Two thousand five was the first year I could show Ligia the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. She’d moved to the States in the summer of 2004. We walked around for a couple of days admiring the beautiful blossoms. We even found a parking spot with relative ease.
Each subsequent year after that, the crowds that visited DC during this special time seemed to swell in number, to the point where parking spots were impossible to find, so we’d take the metro instead.
I still remember fondly one occasion back in 2005 when, after copious snowfall, we took our MINI out for a drive with our new Michelin winter tires. We lived in the DC area at the time, and those of you who live there know we only get about one serious snowfall every year, usually toward the end of January or start of February. Well, that day, we had our annual big snowfall, and we wanted to make the best of it.
We took the car out on River Drive (it runs parallel to the Potomac River) and turned onto an access road that took us downhill, toward Lock 21 of the C&O Canal. It was quite possible that we wouldn’t be able to get back up onto the main road, but we didn’t care at the time. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
Our MINI handled itself beautifully thanks to the winter tires, and we drove uphill through the thick snow without a hitch. Soon we were back home, sipping on hot tea and warming ourselves after the wonderful outing. We had so much fun!
Upperville is a quaint little town on Route 50 in Virginia, about 50 miles from DC. We visited it twice, once in 2004 and once more about a year later. We loved its historic church and library. The stone architecture and cobblestone courtyard had an immediate appeal to us, as the buildings seemed to have come to life from the pages of a fairy tale.
We loved being able to walk about the buildings unhindered, and the orderly appearance of everything around, including the furthest grounds of the church.
Let’s go inside the church for a bit.
Have you ever seen a smaller and more endearing public library?
If you get the chance, please visit it. According to Wikipedia, there are a number of thoroughbred horse farms in the area, so that might be of interest to you as well.
Glen Echo Park is a neat place located on MacArthur Blvd, near Washington, DC. It used to be a full fledged amusement park in the early part of the 20th century, with its own rail line that ran to the park’s gate from downtown DC. Ligia and I visited it a few times in 2008. The following are a few photos I took during those visits.
The park’s official website is here.
Episode seven of my interview series, Romania Through Their Eyes, is now live and can be seen on my YouTube channel. It’s an interview with Odessa Toma, an American from Louisiana who married a Romanian and moved to Romania. The interview recounts their story and the sacrifices they’ve made and are making in order to live in the country with their three children, two girls and one boy.
RTTE-007-EN-HD
Released 1/4/12
If you’d like to keep in touch with Odessa and her life, here’s her blog. You can also find her on Facebook.
As always, I welcome your feedback!
Happy New Year!
Raoul Pop 