President-elect Barack Obama addressed a crowd of 40,000 assembled outside of Baltimore's City Hall Saturday afternoon on his train trip from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. In anticipation of his inauguration on Tuesday, Obama is following the same path that Abraham Lincoln took by train to his inauguration, seven score and eight years ago in 1861.

Although Obama's speech lasted only 15 minutes, the crowd of Baltimoreans had waited at the plaza for over three hours for the opportunity to see him in person, and to take digital photographs and videos. During the speech that so many had waited to hear, a woman in the crowd to the left of the president-elect shouted "We love you, Obama." Without hesitancy, the 44th President of the United States interrupted his speech, turned to her direction and said in earnest "I love you back." 40,000 Baltimoreans gushed, all at once.

Obama was joined onstage by First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Second Lady Jill Biden.

During the three-hour wait in 20-degree weather the crowd of Baltimoreans was entertained twice by a personal trainer who tried to lead them in exercises. The curiosity that is the Baltimore sports fan base booed the Orioles' mascot off the stage, but later in the afternoon shouted "O" during the singing of the National Anthem, as they do at Camden Yards.

In the last hour before Obama made his way from Baltimore's Penn Station down to City Hall, the Morgan State University Choir sang gospel songs to the crowd for 30 minutes, twice as long as the awaited speech, beginning with "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing", which was adopted in 1919 by the NAACP as the "Negro National Anthem."

Representative Elijah Cummings and Governor Martin O'Malley, both prominent Democratic Maryland politicians, followed the choir appearing onstage together, each giving brief speeches to the crowd while additional snipers became visible on the surrounding rooftops. Police helicopters circled in the air around the plaza and a conspicuous black Chinook flew across the East Baltimore skyline. The only known incident of the afternoon was a call through the PA system to reunite a lost child with her parents.

Before the crowd was allowed to enter through street-side metal detectors into the secured plaza, the tens of thousands of onlookers snaked in a dense line along the sidewalk around six blocks of closed streets, down toward the Inner Harbor, where jumbo screens displayed the events for the thousands who could not enter. Many had been waiting since before noon to hear the speech scheduled for 4:15 p.m.

Although the speech was formally announced only days ago, dozens of vendors paraded from one end of the line to the other, selling Obama-themed hats, buttons, posters, calendars, and T-shirts. One man made his way through the crowd, hawking "Obama Oil," which was met with laughter on the chilly sidewalk. Hand warmers were five dollars for a pair.

The most telling hawker stopped and posed for a pedestrian photographer, beaming with impromptu popularity yet seemingly unaware of how apropos he was at the moment. He was selling posters with the simple promise used often during Obama's campaign: Hope, designed by Obey's Shepard Fairey. As the vendor posed in the middle of East Redwood Street, the display in his hand read "Hope Sold Here."Representative Elijah Cummings and Governor Martin O'Malley, both prominent Democratic Maryland politicians, followed the choir appearing onstage together, each giving brief speeches to the crowd while additional snipers became visible on the surrounding rooftops. Police helicopters circled in the air around the plaza and a conspicuous black Chinook flew across the East Baltimore skyline. The only known incident of the afternoon was a call through the PA system to reunite a lost child with her parents.

Before the crowd was allowed to enter through street-side metal detectors into the secured plaza, the tens of thousands of onlookers snaked in a dense line along the sidewalk around six blocks of closed streets, down toward the Inner Harbor, where jumbo screens displayed the events for the thousands who could not enter. Many had been waiting since before noon to hear the speech scheduled for 4:15 p.m.

Although the speech was formally announced only days ago, dozens of vendors paraded from one end of the line to the other, selling Obama-themed hats, buttons, posters, calendars, and T-shirts. One man made his way through the crowd, hawking "Obama Oil," which was met with laughter on the chilly sidewalk. Hand warmers were five dollars for a pair.

The most telling hawker stopped and posed for a pedestrian photographer, beaming with impromptu popularity yet seemingly unaware of how apropos he was at the moment. He was selling posters with the simple promise used often during Obama's campaign: Hope, designed by Obey's Shepard Fairey. As the vendor posed in the middle of East Redwood Street, the display in his hand read "Hope Sold Here."