Hard to believe, after the weeks of buildup, that the opening of Artomatic is going to turn out to be the *second* most exciting event in Near Southeast today, but it should still be noted that it did indeed open its doors at noon today, running for hours and hours between now and July 5. You can get all the specifics at the Artomatic web site, and I'm sure many local blogs and media outlets will give it coverage far beyond what my left-brain-ness is capable of providing, but I did take a few photos at the kick-off this morning that might whet your appetite to go give it a visit. And these shots were from just one of the eight floors' worth of offerings, so there's plenty that I plan to go back to see. (I also took a few photos of the surrounding skyline, since this was my first visit inside Monument's 55 M.)

UPDATE: Apparently he had NBC's Brian Williams in tow, as today is the day that NBC is filming their "Inside the Obama White House" special.

UPDATE II: From my tweeting brother, watching the White House pool feed of the field trip: "Two blonde girls are chatting him up like they're at a cocktail party; 'Oh my God! Thank you! It's such an honor!' / Obama runs into people from Ireland. 'I've got to go to Ireland.' He had order number 41, three big grocery sized bags of burgers & fries. / Obama - 'I need one cheeseburger and one fries for me. Jalapeno, tomato, mustard. That's it for me...Plus lettuce on mine too.'"

UPDATE III: And here's the official White House pool report. And a slew of photos, from Getty (posted by Time). (The last one, of him returning to the White House carrying the bag with the food, is quite an image.) And the AP story. And the NYTimes's Caucus Blog, which notes that the NBC special is set to air on June 2.

UPDATE IV: Lots of video from NBC4. And C-SPAN. And ABC7.

UPDATE V: And from Politico, a transcript of an exchange that shows that the president doesn't know much more about those guys in the windowless building at First and M than the rest of the neighborhood.