D.C. - Day 8 - Colonial Williamsburg

We woke up early this morning because we needed to do laundry. Dean was out of socks and I was almost out of shirts. After breakfast, we walked to a local laundromat and did a load of laundry whilst listening to our iPods. The laundromat was horrible--stinky, dirty, with loiterers and no attendant. But we got through it unscathed. The timing was right because our plan for the day was to drive 2.5 hours south to Colonial Williamsburg. We wanted to skip all the rush hour traffic, and so doing laundry was perfect.

The previous day I had run out of Claritin for my allergies, so this morning I took some Singulair. Bad move! It made me really drowsy. About 1.5 hours into the drive, I could barely see the road. Dean was hungry, so we pulled off for an early lunch, and Dean agreed to drive for about a half hour while I snoozed. The nap really helped, and when I woke up, we switched again for the rest of the drive.

We arrived at Colonial Williamsburg, checked into our hotel and then went to the visitor center. Basically Colonial Williamsburg consists of a long street (about a mile long) filled with buildings restored back to Colonial days and staffed by employees in period dress. We toured the governor's mansion and english gardens (there were 9 governors of VA during this period), then went walking down the lane. The employees were not merely pretending to be something they weren't (though some were). While some ran souvenir-type shops, there was a silversmith that fashioned real period-style silver cutlery and jewelry, there was a blacksmith that makes nails that are really used in the town, a wig maker, a tailor, a bakery, a gunsmith, a printing press, and more. There was a restored courthouse, apothecary, several taverns, a (closed) armory/magazine and several taverns. Most of the employees dispensed with fake english accents, which was nice.

In addition to the shops, they also have re-enactments of various events throughout the day. We watched 2: one was an argument between a slaveholder and a former slaveholder, who, after winning the debate, introduced the first free black preacher of Virginia. The black preacher preached (of course), to a chorus of amens, and talked about the need to expand the visibility of the blacks in Virginia. The second was a speech by Henry Lee who became governor of Virginia.
He gave a hilarious speech about the inadequacies of the Constitution as it was being debated in the Continental Congress. He talked about how wrong it was to elect a vice-president in the Executive branch whose only named duty was to be in charge of the Senate, the legislative branch. He talked about how wrong it was for just one house to approve of the President's cabinet, because any president could pay off or elect enough senators to rubber stamp his choices and thus create a tyranny. Anyway, it went on like that with faintly veiled allusions to the current administration. I thought it was really funny, although only a few people laughed.

After the speech was over, it was time for dinner. We ate at the fanciest restaurant in town -- a period tavern that originally catered to the Virginia elite. We ate by candlelight on period tables and chairs with period cutlery and china. All the food was directly inspired by 18th century dishes, and it was all delicious. Our first course was a condiment dish consisting of a corn relish and smoked chopped ham salad served with crusty toast bits. Our second course was a soft bread that was very light and mellow. Our third course was a salad. I had a salad consisting of field greens wrapped in a long slice of cucumber, drizzled in balsamic vinagraette and topped with pine nuts. Dean skipped salad. Our 4th course was our entrees. I had a grilled mix consisting of a beef tenderloin with madeira sauce, grilled butter shrimp, and duck sausage with mashed potatoes and garlic green beans. Dean had talapia in a tomato-based sauce served with green beans and red potatoes. Our 5th course was a traditional colonial dessert called syllabub. It was a combination of white wine, whipped cream, and lemon zest topped with a strawberry, mint leaves and a lemon slice. During the entree course our waitress very casually said, "now be careful, the tomatoes are poisonous." For some reason, I took her very seriously, until she revealed that she was joking. I was totally snookered. Apparently though, in the 18th century, they really did think that tomatoes were poisonous and that cucumbers made you crazy.

During dinner, a troubadour serenaded us with a few songs from his spanish guitar. At one point he also did a song by just blowing into his hands. He was quite good. Although an expensive dinner, it has been a real high point of this vacation.

Tomorrow we're going back into town focusing on the amazing gift shops in the west end of town.