in 2009, my spouse and i lived near a metro stop and took the train in. while it may not be as wild as last time, it's still advisable to get there early as the parking lots will fill up - we saw what looked like thousands of people competing for a few hundred parking spaces.

that said, riding the metro that day was a wild experience. our car had a small jazz band who played dave brubeck songs repurposed into obama songs, and everyone was talking about where they were from and how excited they were about the inauguration.

i can't remember if they closed the metro stops on/near the mall, such as smithsonian, fed triangle, or cap south. i do remember getting off at farragut north and walking down to the mall, so anticipate that.