More Alexandria.

We were very fortunate in that our hotel was in the absolute best location in the Old Town part of Alexandria. We were just a couple blocks away from the waterfront, several of the historical sites and the best stores. And even though the air conditioning wasn't fully functional and there were some mysterious charges made to our room, I wouldn't stay anywhere but the Hotel Monoco.

For the most part, we ate at chain restaurants, but at least they weren't chains that we have here in Pittsburgh. Next to our hotel was a la Madeleine Bakery and a few blocks away was Cosi, which is pretty much Panera Bread without the bread. We ate there for breakfast.

We did sample some of the local establishments. We had dinner once at Bugsy's Pizza (Pictured above). Bugsy himself was there and commented on how cute Lauren was and that she seemed like she had a mind of her own. Bugsy was a very smart man.

We also had ice cream at Pops (also pictured above), which serves the absolutely best cheescake ice cream I've ever had. Lauren threw a tantrum there, but we're trying to forget that.



For lunch one day, we braved Gatsby's Tavern. I say "braved" because it appeared to be a little on the fancy side and sitting down to eat is not one of Lauren's strengths, but we managed to get out of there without major embarrassment.



The other side of the tavern is a museum where you stand in the spot where George Washington and other early presidents dined.



In our continuing quest to find that wily George Washington, we visited Old Christ Church where he attended services. Old Christ Church has a very old cemetery, but I found the newer headstone of former U.S. Treasurer Henry Hamill Fowler to be the most poignant.



Also just a few blocks from our hotel was the Potomac waterfront. We took Lauren to the park there so she could commune with the ducks and eat the lollipops that we had just bought at the old fashioned candy store.



On the last day, we toured the Carlyle House, which Mark and I agreed kinda owned Mount Vernon. In Washington's defense, he was a really a humble farmer at heart, while John Carlyle was a showy Scottish merchant. The Carlyle House is significant because General Braddock had hung out there for several weeks before getting his ass handed to him by the French and Indians (Our very sweet seventy something docent, Michelina, didn't quite put it this way, but that's the truth). Before they left, Braddock and his soldiers trashed Carlyle's house, causing him to join the American side of thinking.



While we were allowed to take photos of the rooms, I unfortunately don't have any to share. Due to the stormy weather outside, there was very little natural light inside the house. Instead, here's a photo of Lauren and Mark outside of the house.



More photos can be seen on Flickr.



P.S. As you can see, John McCain was very disappointed that I refused the Vice Presidential nomination. He apparently really likes brunettes though.