Williamsburg: History in Action I

After a music filled First Night, we spent the next day exploring some of the more traditional attractions at Williamsburg. The town was still decked in its finest Christmas decorations. Wreaths hung from every door, and garland edged the windows, the doorways, and the edge where the roof meets the wall. The decorations were are creatively designed from natural items. Pomegranates and horse apples, orange slices, peach pits, artichokes and more graced the wreathes. There were even garlands of strung sycamore seeds. We made our way through town, coming by foot from the visitor's center complex, passing in front of the governor's guarded and decorated palace, and made our way down the palace green to the Duke of Gloucester Street.

We headed to the Kimball Theatre, where we were scheduled to see Dean Shostak’s Crystal Carols Concert. Dean started off with the eerie and beautiful glass armonica, moved on to glass bells, played a bit of a glass violin, and ended with the Cristal baschet. This display and demonstration of unusual instruments is not to be missed. The sounds are unlike anything you have ever heard, and the delicacy of the instruments involved is stunning.

We made our way back to the Governor's Palace, and took a tour of its interior. Though rather small for a building with such a large name as palace, the rooms are beautifully decorated. From the sword and gun covered foyer to the spacious rooms for dancing and gathering at the back. After our tour, we headed down through the gardens behind the palace to the hedge maze there. While it was enough to entertain me running through it for a bit, it's not much of a maze, and the hedges are thin and sparse, making cut throughs all too easy.

We returned to Gloucester, and stopped in to visit the explore the magazine, and to learn a little about the colonial judiciary system at the courthouse across the street. We made our way to the Raleigh tavern, where we waited to get into to see some actors discuss the issues of the revolution. While we waited, Jake headed over to the Raleigh Tavern Bakery and got us some brownies and hot chocolate that was wonderful. We continued up the street to the Capitol building and took a tour of its interior, and learned about the colonial era government system. The green cloth gives many of the rooms the air of a poker joint, rather than the halls of government, but the rich wood decorations and historical narratives are not to be missed. We headed up the street, stopping in many of the shops, explored the wig maker's and some of the smiths. The smell of wood smoke from the fireplaces filled the air as we finally made our way to a bus station that carried us around to our car at the visitor's center.

We headed over to eat at Sal's Ristorante Italiano. The food was decent home style Italian, but certainly not fantastic, and the service was slow. It did make for a more relaxing meal than the hustle and bustle around historic Williamsburg. It was a pleasant end to a busy day.

Ferries in Italy: Sicily and Sardinia

Our trip to Italy included two overnight ferry trips. The first from Sicily to Sardenia, and the second from Sardenia back to mainland Italy, just north of Rome. We booked deck passage instead of an airline type chair or a cabin, since we figured we would be able to sleep somehow, or they would not offer that option. We thought we might be sleeping outside on the benches, but after trying for some time, we gave up. The wind made it too cold and uncomfortable. When we re-entered the ship's carpeted hotel type hallways, we saw that there were people sleeping in every corner. Some even in rolled out sleeping bags with sleeping masks on. So we found our own little corner, curled up, and went to sleep.

For our second trip, we knew what to expect. This boat turned out to be much nicer, having a large lounge where a man was playing some music, and a bar. We chose the lounge because the seating looked much more comfortable. We settled in to listen to the music for a bit, until a group of spring breaker types accosted the DJ to let them sing to a song. Well, one song turned into several, and they were video taping themselves and generally annoying everyone on the boat. Finally, they called it quits, and another girl was pushed up onto the stage by her friends. She was convinced to sing, which she did. I do not remember the song, but her voice was soothing after the terrible karaoke style singing we'd all been subjected to. She sang only the one song and then hurried off stage as we all applauded loudly, something we had not done at all for the earlier group. After this I quickly fell asleep.

So if you are a little adventurous, you really do not need to pay higher rates for a place to sleep on these ships. While the comfort levels of the deck passage accommodations may vary, It will certainly save you some cash.