I feel like there are still SO many things that we haven't seen out here surrounding the district AND the East Coast. It gives me slight anxiety because I don't know how long we will be out here...so I decided that we would take a night and explore a little bit of Old Town, Alexandria. King Street is a major street with a lot of treasures and old historic buildings. I did the research and took my history lover along to verify the facts. I'm sad we didn't get down there until later and took up time by eating dinner at a place that would have been qualified to be on 'Restaurant Impossible'. The night was still so charming, regardless of the fried food, and I'm glad we got to see a tiny bit of the east side of the Old Town. (By the way, King Street has a trolley that runs up and down all day which is not only adorable but free!)
We started out grabbing dinner at a place that was cheaper (being the millionaires that we are). And oh boy, was that a bad decision. I think it's so smart to be mindful of money BUT when it comes to having a dining experience where you haven't been, it's almost worth it to have a nice meal and experience the culture surrounding you. The picture above is NOT of our dining spot, but was a sweet little flower shop that I'm sure came all the way over here from Great Britain. I loved it.
After getting through our dinner, we stopped by this cute gelato place and shared double chocolate
goodness.
I love these cobblestone streets found back east! This was "Captains Row", named after the captains who docked their ships at the Alexandria wharves.
Old Town Alexandria has the most adorable Christmas shop selling....yes....all things Christmas. It kind of made me want to just skip over fall and go straight into December...but then I remembered how much I love fall and stepped back. Plus, the few Halloween decorations they had there kept me in the right place including this wonderful cat mask Kyle modeled for me.
Next was some more sampling of ice cream on King street. It was between "The Creamery" and....
And "Pop's"....which won in the end for their variety of flavors and Christmas lights strung throughout. More ideas for Kyle's AWESOME hobby.
The inside of Pop's.
Filmed with the 8mm iPhone camera app. I'm sad the music can't be heard that well because it which completely added to the whole mood of the '60's Ice Cream/Soda Pop Parlor feel.
I love the old historic buildings with hanging bushes, outfitted with all different kinds of shops and restaurants.
I also love the old fashioned oil lamps hanging everywhere.
This is Alexandria's City Hall and Market Square. They say the farmers market still held here today, is the oldest continuously-operating one in the nation! George Washington sent wagon-loads of produce from Mount Vernon to sell in Old Town. They also say Washington drilled troops here for the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars. I love the huge American flag draped from the center.
Our next stop was visiting George Washington's Old Town House. It was built in 1769 and he would stay here (even though his house was at Mt. Vernon) some nights if the weather was bad.
A bust of Washington himself sits in the window.
Since it was getting dark, we weren't able to go to all the stops on my list, but the one I wanted to see more than anything was the Spite House. Built in 1830, this is the NARROWEST home in America at only 7 feet wide! It was originally an alley but the owner of the home next to the small space built this tiny thing to keep horse-drawn wagons and loiterers out.....hence, built for spite.
Yep....7 feet.
We ended our night at the Christmas Village looking at all of the intricately designed drinking glasses for each state. Wouldn't it be cool to own all of these someday? It's like a little state history lesson while drinking your orange juice at breakfast time. Lots of treasures in Old Town. I can't wait to head back down when the leaves have changed and are falling onto the cobble streets!
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