Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the US Capitol Building, the National Mall, and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC on January 20 to witness the historic inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States and Mike Pence as the 48th Vice President of the United States. The inauguration festivities spanned nearly forty-eight hours and consisted of events that have been both traditional as well as unique to this particular inauguration.

The inauguration ceremony itself started at 11:30 am EST and lasted about an hour and consisted of speeches by Senator Roy Blunt, the chair of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, as well as invocations by six clergy members. Also consisting of the ceremony was two choir performances by the Missouri State University Chorale and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. At 11:53 am, Mike Pence, using Ronald Reagan’s bible, was administered the oath of office of the Vice President by Clarence Thomas, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. A few minutes later, at approximately 12:00 pm, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office to Trump, with Trump’s left hand on his childhood bible and the famous Lincoln Bible. Trump then delivered his inaugural address before Jackie Evancho ended the ceremony with the singing of the national anthem. Since the ceremony, a widely circulated fact is the number of people who attended it. Estimates project 700,000 to 900,000 people, a scant half of the 1.8 million people who attended president Obama’s inauguration in 2009. Trump however is disputing that estimate, insisting that attendance was higher than estimated.

In his first act as president, Trump signed a series of orders which formally nominated his choices for his administration. He then attended a luncheon in the National Statuary Hall, but while he was there, anti-Trump protesters, who had until then observed his inauguration with mostly silence, started organizing and some began rioting only blocks away from the inauguration parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue. Windows were smashed, cars were damaged, fires were lit, and rocks and bottles were thrown at police in riot gear, along with other disturbances. In the end, six police officers were injured and 217 people were arrested. In fact, Washington was one of many anti-Trump protests around the world that occurred on Inauguration Day, Chicago included. The majority of them remained peaceful.

The protests in Washington did nothing to change the parade; Trump and Pence, after leaving the Capitol at approximately 3:40pm, travelled down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House and it was there in the reviewing stand where Trump and Pence watched the parade. As they were watching, the Senate had already gotten to work on voting to confirm Trump’s nominations for his cabinet. Before the parade had even ended, the Senate confirmed two of Trump’s nominations. Retired Marine generals James “Mad Dog” Mattis and John Kelly were confirmed as the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security respectively. The two were sworn in shortly after the parade ended. Later on in the evening, ending a long day for the Trumps and Pences, they attended three inaugural balls, where Trump and his wife Melania shared their first dance as the First Couple. The song they danced to was “My Way” by Frank Sinatra.

On January 21, the official inauguration ceremonies came to an end when the Trump attended an interfaith prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. Later on he travelled to CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia for a briefing and a speech. Meanwhile, protests and demonstrations of Trump across the world continued peacefully, namely the Women’s March on Washington, during which hundreds of thousands of women promoted things they believe are threatened by Trump, including women’s, LGBT, and abortion rights.

As the Trump presidency continues over the next few days and weeks, the American people can expect more confirmations on Trump’s cabinet nominations as well as more protesting. America will have to continue to adjust to the fact that there is a new president in the White House.