Guest post by db!
After many, many years of heading up and down I-95 only to get a glimpse of the beautiful skyline, we were finally afforded the luxury of spending a couple of days in Richmond, VA, thanks to ae's conference. After starting the trip in DC, with the requisite stop at Ikea, we hit Richmond late Thursday evening. After a good night's sleep in our snazzy hotel room on Canal Street, ae headed to her conference on Friday morning while I hit the town for a early morning sightseeing walk. My first stop was the 3rd Street Diner, which I had read about before we arrived. The place is more bar than restaurant, and my eggs and bacon were lacking flair. The pitcher of beer that the booth behind me was enjoying looked much better (it was 7:45am!!). I then headed away from town on Mayo's Bridge and looped back across the 9th Street Bridge (?). I stopped at the VA War Memorial and then met ae back at the room.
After some quick email checking, we headed to lunch at Millie's near Church Hill. The restaurant is in the middle of the new construction zone near the canal, and we parked amidst a throng of construction workers eating from a taco truck. Here was our Plan B if Millie's was either packed or not so inviting, but no worries, our lunches were great and the restaurant had a great funky vibe. We will go back.
We then headed to the Museum of the Confederacy, which they apparently do not want you to find because it is nestled right in the middle of the VCU Medical Center. We finally found the parking deck where the elevator literally stopped on floor 7 for Emergency and floor 8 for the museum. We skipped the museum (way too much Confederate flag memorabilia in the gift shop; neither of us had the stomach for it) and opted for a tour of the Confederate White House, which was quite nice and informative. The tour guide presented everything in a even tone (I never once heard "The South will rise again!").
Then we were off for a quick driving tour of Monument Ave., where we both enjoyed the statue of Arthur Ashe a little more than the ones of Lee/Jackson/Stuart. The townhouses in that area are very nice and we said often how nice it would be to live there (if we won the lottery!). We then did a quick tour of the VA Museum of Fine Arts, which is mostly closed due to a large renovation project opening next year, though we saw a nice mix of African masks and Faberge eggs, which should always be paired, of course.
We did a quick walking/driving tour of VCU's main campus (alas, no t-shirt for db) and then hoofed it back to Shockoe Slip for a boat tour of the canals. It was fairly cold and windy out (TS Noel was churning off the VA coast) so we had the boat to ourselves, and a nice kid as a tour guide. It was about a 40-minute ride which gave nice views of the city as well as up close and personal anecdotes about the James River, the locks, and the flood wall surrounding the city. Our boat captain let slip that the best pizza in Richmond was at Bottom's Up nearby, so of course we headed there as soon as we hit dry land. It was close enough to walk, so we headed over, ordered up, sat at the bar while we waited for our order and people watched, then carried our pizza back to the hotel room for a happy supper in. Went to sleep with the sounds of ae laughing at "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
We woke up early the next morning to get a jump on our final day. We headed through the Fan to Kuba Kuba, a funky Cuban place recommended to us by a tweet from Ruby. I had eggs over Cuban hash that was deeelish. Our final sightseeing adventure was a quick up and down along the Canal Walk. We were able to head out over the water and read a little bit more about Richmond history.
We headed home soon after on the never before traveled (for us) VA hwy 288, my new favorite road in VA. All in all, a very enjoyable quick visit away from home.
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