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Alexandria, Virginia - Part 2
Snowbound and Hungry in Alexandria Virginia.
Written by: Janet Pope
Stuck in a blizzard, in the middle of a Alexandria, Janet sees the culinary and historic delights of the town.
During the night the snowbegan to fall gently, and what began as a beautiful Winter Wonderland ended up to be one of the worst snowstorms that Alexandria could remember. We awoke to almost blizzard conditions, with 12 inches and more falling. The city was immobilized and Alexandria Virginia literally closed for the day. The television reported freezing temperatures and a snow alert, as they announced that on Sunday all services for almost all religions were cancelled. Now that was a first.
Since our first scheduled event of the day was a walking tour of the city, we assumed that it would be cancelled. Lunch would have been aboard Nina's Dandy Restaurant Cruise Ship, which would travel up the Potomac River along Washington's Monuments, that is if the Potomac weren't frozen!
Well like bears settling in for a long winter's nap, we decided to hibernate for the day. I wouldn't exactly say it was a decision, but in any case that became our alternate plan. We were lucky that the Comfort Inn had a buffet complimentary breakfast, so we went and chowed down as if this breakfast might reasonably be our last meal for a while. Don and I spent the day watching TV and reading magazines. By four o'clock, Don was desperate enough to read "Oprah" and I was bored enough to watch action movies.
Our children called to check on us and my son made the comment "Well at least you and Dad have time to bond." I hated to burst his bubble, but after 31 years of marriage, Don was channel surfing in the living room and I was sprawled out reading in the bedroom- so much for bonding.
Now comes the adventurous part of our journey. By six p.m., the snow had been falling for 18 hours straight and had now reached 24 inches! The television announcers advised everyone to stay off the roads. Although our hotel was "comfort" able it only had a pizzeria and I needed real food.
After checking the directions and making certain it was open, we put the car in four-wheel drive and carefully took off down the snowy highway for the Hilton in Old Town Alexandria and their in-house restaurant "Seagars". It was bristling with activity and we felt like we found an oasis in the middle of a snowy desert. Seagars is an elegant dining establishment with a cosmopolitan menu of predominantly prime beef and fresh seafood. Tonight due to the emergency conditions, the restaurant hosted a buffet. We dined on wild rice, chicken medallions in a wine sauce, grilled vegetables, beef bourguignon, salad and pasta.
We ended our meal with a chocolate cake drizzled with a raspberry sauce. I felt decadently guilty as I thought about our other snowbound guests back at the hotel eating pizza.
When in Alexandria again, I would check out Seagars as they had an award winning wine list of over 240 wines, piano music and a wonderful relaxed atmosphere.
We headed back into the deep snow and prayed our car would get us back safely to the hotel. While others on the road pushed the speed limits of safe driving, we arrived back at the Comfort Inn with a gleam in our eyes and a satisfaction in our stomachs... We came, we saw, we ate!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
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