Alexandria isn't just for Egyptians

Greetings from Wonderful West Virginia! My apologies for a couple of days of silence. We've been recuperating, meeting people that we haven't seen for some time, and just enjoying having a couple of days off.

The last few days have been fairly uneventful. In essence, Monday through Wednesday, we did little venturing beyond the door of Fred and Sarah's house. Borders (in Hagerstown, MD) and Martin's Foods (Martinsburg, WV) are the full extent of the explorations for those days, and that was mainly so that I could make my famous Moroccan Chicken Stew and my Chicken Alfredo. Other than that, I've hung out several times with our other friends, Jessie and Jason, who we've been friends with since college.

Until today!

A friend of ours from Madison, Maggie, has been living in Alexandria, VA with her fiancee. We figured it is not a long drive from Shepherdstown, so we got up bright and early this morning (6:00 AM) and caught the 7:40 AM MARC train from Brunswick, MD. By about 10:00 AM, we were in sunny and humid Washington D.C.

Union Station in Washington, D.C. - Pretty nice for a train station!

The Capitol Dome from Union Station.

First things first, we stopped at a greasy spoon near the train station called Bagels and Baguettes or some such thing. It was okay... Rather greasy, even Nadine's plain croissant. But, it gave us fuel for the next phase.

Since we were meeting Maggie at 12:30, and we still needed to take the Metro out from the Mall, we decided to hit a museum. We are, after all, a couple of certified historians! We had never been to the new Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. It is a nice museum, and I am glad that they spent so much time on their exhibits. It is very tastefully done, and seems like it would be kid-friendly, too. Highly recommendable!

Then it was off to Alexandria. We took the Metro to the King Street exit, then were picked up by Maggie. Maggie and Nadine took their preliminary examinations together, and have been friends ever since that trial by fire. Nothing bonds grad students quite like the pre-lims ordeal (or so I've been told).

When we were on the way to downtown Alexandria, I mentioned that I knew very little about the town, other than that Robert E. Lee lived there, and that the first blood of the Civil War was spilled there. Skip the following if the Civil War is not exactly your cup of tea.

(In May of 1861, James Jackson, the strongly pro-Confederate owner of the Marshall House, flew a large Confederate flag over his hotel. When Union troops under Col. Elmer Ellsworth crossed over from D.C., they immediately went to the roof and tore down the flag. On their return, however, James Jackson ambushed them with a loaded shotgun. Col. Ellsworth, a close personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, took the lethal blast to the chest at point-blank range. Ellsworth's troops promptly bayonetted Jackson, who died of his wounds.)

Death of Col. Elmer Ellsworth (from an eye-witness description), May 24, 1861.

Anyway, as we were walking to Maggie's recommended restaurant, La Madeleine, what should we see but the following:

Plaque on the side of the Marshall House.

Marshall House, ca. 1860s.

The Marshall House today.

I was overjoyed. I eventually went in and asked if there were any exhibits, but the building now houses the swank Hotel Monaco, and has long since renovated over any Civil War-related areas and donated any historical materials to the local historical society.

We then went to La Madeleine, which is apparently a local chain restaurant. Nadine had their Crepes Romanoff (whole-wheat crepes with a strawberry, cream, and brandy sauce); I had the Croque Monsieur (ham, swiss, and a creamy garlic sauce) half-sandwich, black-pepper potato chips, and a cup of potato-leek soup; and Maggie had a vegetable pasta dish. We then topped it all off with desserts (mini-tiramisu and a single espresso for me, mini-sacher torte for Maggie, and mini-fruit tart for Nadine). Great food! If you're ever in Alexandria, it is well worth the stop.

We then wandered a bit. I finally got to see the exhibit on the Marshall House at the Lyceum, which is like a little Alexandria Historical Society. It was kind of sad, as there was no one there, save for me, a guy from New England, and a woman behind the counter muttering to herself and collecting the "suggested" $2.00 admission fee. Nadine and Maggie waited outside. Sadly, muttering-lady may not have realized that she was muttering to herself: the guy from New England kept asking if the building was haunted, because he kept "hee-ahring whispuhs." The woman said that she didn't hear anything, and as soon as she was alone again, would go back to muttering, and it would start all over again.

Fun-fact about Alexandria: From 1801 until 1847, Alexandria officially broke away from Virginia and was part of the District of Columbia. Apparently, its needs were not being served by the District, so it came back to the fold in 1847.

After that, we searched in vain for ice-cream, then high-tailed it to the Metro station. Following a few hugs and multiple declarations that Maggie needs to visit us in Shepherdstown (which she does!), we were back on our way. It was just the right timing, too, since it started to rain and lightning at that point.

When we finally got back to Brunswick, the sun had routed the rain clouds, and it was sunny yet again. After watching an altercation between a couple of commuters, and nearly getting t-boned at a round-about (round steak-ed?), we were home.

The Brunswick, MD train station, and a smattering of commuters.

That's all for now. We've got a slow day tomorrow, but we will be heading to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on Saturday, so keep watching for more updates soon!