Richmond, Virginia - heading down South!

As we were making our way south through the United States, we entered Virginia and the city of Richmond. Finally the weather was starting to turn warmer and there was a distinct change in accent from everywhere we had been previously.

We didn't arrive in Richmond until early evening and had a pleasant stroll around the city. There were lots of Christmas lights set up as we were coming closer and closer to the holiday season.

Richmond is the capital of Virginia and is an independent city. It is located on the James River and is home to many museums and battlefields of the American Civil War.

We had been told about a place called Maymont and urged to visit it while we were in the area. Now so far, we had been travelling around the United States by Greyhound Bus and this had been working out fine but as we got into Virginia we started noticing that things were going to be much more spread out from this point on. For example, we were unable to get public transport that day to Maymont so had to phone a cab which was 2 hours late picking us up from Maymont! The cab was an expense that we just didn't have so we decided to hire a car.

This proved difficult as we were both under 25 at the time so there is quite a hefty surcharge for drivers under that age. However, we managed to negotiate a good deal with National Car Rental and knew that in the long run the expense would be worth it. They dropped off a white Chevy for us and we were good to go!

Now, back to Maymont. Maymont is a 100 acre Victorian estate which includes a mansion, an arboretum, beautiful landscaped gardens and a carriage collection.

The house was originally occupied by Major James H Dooley and his wife Sallie. James H Dooley was a wealthy lawyer in Richmond and according to their wishes, after they passed away, the estate was left to the people of Richmond. The mansion was fascinating to tour and exuded history from every pore. What were just as impressive, if not more so, were the beautiful grounds which we spent hours strolling around and taking everything in. There are Japanese gardens, a rose garden and a cascading waterfall.

Richmond was just a short stop for us but we thoroughly enjoyed our time here and the city has so much to offer. Maymont was certainly a highlight of our trip. So we set off in our new Chevy and headed to Williamsburg, Virgina (which will be reported on in the next blog post).

We stayed at the Days Inn (2100 Dickens Road) www.daysinn.com which I would recommend.