Day 6: Chillout at the river

Day 6 was dedicated to the James River! We packed our lunch and we went to explore this Richmond river. We started at the cemetery because it has an amazing view from the river, and I don't know if am I suppose to say this, but we actually had our sandwiches there. Please don't get me wrong, our sandwiches were just simple, honest and respectful sandwiches! ahah

So, yeah, basically we just walked alongside the river, we saw the Virginia Memorial, we crossed the river, we walked through the canal and we ended up drinking a beer at this Irish Pub. What an excellent day!

Day 5: Still not enough shopping

Not a lot to say about the day 5... We stayed in bed a little bit late, maybe it was the cold weather outside or just our body asking for a brake. ahah Well, another great day for shopping, we thought! This time we caught the bus and went to a shopping mall here in Richmond. It's not a pretty mall at all, it's dark and old, but it has a couple of nice stores.

Day 4: Maymont park and 1st round of frozen yogurt

We started the day with some delicious american pancakes: we mixed it with some sliced bananas, blueberries and strawberries, we drizzled it with maple syrup and with some chocolate syrup. Life is good...and delicious! After the breakfast, we took the bus for the Maymont park, that you probably know from my older posts. Maymont Park is for Richmond as the Central Park is for Manhattan! Unfortunately, the trees were still naked and the beautiful Japanese garden dried! :(

We had a lot of fun!

At the end of the day we went to Carytown, a nice neighborhood very european-like to see a couple of stores and to get our 1st round at Sweet Frog, a place with a HUGE variety of frozen yogurt flavors, toppings, fruit, candies... Portugal definitely needs a place like this! :)

Day 3: exploring downtown RVA

We spent the third day exploring the downtown of Richmond, that is mainly were the central business district is. Maybe you'll be amazed... I know a lot of you imagine Richmond as a little town, with no buildings... No way! There, you can find for example the Virginia State capitol, the city hall, the hospital, some VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) buildings and the lab were I work...all BIG! 

We had lunch with my labmates at the carts and we chose different meals to share with each other: thai, caribbean, greek and paninis (I will post the food on another time ;)). After lunch, we went to the garden at the capitol to relax and enjoy some sun, and to see the stressed squirrels! 

But the moment of the day was really when we went to have a visit inside the capitol. We had a tourist guide telling us the history of Virginia during civil war (everything is about civil war here!) and the foundation of the Commonwealth of Virginia and many other stories. The guy was really nice, very passioned..so the stories seemed even more fantastic! He even told us all about Pocahontas and John Smith's love story! He also showed us their portraits.. We saw a painting of Pocahontas when she went to England, all dressed up. Hilarious! They stylized her to be more english, they say. ahah 

We finished the day, taking a nice cappuccino at the great neighborhood Church Hill...and then came the sunset. On the top of the hill, the sunset is always magic!

Day 2: Williamsburg outlet

Day 2: shopping!!! Since we woke up on another crapy and cold day, we decided to go shopping!! We went to Williamsburg Outlet that is full of amazing stores!! Since Williamsburg is about 1h away from Richmond, we rent a car. When we realized that the Fiat 500 was available for the economy renting options, we obviously chose that car! We are sooo europeans! ahah

By the way, the car was automatic! oh, God!!! it was quite a ride! 

Before shopping we went to Colonial Williamsburg, that is essentially a living history museum (wikipedia says): a very cute downtown, with cute stores and souvenirs. We loved it!

At the end of the day, my debit card was getting exhausted! "Em riscos de vida!", I shall say. ahah 

Day 1: brunch and groceries

Hello guys!

Curious to see more pictures from our trip? Let's have a look at the day #1!

They arrived saturday night at 9 p.m. (let's say day#0), very tired but excited and definitely super jet lagged! So, Sunday morning we went to a place very cool, as I would say "very richmonder", to start the day with a delicious american brunch! Our choices were omelettes, breakfast burritos, with biscuits, english muffins, fruit salad... can you imagine? Your only option is to imagine because, unfortunately, we didn't take any photo of that brunch.. lol We were starving!

The day was so cold, crapy and grey so we decided to have a coffee at Starbucks and have a look at some local stores near my place (Rumors- a cool thrift boutique store, the VCU store, etc.). 

We ended up at the grocery store and we had so much fun! We explored the entire store, as you can imagine, every aisle! I have to say the supermarkets are not as organized as ours and they have a bunch of different products from all around the world.We spent about 3h inside, and the store is not that big! ahah

Easter vacations

Depression post-vacations! Yep, this is how I'm feeling right now..  My sisters and my older sister's boyfriend came to visit me during the Easter vacations. It was awesome!! If you follow me on facebook (like me!! facebook page link ) you already know some of our adventures, I posted one photo per day. We spent some days in Richmond, discovering the history behind the civil war and the 'Pocahontas+John Smith' story, exploring the true american food, appreciating the random weather (it snowed in March!), shopping and shopping; all the memorials, museums and monuments in Washington DC; and the vibrant New York City with all the fantastic neighborhoods and multicultural food, people and places!

I have tons of photos to look and edit so, in the mean time have a look at these ones.

April's quote

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Southern Red Velvet Cake

This one is obvious! So american, right? This was actually my first time doing a red velvet cake... and as you can tell, I was a little bit afraid in adding the red food coloring. ahah

The taste is magnificent and the creamcheese frosting is definitely a requirement!

Richmond strikes again #snow!

When you think that is time for the birds to sing and the flowers to bloom, Richmond strikes again! Blizzard!!! The snow is really beautiful but common!, I'm so prepared for Spring! bah! Please, Richmond, just finish this thing and let's get the party started!