Golden Virginia

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Reached Richmond, Virginia yesterday after a 6 hour drive, which is the first time since South America I've had such a day of travelling. Still, it went by fairly quickly and we actually arrived slightly ahead of time.

The hotel I'm staying in is in the centre of town (at last!) and is a restored 19th century building, so I felt pretty bad when within about 10 minutes of being there I managed to break one of the (probably antique) chairs in my room.

There's not really a great deal to do in Richmond, and it seems to be quite an old city so a bit of a culture shock after coming from the high rises of Charlotte. But there was enough to occupy me for one day. First of all I walked to the Edgar Allan Poe museum (he was from Richmond). I've read some of his stuff, and he's often described as the American Shakespeare, though personally I think anyone who writes a story about a woman who is mutilated by an escaped Orangutan is far better than the Bard. The museum itself was OK, especially the section on Poe's mysterious death. The end featured a DVD recording of someone reading Poe's poem The Raven, with the original illustrations. The recital lost something however when the raven's words 'Never More" were spoken in a voice akin to Mr Cadbury's Parrot.

From here I visited the Hollywood Cemetery, by far the nicest cemetery I've ever been to (not that I've been to many). In fact, if I ever die I'd like to be buried there myself, so ignore any previous comments about being stuffed and mounted in the Olde Black.

The cemetery is also where James Monroe, the US president is buried. However, he's not in my list of top 3 presidents (Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Harrison Ford in Air Force One in case you were wondering), so I didn't bother trying to find his grave.

After my second dose of dead people in the space of a few days, I found a 'typical' English pub, Penny Lane, where I watched the Spurs game. Interestingly enough, the owner was actually from Welling, not Liverpool, though I guess both places have similar levels of crime and unemployment...

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Photos

Capitol
The Confedrate Capitol - where they ran the government during the Civil War

Garden
Poe's enchanted garden. Not sure what was so enchanted about it to be honest.

Diana
A lovely mural of the Princess Diana. On the wall of a strip club.

Comments

[Muck]

I think..
you'll find that 'The recital lost something however when the raven's words 'Never More" were spoken in a voice akin to Mr Cadbury's Parrot' is just balderdash and that that actually makes it superb.