Just my luck! As we were walking through the trees, I heard Bono start talking on stage. Figures. But, as you will see, if I had stayed longer to see this rock idol (and apparently good friend of the President), I might have missed out on something even better -- much better.

As we were coming out of the "park" and about to cross the first major street, I saw a woman, almost hysterical, in tears, sitting on the curb, surrounded by police officers. I was curious, but you just don't stop for that, you keep moving. (I found out later that - probably - the woman's her husband died of a heart attack there shortly before.) That disturbance was soon forgotten as we continued on our way, first to 23rd Street NW, and then up that street to the station. The sidewalks and the street were full of people, all heading for the same destination.

Somewhere along 23rd Street, perhaps just 2 blocks south of the station, we were startled by a really loud BOOM! It sounded like a bomb had gone off. The threat of a terrorist attack was certainly on people's minds, and this was almost 2 years before 9/11. People pretty much figured out it was a combination of those very loud, bright white fireworks, as after the BOOM we could see reflections of fireworks in the windows of some of the 12-story buildings around us.

Also, though I forget whether it was before or after the BOOM, I heard what sounded like maybe 2 or 3 low-flying helicopters. I could not see them, however. Seeing such things in DC is nothing unusual, of course; but it does appear that these had a connection with the UFOs there.

Shortly after that (could have been anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, I would guess, as we were moving very, very slowly by now), we were at the intersection of 23rd and I (Eye) Streets NW. There is only one entrance/exit for Foggy Bottom/GWU (George Washington University) and it is located on the NW corner of the intersection. I Street ends at 23rd Avenue, coming from the east, so there is no street continuing on the west side of 23rd Street. There was a small park in the area would I Street would be, and it extended northward about 1/2 block.

This is a daytime view of where I was standing when I saw the objects fly over. As you can see, there is a good sized open space amongst all the buildings. In 2002, however, this changed. The new George Washington University Hospital was built just to the right of the escalators and trees. Earlier this month, when I got to the top of the escalator going up, I was disoriented by this new large building being on my left. Below: Sign above the main entrance to the new hospital, just off the Metro station escalators.

At that point, not far from the escalators, I saw what appeared to be a shooting star/meteor to the west; it looked oddly large however. It was moving roughly north to south, and could have been over Arlington for all I know. I mentioned this to Connie, but she didn't seem interested; she was more interested in people-watching. But I put my eyes to the sky in hopes of seeing more of these 'meteors'. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see. 'Something' dark with orange or amber lighting of a strange configuration flew roughly from west to east, almost directly overhead.

It was soon lost to sight because of the buildings. I could not determine the shape, but it looked very strange indeed. Some seconds after this 'thing' passed over, I saw something else follow in the exact flight path. This was clearly a cylinder-shaped object and had the same kind of odd orange/amber lighting which made a sort of brick-like pattern all over the curved surface of the craft.

This is an "attempt" at showing what it looked like. I did some other computer-aided drawings, below, but they also were "attempts" at showing what they looked like.

Click on the 'NEXT' arrow for page 3