Old Town Alexandria Morning Walk

It’s cherry blossom festival season. That means we stay away from DC for the next few days - especially on the weekends. Since it’s been three years of no celebrations because of the pandemic, I’m sure this year will bring even bigger crowds to the city. So our destination for this morning’s walk was Old Town Alexandria. It’s one of our favorite places filled with quaint but very impractical vertical living spaces. We parked at Founders Park, then walked along the familiar waterfront along the Potomac River. A big distraction is all of the plane traffic overhead from Reagan airport. It seemed rather quiet for a cherry blossom weekend. There was a new art project being installed. Rather than head back down one of the usual routes, we pushed forward to check out the Landing - a neighborhood made in the late nineties. It’s on the waterfront and ends by a park that was once a Civil War fortifications. There’s a lot of history here from the 1600’s and a lot of signage to inform you about what’s what. There’s a little space for a native plant conservation zone and a few birds were enjoying it. Surprisingly there was little in the way of flowering trees except for a few blossoms here and there. The old brick, backyard patios and walkthroughs between the tightly packed houses is always so interesting to see. One of the stately homes on Fairfax street burned yesterday and the damage looked extensive. It’s amazing the fire didn’t reach the home next to it. This time we didn’t stop to pick up pizza and Greek food at Vaso’s Kitchen since we just did it last week. But it was a lovely walk - as usual - in Old Town.