A Lovely (but Quick) Tour of Lexington

As you an see, we are out gallivanting once again, on our way to Bristol.  It’s a very long drive, and I like to break up the trip by stopping at least one way of the journey, and this time, I set up a stop in Lexington.

The town is famous for the memorial to Stonewall Jackson, who lived here for many years of his life while he was a professor at the Virginia Military Institute.

One interesting fact about Jackson.  He apparently was a horrid teacher!  We toured the Stonewall Jackson House, where he lived while teaching here, and learned all kinds of interesting facts about the man,.  He would spend hours during the day memorizing his lesson plans so that he could recite them rote to the class.  However, ask him to explain something….and he was useless.   

His real talent would shine when he quickly raised to the rank of General during the Civil War.  He may not have been able to teach, but he certainly had a knack for leading.  

Lexington is a lovely little town of apparently 7000 people, and my B&B proprietor tells us that it was voted one of the top 25 small towns by Smithsonian Institute.

Walking around, it certainly isn’t too difficult to see why.  Not only is it a beautiful place to wonder around, the people are just downright friendly, even striking up conversation with us as we found ourselves enjoying dinner at the bar in a local restaurant because  the tables were booked for the evening.

Let me just give you a quick tour, as my time is a bit short here.

We drove into town and headed right to the information center, which happens to be located a block away from the Stonewall Jackson House.  Luckily, we arrived just 5 minutes before the first private tour.  

Here is the walkway to the entrance, lined with blooming peonies.  The fragrance was awesome. 

This shot was taken from the back of the house.  Jackson was a huge fan of gardening, and this photo features asparagus loftily growing.  The house once stood as a hospital after the Civil war, which explains the porch on the back of the building.  That would not have been there in Jackson's Day.

The front entrance to the house stands high above street level, simply because the town decided to lower the streets 7 feet, after this house was built. 

I have no idea what this fellow is supposed to represent, but it certainly did make an interesting photo.

Washington and Lee college grounds.

 Lee Chapel, which held an awesome museum with many of Lee's personal artifacts.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time as the place was closing.  Of course,the chapel holds the famous painting that we are all familiar with. 

And a memorial that features a sculpture of Lee which was made to show him laying on the battlefield. 

Our B&B is delightful.  We have the Washington Room.  Could you guess?

We headed into town and I took some shots of the exterior. 

As you can see, the town is just beautiful, and it certainly helped that the blue skies.

After dinner, we walked to the Virginia Military Institute

Pretty spectacular, don't you think?

On the way back to our B&B,we passed the Stonewall Jackson Memorial in the cemetery.

Once inside, I had to marvel at the table set up for breakfast.

Then we watched the sunset over the mountains from the porch outside our room.

Lovely day, lovely evening, and now....I have to run because that table is calling my name!

An EU Adventure in Washington, DC

The day began cool, and a few sprinkles did fall, but we headed out to the Metro right after breakfast so that we could get a full day exploring the various European Union Embassies.

Today was the 9th annual event, and our 3rd personal attendance, and let me just say that there is no possible way one could manage to visit everyone of the embassies during the allotted time.   That became all too obvious when the line for Great Britain was wrapped around the long block prior to the opening of the doors!  Our hope was to pop in and see the British residence, but once we saw how long that line was, we decided to keep on walking and head up Massachusetts Ave to the Finnish Embassy.   Once inside, we waited in line, making our way down the staircase, all the while being entertained by an accordion player whose musical selection reminded me of traditional Slavic music. I suppose a polka is a polka, regardless of nationality.

This place was great!  There was the traditional Finnish dark bread topped with cheese

Yumm!

Of course, Finlander Swiss Cheese:

Salted Salmon (which I decided to pass on)

Licorice

And a type of chocolate that was 100% cocoa butter and was, indeed, out of this world!

I'm not sure, but I think that Marty ended up sharing some of his goodies with this guy.

We were thoroughly entertained, and thought about heading towards the Belgium Embassy, but could see through the glass windows in Finland that the line was exceedingly long.  We heard someone comment that one would expect such a wait when there was free Beer, Chocolate and Waffles involved.  

As tempting as that may sound, we decided to forego the wait and head towards 

Bulgaria.  Along the way, we noticed that the British Embassy line had dwindled dramatically, so we decided to pop in for a wee peek.

The first perk awaiting us were free sunglasses which Marty models with flair:

Then, we waited in line to walk through the residence.  

Along the way, we passed this gorgeous display of orchids. 

 It probably took us about 15 minutes until we entered the house, but it was well worth the wait.

Beautiful crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and the banquet room was breathtaking.

Note the place card for the Queen at the head of the table.

And an Andy Warhol painting with her image hangs above the fireplace.

I had some fun with the mirrored hall

too bad Marty's face is right in the center of the mirror panels.

And I loved this unique desk in the drawing room.

As would be expected, the gardens were phenomenal.

After we exited Great Britain, we rounded the corner for Italy where we were admitted rather quickly.  I should mention that most of these embassies require a strict security clearance prior to entering, but the Italian guards were relatively lax.

