biden wants to make one thing clear: He can’t dance. Biden joked about his two left feet at multiple balls last night. “The thing that frightens me the most (is) I’m going to have to stand in that circle and dance in a minute,“ he said at the Commander in chief Ball. At that, he laughed and did a quick sign of the cross.

WASHINGTON—President Obama’s inauguration was a precedent-setting day in more ways than one: More passengers took Metrorail than ever before. The transit agency says that as of 7 p.m. last night, more than 973,000 passengers had used Metrorail, breaking the previous day’s record of nearly 887,000. Metro opened at 4 a.m. yesterday, an hour earlier than usual, to bring huge crowds into the city. Extra trains also were used to handle the crush of passengers.

After a quick wardrobe change, Diane Smith went from freezing to fabulous. The Arlington County Democrat traded her ski jacket and swearing-in ticket yesterday morning for a floor-length dress and the Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball last night.

Nechesa Morgan traveled from New York City to honor her grandmother. Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, a longtime Saluda resident whose fight against segregation on buses predated the protest of Rosa Parks in Alabama, died in 2007.

Mary Allen and her friend, Aklilu Asfaw, stood shivering at 10th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue all day yesterday. Allen, of Arlington County, and Asfaw, of Alexandria, arrived at 4:30 a.m. and didn’t move until the president’s inaugural parade passed them 12 hours later.

Anticipation, preparation and hours of bone-chilling temperatures to get a glimpse of President Barack Obama at the parade route yesterday ended in disappointment for a group from Chesterfield County’s Cosby High School.

For Cathy Thomas of Midlothian, the inauguration of Barack Obama “was a pinch-me kind of day.“ As the first black American became president, two busloads from Richmond—including Thomas—witnessed it on the National Mall. “It’s just so many emotions,“ she said. “A day in my time, a day in my time. On the night he won the election, all I could say was, in my time. Today was a day I never thought I’d see, but I was part of it. It meant so much to be here. It was a great day.“