Fredericksburg

Yesterday saw us leave the Shenandoah National Park in dense cloud and pouring rain to make our way south east to Fredericksburg.  Although we didn’t get any decent photos due to the miserable conditions, we saw a beautiful red crested woodpecker, and a wild turkey gently ambling across the road.  The road led us down below the cloud level and for a while we convinced ourselves the weather was improving.  The countryside was lush and similar to the valleys of the Alps, the roads were clear, so it was a good drive until we got to the outskirts of Fredericksburg, when the fun started.  We had thought from the description of the hotel that we would be in the old part of the town, and that it was a small town.  In fact, it’s a sprawling urban mass.  We thought we had spied our hotel, and made valiant attempts to reach it, isolated as it was in the middle of a building site alongside the motorway, only to be told at reception that we were staying at their OTHER hotel a few miles away.  Relieved, we drove on, having refused the receptionist’s kind offer that we could stay there if we would like!  No thank you!  Such fun ensued, try to find the right hotel, with me driving up and down the interstate, until Liz finally saw it, a huge concrete edifice nestling gently in a parking lot surrounded by cheap diners, and approximately 5 miles from downtown Fredericksburg.  To say we were disappointed was an understatement.

in the lift coming back down to Reception, we were engaged in conversation by a woman who was in town for her mother’s funeral, and when told we would be moving on to Virginia Beach next, proceeded to tell us what a shit place it was! The day was getting better by the minute.

however, undaunted by the drizzle and the thought of slitting our wrists to keep Mrs Miserable company, we asked for a taxi to take us downtown to the visitor centre, and were picked up by a Pakistani man who thought we were German, and who introduced himself as something like jihadi John.  Jihadi John gave us his card and dropped us $20 lighter downtown. The visitor centre folk were helpful, gave us leaflets etc, but we decided to get ourselves some lunch, and headed off to a really nice bar offering a wide range of beers.  The whole downtown area, as far as we could see, is like a pretend town, with little antique shops and trinket shops and nothing we want to buy.  We will go back today and take the trolley tour of the town and whatever sights there are to see in the pouring rain that is falling today. Jihadi John is picking us up at 10.

I’m so glad I bought a suitcase full of linen shirts and cut offs!