In my mind, rallies in Washington fall in to one of four categories when it comes to how they affect life in the city: 1) Rallies nobody notices; 2) rallies which draw enough people to notice, but not to dramatically affect the city; 3) rallies which cause the city to be noticeably more crowded than usual; 4) the Obama inauguration.

Jon Stewart’s rally on Saturday was a clear 3. Regardless of your personal politics it affected life in the city considerably, much more so than the recent One Nation or Glenn Beck rallies, which I would characterize as levels 1 and 2, respectively.

Getting around town Saturday was an adventure. Metrorail broke its all time Saturday ridership record, which had stood for 19 years. Half of downtown streets were closed. Bikes were generally a good way to move, although I didn’t bother trying bikeshare. Buses were surprisingly reasonable as well, provided you could find your bus amidst all the closed streets. Restaurant lines were long. I’m sure the museums were crowded.

It was no inauguration, but it was certainly an experience.

In case anyone is interested, my photos are below. Also available with narrative via SkyscraperPage.