History in the Making in Richmond Virginia

Denise suggested let’s go to Richmond for the weekend and visit some historical sites.  On her list of things to see was the Hollywood Cemetery, it dates back to the mid-1800’s. It is the resting place of two US Presidents; James Monroe and John Tyler as well as the only Confederate States President, Jefferson Davis.  It is one hundred and thirty acres of beautifully landscape rolling hillside sitting on the James River banks in downtown Richmond. Touring is done by car or walking.  We did the free self guided walking tour.

We were exhausted from the walking tour but enjoyed it very much. The awesomeness of visiting this cemetery is being in the presence of America’s very influential historical people.  It is truly awesome!

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Next on Denise’s list was touring the State Capitol. The Capitol is located a few blocks from where we were staying. We decided to walk and got a little help for directions from a young man just getting off from work at Kroger’s.  He said just follow me and we did.  He told us about the international bike race (UCI in Richmond(Union of Cyclist International)) going on for the next week that has Richmond in “host to the world” mode. The event has the same riders on the Tour La France. It’s a big deal.  It has over 1000 elite global bike riders and over 500 international news agency covering the event.  It so happened that our hotel was at the epic center of the start and finish line of the race.  This was not planned!

Today was a practice run for the riders. The course is different for each race but the longest course is 160 miles through the surrounding area.  No planning on our part, it’s luck that our hotel is at the start/finished line.  This is diffinittely History in the Making.

We parted ways with our very informative direction guide.  We entered the Capitol grounds from the higher elevations and the visitors entrance was down at the bottom of the Capitol hill.  At the visitor entrance we had to go through security and the staff was very friendly and helpful. They gave us suggestion on our self walking tour and also provide us with a 20 minute documentary film of the history of the Capitol.

Since we were coming in from the bottom of the hill we had to climb several stories to get into the Capitol.   Once we got into the business end of the Capitol, it was touching to see the place that Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry pronounce their revelation.  This is the place that early America was formed.

Our hotel didn’t cost us anything. I redeemed point from my business travel but I had to pay for parking though, $23.