2000-01-01 - Washington, DC - Cylinder

Near end of 1AM fireworks while standing outside Metro station in DC observed at least 5 cylindrical things moving at high speed across sky

I attended "America's Millennium" celebration on the national mall in Washington DC New Year's Eve. Up until 1:00 AM the weirdest thing I saw was a dumb guy climbing dangerously on a large tree. I had no expectation of a UFO sighting then nor at anytime. After the 12:00 fireworks and some music and laser lights (which were disappointing), I decided we (me and my friend) should start leaving, as the crowd was incredibly huge. We walked through part of downtown DC including the George Washington University to the Foggy Bottom Metro Station. As we got near the station the crowd swelled again as people try to get to the few escalators going down. It took a very long time to get to the escalator, so I stood and listened and people-watched. At about 1:00 AM there was the sound of explosions and it made me "jump". It was just the 2nd round of fireworks being launched from a barge in the Potomac River behind the Lincoln Memorial. Thank God it wasn't real bombs. All we could see were the flashes of light behind 12-story buildings and some reflections in office windows. The fireworks lasted about 6 minutes, and after about 2-3 minutes of fireworks as I was inching my way along in the crowd, I noticed near the western horizon what appeared to be (a) shooting star(s). I was not looking directly at it though. I said to my friend, "What good timing for shooting stars! It's great to see that during the fireworks." Then I saw more, and this time I got a better look at what they were. (It also occurred to me later that the "shooting star(s)" never "burned up in the atmosphere.") I saw a pair of dark but lit cylindrical objects "flying" in formation from NW to SE passing almost directly above me. Definitely not meteors. They looked identical. They moved at high speed, but I was able to see them well enough while they lasted, since I was now looking for more "shooting stars". Less than a minute later a single cylinder moved from WSW to ENE at about the same speed and had the same appearance. I then ! said, to no one in particular and not loudly really, "Am I seeing UFOs?" My friend was either caught up in the fireworks and/or crowd and didn't notice anything. No one said anything after my last comment, but then very few people around me would have been able to hear me with so many people jabbering and the incredibly loud, echoing fireworks. At this point I was almost at the beginning of the escalator. I guess "resistance is futile"; I felt I had no choice but to get on the thing. If I could do it over again, I would have grabbed my friend and tried to get out of the way so I could hang around and look for more of these things, whatever they were. I have searched the Washington Post's of the last few days but have not been able to find anything on any UFO sightings. I am now searching the internet for the same (for the first time) and happened upon this site. I hope this helps me resolve what it was I saw. I am keeping a wide-open mind and not jumping to conclusions. Anyone else? Please speak up if you saw them. Thanks!