But once through the door, we found ourselves amongst a crowd of people with no sense of direction.  We never found the tourist info, nor the table with the passport stamps. Even the embassy volunteers couldn't answer my quest.  It wasn't a total loss, though, as I somehow managed to exit with seeds to plant Roma tomatoes and Basil, and a package of hazelnut chocolate eggs.  Not a total bust, for sure.  

Just up the street was the Denmark Embassy.  We didn't spend much time there, but if one was a kid, you could have had a field day playing with legos.  I snapped this amusing photo on the way out.

Oh, and we also tasted some awesome chocolate covered marshmallow-like cream confection that one can apparently only purchase in Denmark.  It's a good thing that we were doing all that walking!

We headed out of Denmark, making our way, once again, towards Bulgaria, where I had hoped to pop in for a brief look.  This was about as close to a Bulgarian as we came:

The line for entrance was ridiculously long, and actually wrapped around 2 blocks, so we decided to forego that embassy and head to the bus for transport to Poland and Lithuania.

By this time, the heat was suffocating, so standing in line was not exactly pleasant, but we were on a bus within 15 minutes and headed to the NW section of the city.

When we hopped off the bus, we were a bit dismayed by the extremely long lines, but we soon noted that entrance to Lithuania had no line, and we headed right inside.

Once inside the doors, we noticed that there were displays devoted to the people of the Ukraine.  Now, if you know your geography, then you will realize that these countries are nowhere near each other.

However, if you know your history, then you are aware that Russia swept into Lithuania during World War II and absconded many of its citizens, taking them to Siberia.  Doctors, lawyers, professors....highly educated people, were considered a threat, and so, families disappeared without any hope of returning.    The Lithuanian people were finally liberated in 1990, and many of these citizens remember all too well the invasion of their country.

I can't say enough how heartwarming I found this gesture on the Lithuanian embassy's part.  There were tables filled with Ukrainian items for sale, with all profits devoted to helping the people of Ukraine.  This was the ONLY embassy that we entered that had such a set up.  Kudos to them for supporting this important cause!

We had to wait quite awhile to sample the Lithuanian fare, but, in the long run, Marty will tell you that it was well worth the wait.  Once we were near the end of the line, one of the Lithuanian representatives offered Marty some "medicine".  He poured him a small vial of Triple 9, which supposedly has 27 different herbs to help what might ail you.

Obviously, there was alcohol involved in this tincture, so after Marty sipped his down, I asked him if he felt better.  The man said that Marty would be cured for certain once he had a second dose, so he poured him another.

After we finished sampling some sausage, rye bread, cheese and cookies, Marty went back to thank the man for the "medicine", and the next thing I knew, he had another!  I took this photo of him next to the independence sign.

Next on our agenda was Poland.  Once again, the line was extremely long.  In the past, it was well worth the wait, with options of Polish beer, Kielbasa and Pirogies at a slight charge.   Well, this year, items were gratis, with a choice of beef or cheese & potato pirogies, and Herring potato salad. (Not a big hit in my book.)

But, we did leave with a hat:

So, we're not complaining!  (Plus Marty loves Herring so he was perfectly happy!)

By this time, it was nearing 4:00, the closing time for the event, so we popped into Spain which was certainly abuzz with activity!  

After all of this walking, we decided to relax a bit in Madison Park which we found to be delightful.

There was a statue devoted to Joan of Arc

And another devoted to Dante, which came as quite a surprise to us:

And, near the exit on W street, a likeness of Buchanan

At this point we headed to Bistro Bohem for dinner.

Our original plan was to enjoy Slovak cuisine at Capital Prague, where we had enjoyed a fabulous meal on our last trip to this area.  But, much to my disappointment, we learned that it was closed.  So, after a quick search, Bistro Bohem seemed worth a try as it specialized in Eastern European food.

I enjoyed a glass of Bulgarian wine with my dinner:

To be quite honest, it didn't taste much different than any other type of red wine that I have enjoyed, but the food was excellent and we were glad to end the day on such a happy note.

Speaking of which.....on the way back to the metro, we passed this statue devoted to Duke Ellington

How's that for unique?

All in all, I'd say that we managed to cover a LOT of ground for one day, and my feet will attest to that fact, for sure.

So, I leave you with my passport stamps for viewing.

It certainly was a fun day, for sure!

Gallivanting in Takoma Park

It’s been awhile since I’ve been out gallivanting, hasn’t it?  Seems like most of my recent posts involved a certain squirrel and his crazy antics.    But the second weekend in May features the annual European Union Open House in Washington, DC and Marty was eager to once again explore the sights and sounds of Europe without having to actually get in a plane!

We are staying at the Etta Mae Inn in Takoma Park, Md where we can easily hop the Metro into the city and not have to worry about driving.  Which is a good thing, since on our trip down yesterday, my husband was driving like he was in Israel…..just a little nerve wracking for me!

