Centre Ville

Last weekend Jube had to work all day on Saturday, so Sunday I had decided we would get out of the house together. When the day finally arrived, however, I found myself in a little bit of a depressed mood and couldn't think of anything fun to do. I had taken a shower so I didn't want to go to the beach and get sandy; I didn't want to go hiking because then I would get sweaty! After a few minutes (or hours?) of moaning I finally decreed that we would check out "those cool houses we see from Brambleton when we go downtown" and afterwards head to the mall.

It turned out to be a great choice, because we were able to explore Norfolk a little bit more and revise our opinions of the town's aesthetics. The nice houses turned out to be in Norfolk's Ghent Historical District, one of the oldest and nicest parts of the city, just across a canal from downtown.



Many of the houses here have towers, and combined with the old trees, this gave the neighborhood a unique look. We even took a picture of this house for sale to send to Jube's parents telling them that we were going to buy it!



After walking around Ghent we weren't ready to go to the mall, so we went to the Freemason District to look at the townhouses there. The city has kept the original cobblestones on part of Freemason Street and some intersecting streets. The neighborhood is near the harbor and has some really interesting sections, so it was fun to check out. Jube even said that he (finally!) felt like he was in a foreign country!

Here is a picture of a Chinese restaurant. It actually belongs to the city and is in the center of a municipal park. The building was a gift from the government of Taiwan. In the background you can see the stern of the USS Wisconsin.



Then we walked to the mall and took a turn around. When we left, there was quite a lot of thunder and it started to rain heavily. Luckily we made it to the car before it began, and we were treated to an evening show of lightning. All in all it was a great day.