hither & thither

One last ramble around Alexandria~loving all the window boxes and varied architecture.

Decided to visit Christ Church~my visit criteria for the day were: free/low cost AND a/c.   

Reminded me quite a bit of North Church in Boston (and if I were a better scholar [or even Googled it], I could tell you which one was built first.)  A docent popped her head out to see if I had questions and we started chatting. I knew it was George Washington's home church (Mt. Vernon is nine miles away), I did not know all the history.  I won't repeat it all here, but some highlights:

• Robert E Lee's children were confirmed here prior to his resigning from the U.S. Army.
• It's the oldest continuing church in the U.S.
• The beauty of the architecture saved it during the Civil War.
• Churchill came to worship here with the Roosevelts and fell in love with The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Being a U.S. Civil War hymn, he hadn't heard it.  He then used it for state occasions in the UK and requested that it be played at his funeral.
• Archbishop Desmond Tutu ordained his daughter here.
• Rosa Parks was a honored guest.
• All the sitting presidents since Cleveland have attended here. I'll just leave that statement as it is.
• It currently has an active congregation of 1600.

I got goosebumps when I got to sit where Churchill (and yes, Washington) sat.  The docent demanded that we photograph the moment.  With all these photos of myself this summer, I figure I'm good for a couple of years of avoiding the camera again.

George Washington's pew view~other than electricity and a/c, there haven't been changes made to the space. 

Discovered while the docent has lived here for a decade, Charlottesville is her hometown.  We sat in the pews and talked for quite awhile about current history.   She spoke of neighbors and friends involved in last weekend's events.  We both agreed that it was beyond surreal to be literally sitting in the midst of what we thought was history, and yet is today's headline.  Something about "there's nothing new under the sun" flavored the entire conversation.

The original organ is in the Smithsonian (next week's field trip hunt)~this one has been here since 1904.

Some symmetry and peace~at least for a few moments.

Am guessing there's a large flux of college students leaving town, as almost every shop/pub/restaurant was hiring.  BluPrint Chocolatiers is one of them.  We're having a discussion about the possibility of me working for them. 

And you can guess where I headed for lunch! I am officially obsessed with lemongrass 'chicken'~have had it prepared three ways and cannot decide which way is my favorite.

With all the parking meters around town, I was surprised that I didn't find more coinage~but am guessing that with the switch to card payment, there's not as much cash used.  And. When it's 110?  Yeah, that whole hot coin issue is back.

My bribe/pre-reward for shoving all my boxes into a truck/storage tomorrow.  Ugh.  May they only be stored for a brief amount of time.  And may it be a drive move~the thunderheads are piling up as I type.