Generally when we stay here, we walk into Silver Spring for dinner, but this time, we decided to change direction and head out on foot to Historic Takoma Park instead.  The sidewalks into the city are lined with old Victorian Mansions, each unique and lovely to gaze upon. 

I never realized that Takoma Park is the City of Azaleas, which may explain these beauties displayed at our B&B which are a common theme among many of the houses along the route.

We decided to dine at the Mediterranean Cuisine Restaurant, which seemed more like a description than the name of a restaurant.  It was small, but very busy,  and once we ordered dinner, it wasn’t too hard to figure out why.  The hardworking family that runs this place serves scrumptious food at a very reasonable price.

Marty thought he was back in Israel.

Isn’t the wall art interesting?  (Those are men on camels to the right of the palm trees.)

After dinner, we could hear a band playing nearby, so we had to check out the foot tapping, head bobbing sounds of delight.  

There was a large crowd surrounding this gazebo, obviously enjoying the upbeat music with many of the spectators dancing together on the spot.  Definitely an entertaining way to end the evening before making the stroll back to our B&B.

Just for the record, as we were walking along, a grey squirrel took one look at me and took off like a shot in another direction.  I’ve never seen a squirrel run as fast as that guy did.  Marty mentioned that he thinks the word is out about my squirrel control antics.  

That little guy probably thought I had a stash of candy canes in my purse!   

You never know!

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

Saturday featured  the annual Trout Rodeo, which has been sponsored by the local township for more years than I can attest to.  I honestly don't know when it originated,  but once my husband became aware of this special event when the kids were little, you can bet that our calendar was marked so that we wouldn't miss this fun fishing opportunity.

No matter what the weather,  he had everyone up early so that they could register at the desk, and then hike along the stream to his "secret" fishing hole.  You can tell by these photos from the past, that the special spot was not a disappointment!

With the cut off for rodeo participants being 14, there has been an extended, sad lull in this household,  since these cuties have exceeded that age limit for quite some time now.

But this year, excitement was rekindled when our son, pictured above,  decided to visit this weekend, with his wife and our two grandchildren, for the express purpose of attending the rodeo.  My husband checked ahead of time to be sure that they could participate, and he was assured,  that since he was still a resident of the township, he could bring his grandchildren along for this fun experience. 

The weather was gorgeous, a bit nippy but bright and sunny, when we headed to the park for our adventure.  

Much to our surprise, the stream was not elbow to elbow with potential anglers, although there were a large number staking out their claim near the entrance where one could see several dozen of large Palamino trout swimming around, not the least bit interested in bait, much to the dismay of those hoping to bring one home.

The treasured spot was not to be accessed this year, as fencing had been placed to keep anyone from heading so far downstream.  That was a brief disappointment, but let's face it, there was plenty of stream to pick from, even if we couldn't get to the "lucky" spot.

Everyone set to work, waiting for a trout to come along.  

It was definitely slow going for awhile.

Then there was a tug on the line......hopes were raised....

but it soon became obvious that the worm had become breakfast for some clever trout.

Luckily, grandpa came stashed with lots of bait, and once again, the rod was cast.

In short time, there was another bite, this time resulting in a successful catch of a spotted trout.

Luckily, adult hands were able to net the catch, and soon there was a very lively fish slapping about, much to the delight of all.

Our grandson carried his prize fish to the measuring table

where all of the adult volunteers were excited to see this little guy holding his trophy.

It measured a very stretched length of 9 inches!

This little guy was perfectly content to head on home with his single fish,  and grandpa looks pretty happy himself, doesn't he?

But before we packed everyone into the car, little sister had to have her turn holding the fish as well.

Pretty in pink and happy as a clam!

It was certainly an exciting day for all!  

Really...can you ask for anything more?

Close Call for Snacky!

This morning, I was in the kitchen, making breakfast with my grandson, when Snacky showed up just outside the kitchen window, on the ledge, under the feeders.  Ever since the candy cane debacle,  he seems to be quite satisfied just cleaning up the seeds that fall from the feeders.

That certainly makes me happy!

When Snacky suddenly popped up onto the railing, I mentioned to my grandson that there was a squirrel on the deck.  He was standing at the window, just about 3 feet from Snacky, and I ran to grab my camera so that I could capture another photo.

I was just zooming-in when my grandson decided to pound on the window, which set Snacky scurrying.  Obviously, this was a missed photo opportunity, so I turned off the camera.

Within seconds, I noticed an extremely large bird land on the railing, spread its wings, and bob its head a bit, facing our direction.

Suddenly, I realized that I was looking straight into the eyes of a rather large HAWK!

I tried to capture a photo, but wouldn't you know, by the time the lens was focused, the creature was up and flying away, having been foiled in its attempt to secure breakfast right before our eyes!

Do you comprehend what almost happened?

Snacky was nearly the Snack!

Whew!  That was a close call for sure!  I've determined that my grandson can now be considered a hero, and, in my opinion, Snacky just might want to consider returning to his previous Sneaky status. After all, now that I have squirrel existence in happy harmony,  I'd hate to see all of that effort wiped out in just a matter of seconds!

Don't you agree?

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