Rise and shine the following day after about five hours of sleep. May not sound like myuch however I'll take five hours versus zero hours from the night before.
And since there's no airport or airline stuff to deal with today guess what? I can have as much coffee in the hotel lobby as I care to. Since I was up early getting breakfast was no problem. I ate about as soon as the staff set up the buffet.
Agenda for today? Jamestown followed by Colonial Williamsburg.
Before the trip I was busting my brain as to whether I have been to either of these places when I lived in Northern Virginia as a child. Since nothing about these places jogs my memory I figure I have not been here. Mom and Dad—feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
While on the way to Jamestown we do pass by a jewel of Williamsburg Virginia, that would be the college of William and Mary. Our guide mentions it's the second oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, just behind Harvard. In looking at the buildings of this institution only one thing comes to my mind: the lyrics of a steely Dan song. From “My Old School:”
“I was smoking with the boys upstairs
when I heard about the whole affair
I said oh, no
William and Mary won’t do
Well I did not think the girl
could be so cruel
And I’m never going back
to my old school”
(Written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen)
By the time we get to Jamestown Settlement the song is gone from my brain. We disembark and split up into two different groups and are warned that the tour runs about two hours. Hey no problem for me. After all the sitting I did yesterday I'm more than happy to walk.
Interesting to learn about colonial life and to realize that we have it extremely easy compared to what those folks had to deal with. That last part really hit home to me when we tour the ships. No Love Boat cruise here! Unless you’re a member of the crew you spent a good deal of the voyage below decks amongst a whole lot of things that truly didn't smell very good (animals, animal waste, human waste) and since there was no showering or laundering of clothes guess what? You don’t smell too good either…
Time for lunch! More Italian food.
After lunch it's time to do Colonial Williamsburg. The best part of this segment is we get to split up and go where we want, do what we want provided we stay within the confines of the Colonial Williamsburg Park. The head teacher does give us some pointers of interesting places to visit and very strict instructions to meet back at specific place at specific time.
There's plenty of staff dressed up as historical figures and even more staff dressed in period costumes. Encountered fife and drum and a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Our afternoon closed out with a celebration of the surrender at Yorktown.
It's back on the bus and we head to our hotel in Falls Church Virginia. This evening I'm not nearly as exhausted as the prior one however I still fall asleep mighty quick.
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