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Waterworks / Colonial Williamsburg
Entry 13 of 15 | show all | print this entry |
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After the Independence Day program, we explored the remainder of what Colonial Williamsburg had to offer. We briefly walked through the gunsmith and blacksmith shop. It was too hot to spend much time watching the blacksmith make a hub of a wagon wheel. Next we visited the Magazine and Guardhouse. On the armory grounds, there were stations set up for people to throw leather-bladed tomahawks at a scarecrow of a Redcoat or toss rubber grenades into a target bucket. I could not resist and took several tries with the tomahawks...I actually clipped the hat of the scarecrow but did not knock it off the head, which was the objective. We went inside the magazine where a historical interpreter talked about the different armaments stored. He also went into extensive details of the Gunpowder Incident...Down with the British!
Across from the Guardhouse is the Courthouse. For our amusement, there was a mock trial being conducted. As a twist, several members of the audience were asked to portray the defendant and witnesses, while the interpreters played the judge, attorney and the master of arms. Lesser crimes are tried at the courthouse and today we are hearing the trial of a preacher accused of evangelizing the Baptism faith. Since the Anglican church is the official religion of Virginia, other faiths are tolerated (you can have meetings and gatherings) but you can not try to convert others into your belief. Like most people, the volunteers were basically reading from the scripts with little emotion or fanfare; however one woman really got into her role. I think she was applying for one of those historical interpreter jobs...or maybe she was hoping to at least get one of those period costumes as a reward.
Leaving the Courthouse, it started to rain. We walked back to the Coffeehouse for a public audience with Marquis DE LaFayette. It started to pour. We managed to get a spot under a tree. Some brave individuals remained seated in the audience. I had to admire the interpreter for his dedication, staying in character and performing in the rain...that costume must be heavy. LaFayette talked about the challenges of training a rag tag group into a formidable fighting army and the battle of Yorktown. He entertained questions from the audience. One person asked his opinion on Napoleon. Keeping in character he feigned no knowledge of such a man because Napoleon did not come to prominence until after LaFayette's time. I thought the interpreter made a mistake when he compared George Washington to Frederick the Great. After some wiki-research, I found out that Washington and Frederick the Great are contemporaries; therefore LaFayette was right. I guess you must do your history research if you want to be an interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg. Hopefully, someone told this the lady at the courthouse.
After the performance, we were fortunate enough to catch the last tour of the Governor's Palace. With all the weapons mounted on the wall, you would think you were back in the Guardhouse magazine. I guess you can never have enough guns if you are the British governor. A historical interpreter talked about the various residents of the Governor's Palace which included Patrick Henry because he was the first elected governor of Virginia. We toured various bedrooms, recreation rooms and ball rooms; then the interpreter left us to explore the gardens on our own. There was one of those mazes in the garden. It did not take much effort to get to the center, but I was disappointed to find there was nothing in the center...what is up with that? I was hoping to find the Tri-Wizard Cup. Also in the gardens was a tranquil lake. As we walked around the lake, no of the Palace staff asked us to leave the grounds. They were getting ready for the Palace Picnic. Unfortunately there was no little nook for us to hide out and wait for the picnic to begin. None of us wanted to pay $57 for a picnic so we left.
We were hungry so we walked back to the restaurants in the Revolutionary City. If you had a map of Colonial Williamsburg, you would realize that we were not very efficient during our wanderings and continued to walk back and forth between sites and performance. There was no room at any of the Revolutionary City restaurants, so we headed towards the Merchant Square section. Instead of walking, we rode the shuttle service which does a loop around Colonial Williamsburg and stops at various main sections. The Fat Canary and all other restaurants along that street were packed with people. We walked one block north and managed to find a deli which had no line at the counter. Shortly after placing our orders, a mass of people swamped the deli. I felt bad for the two workers frantically trying to serve all these people. One have to question the management of the deli to have only two workers during the 4th of July. Next...dessert at the Wynthe candy store.
After satiating our sweet tooth, we worked off some of the empty calories walking back to the Courthouse Commons for a concert by the Fife and Drum alumni. Most of the members were college kids returning for the summer, but there were a few middle-aged fifers and drummers in the group. I was wondering whether the rain could ruin the leather skins of the drums. When the concert ended 20 minutes later, I figured that it does and that is why they called it quits...the concert was suppose to last 1.5 hours and lead into the firework display. We walked to the Palace Green and staked a spot under one of the trees to watch the fireworks. All of a sudden we hear more Fife and Drum music...I guess only the alumni can stop playing in the rain. The current corp is young and can take the punishment. I entertained myself watching many unwary people step into the little present left by one of the horses. After an half hour, we had enough and decided to walk back to the Visitor Center hoping that maybe there would be a spot to see the fireworks. I kept a close eye on where I was stepping on our way to the Center. We actually lucked out because there was a viewing spot under a covered walkway. After the firework display, we quickly left before most of the crowd...yes there was still a huge crowd of people braving the rain.
At the condo, Mike and Steve came back with a pizza. Apparently when they were checking out DVDs at guest services, a poor delivery guy was lamenting that he was stood up and left with an unclaimed pizza. Mike and Steve happily unburdened him. As we dried out, we had some 'za and beer while watching Casino Royale. An end to another good but wet day.
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