Jessica, Andrew, St. Stephen's and a President

We woke up early this morning and saw the sunrise over Pest. It was quite beautiful. I (Sarah) went out for a little bit and took some pictures at the Fisherman's Bastion... which gets flooded with tourists in the afternoon. So it was nice to be there when nobody was there.

We waited for Jessica and Andrew to arrive until 9:30 am and decided to venture out on our own and check back intermittently to see if they had arrived. We weren't out very long when too long when some oddballs jumped out and shouted at us. It was them! YAY!

The four of us set out to explore. We decided to check out Parliament; sold out. We walked along the Danube and saw a monument to the Jews thrown in the river by the Nazi's. It was very moving. We walked and walked and walked... most of the day. We saw a lot of Pest. The architecture is beautiful, the weather is fabulous and it's not too crowded. After lunch, we checked out St. Stephan's Cathedral. Beautiful but unfortunately we could not meander about like we are used to in Western European churches.

It looked like it was going to rain so we decided to head back to the hotel. We made it to Gresham Palace which is now the Four Season's hotel, just east of the Chain Bridge. There was a small group of people waiting for something. It looked as thought there was a famous person about to arrive. There were a couple of paparrazzi and some people with a program-like thing and a pen. We asked a photographer what was going on and he said he didn't know (even though he had a press pass). A man walked up to tell the photographer something so we asked him... nothing(even though he had a super sneaky ear piece in). We were intriuged. We waited just a few minutes and all of a sudden a convoy of police vehicles arrive and pull up on the sidewalk. I thought... this is no celebrity. This is actually someone important. Then........... I hear Mark say, " It's Bill!" Then I see none other than President Bill Clinton... I scream, "IT"S BILL!!!" It was fantastic. Mark asked if he could shake his hand and Bill made eye contact and parted the crowd and headed directly to Mark to shake his hand. Andrew had a small conversation with him as his father had a class with him at Georgetown University years ago. I now understand why people cry when they see famous people. It was quite exciting. My leg muscles were shaking. He certainly knows how to work a crowd. Also... he likes old school Nike shoes.

That's it for now... we got to meet Bill Clinton. What are the odds of that?!?!?