Monday 29th June - Colonial Williamsburg

Today has been yet again another boiling hot day with temperature in the 90’s which made sightseeing more of an ordeal than a pleasure.

We spent most of the day in historic Colonial Williamsburg. This is part of the Historic Triangle, and is a huge area of over 300 acres which includes many 18th and early 19th century structures and hundreds of houses, shops, public buildings and outbuildings that have been reconstructed on their original foundations.

Several street re-enactments were staged throughout the morning at various locations and the couple we watched were a female slave speculating how little the ‘Declaration of Independence’ would better the lot of her and her family; and ‘George Washington’ giving a speech stating, among other things, that he was not going to run for another term in office. These re-enactments were very well done by competent actors.

After a snack lunch we wandered up the main street, calling into the occasional shop, the ‘post office’ and a printing press then went for a tour of The Governor’s Palace. Not very grand and hardly a ‘palace’ but it had been dubbed that by cynical locals of the time. It was interesting to see inside and to hear its history.

By the end of this we had had enough! We were both suffering somewhat from the heat so we made our way back by bus to the Visitor’s Centre, where we relaxed with a cool drink in a lovely, leafy courtyard, watching an interesting variety of birds coming down to feed

A Cardinal

An American Robin

From there, it was about a 15 minute walk to our hotel and a well earned rest. We ended the day with a most delicious meal at an Italian restaurant.