Day out in Manassas, Virginia (Bull Run)

We always want to try and make the most of our weekends, and as we both love the outdoors, we thought we'd have a day out in the country -- so, we hired a car for the day and went over to Manassas, the site of the Battle of Bull Run during the U.S. Civil War.

You really have to use your imagination in a place like this - to try and put yourself in their shoes and picture what it was like over 140 years ago, North vs South. Now, it is all just lovely rolling hills and sweeping fields, but then, it was battlefields full of wounded men.

We followed a 6 mile walking trail around the major battles which took place, and it was so hard to grasp that over 5,000 troops (on both sides) died in such a serene location. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing through the trees - hard to believe a place like that hosted such a macabre event.
Manassas itself has a Old Town, just like Alexandria, a part of town that is deemed of historical significance and full of lovely little shops, galleries and restaurants. We popped in after our walk to have a spot of lunch and enjoy the atmosphere - we ate at a place called Philadelphia Tavern, more of a local haunt than a tourist place, which is what we like. The food was delicious!

We noticed we were running late (I had to catch an evening flight to SLC), so we hopped back in the car and drove home - yet again, another wonderful day out in Virginia!

Tai Shan visit

We got up early on Sunday morning to check that the weather was nice enough to cycle to the National Zoo, which is located in Rock Creek Park, a lovely huge park, very similar to Richmond Park near London.

The only thing we thought might be an issue would be the wind; although it was gorgeous and sunny, it was still very cold (only 30 degrees), and there was a bit of a breeze that we thought could get very uncomfortable for a 25 mile roundtrip bike ride!

But, we decided to brave the cold and cycle anyway.....the ride from our house into DC is pretty much all cycle paths, and these paths meander along the Potomac, affording lovely views of the river and the city. It's so wonderful to not have to worry about cars. With it being so early on a Sunday morning, no one was out and we had the path to ourselves.

About 4 miles into the ride, my eyes and nose were streaming because of the wind, and even John said that the resistance caused by the wind would make it near impossible to cycle to the Zoo. We made it as far as the Airport (about 4 miles) and decided to take the Metro the rest of the way. If we were lucky, the wind would stay in the same direction and we would have it on our backs going home. That would mean a pretty effortless cycle ride in the afternoon!

So, we lugged our bikes onto the Metro (which, being Sunday morning, was as empty as the cycle paths!) and got off at the stop for the Zoo. It was much more spread out than I had expected, but as the Zoo is part of the park, they have a lot of land to work with - they're looking at expanding over the next few years as well. We really thought we'd want to only spend time with the baby panda, but there were so many other things there! I'm not really one for zoos - they do not sit well with me. My issue is the need for having a place for people to come and learn about these wonderful creatures, but doing this without having them in captivity (a bit of a catch-22). Nothing is worse than seeing a lion or gorilla in captivity, especially when we have seen them in their natural habitats in places like Zambia and Botswana. But, I could go on this topic for ages, so I won't.......

Getting back to the panda, he was exactly how we expected him to be - cute and adorable! All he does is roll around and play with his mum, and eat lots of bamboo. There's one branch he loves to sit on, but hasn't really mastered getting down yet, so every time he wants to get off, he just kind of hangs and drops! John took a million pictures, I'll post a few when I get them.

After we exhaused the Zoo, we were rather hungry (it was 2.00pm by then), so we decided to cycle into Georgetown for brunch. Georgetown would be deemed a suburb of DC, and is quite similar to Old Town - being a University town, it is filled with shops, galleries, lovely restaurants and wonderful old brick buildings.

We found a place right on the water, overlooking the Potomac River. Brunch is a big thing here on Sundays, and the restaurant was very busy, but what a spread they had!! Of course we started with the much needed Bloody Mary and Mimosa (Bucks Fizz for non-US people!), and then John went onto get this amazing scallop, crab, and mushroom omlette....it was heavenly! There was an endless supply of bagels & lox for me, fruits, eggs benedict, etc....we stayed for hours! That's the great thing about brunch, you just sit and listen to jazz and watch the world go by...plus, I needed to take the time to build up for the bike ride home!

We finally dragged ourselves out of the restaurant a few hours later, totally fat & happy. Luckily, the wind did not change direction from the morning, so it practically blew us all the way home. As it was with us and not against us, we got home in record time. It was a great way to spend a sunny Sunday.