Bringing London to Virginia: The top ten of Norfolk, Rare Travels-style.

“I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, for a while, about which the less said the better, and then I was in the Mediterranean, about which the more said the better.”

— Harry Matthews

Brief note: this is my entry into the TBEX Blog Carnival Contest sponsored by Choice Hotels International Services Corp via Cambria Suites. They challenged us to create the perfect weekend itinerary for our hometown.

While I’m not always big on itineraries, what the challenge did remind me of was spending last summer back home, saving up for my second move to London. It was one weekend in the hot month of June that I realised, sometimes everything we’re looking for isn’t far from our front door after all.

Meet Emily.

That’s her there, just to the left, in her signature sunglasses and black velvet blazer, leaping to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the rear gardens of Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia.

Besides being an incredibly talented artist, Emily is one of the girls I was lucky enough to spend six months in London with after graduating from university. While we were all Europhiles on a general level, I think we each had our own reasons for going as well. If I’d gone to London to taste the music scene and our friend Kim went for the culture and cappuccinos, Emily went for the art.

Her love for all things art, art history, and painting was infectious and throughout our time across the pond, Emily and I had a chance to visit a few truly extraordinary museums together, including the KUMU Art Museum of Estonia outside Tallinn, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (totally worth the queue), and the impressionist wing of London’s National Gallery.

So when Emily came to visit me in my hometown in the Tidewater region of Virginia last summer, I panicked. What would we do? Where would we go? What did I possibly have to offer her that would begin to match the scale of our European adventures?

Well, as it turned out, I had more than I probably cared to admit. Hampton Roads, Virginia, is unique in that seven individual cities—Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Hampton—essentially function as one, making us the most-populous metropolitan area in the country without our own professional sports team in any of the four major sports (don’t ask me what those are, by the way).

But not to fear—I wasn’t making sports the center of our weekend, but art—specifically a visit to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk. Emily and I spent an entire Sunday afternoon doing what we did best in Europe—taking photos, noting the names of paintings we liked, getting lost in labyrinthine galleries, buying postcards of our favourite pieces.

And for the briefest of moments, I forgot that I was in the city I’d spent the first eighteen years of my life in. I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to find it interesting or relevant or “cool.” I was simply enjoying being back with a good friend in a building full of art for us to enjoy.

So when I learned of the latest TBEX Blog Carnival contest, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. Rather than spread my itinerary across all seven cities, I’m singling out Norfolk—not only is it the downtown heart of the region, but is probably “where it’s at” when it comes to most of our cultural offerings.

Norfolk isn’t always the final destination for many vacations, but if you happen to find yourself on an East Coast roadtrip this summer, this just might make you consider taking a weekend off to enjoy Norfolk. And so here I present an itinerary I like to think would both make Emily proud and make Harry Matthews reconsider his opinion of the region:

The Top 10 Weekend-Highlights of Norfolk, Virginia, Rare Travels-style.

Friday night:

1. International cuisine in Ghent – Ghent is the historic district in Norfolk and home to some of the city’s best dining options. From the Japanese Kotobuki to Rajput Indian Cuisine to Azar’s Mediterranean Grill and Gourmet Market, all located along Colley Avenue, you just might forget where exactly you are for the weekend.

2. Friday night show at the NorVa – Short for—you guessed it, Norfolk, Virginia—the NorVa is a theater located right in the heart of downtown. All through high school, my friends and I eschewed concerts in some of the larger venues around town and opted for indie gigs in this converted theatre. Whether supporting local favorite Mae for the third time, or singing along with Imogen Heap last summer from the VIP seating area, it’s not hard for me to see why Rolling Stone magazine even named it one of the country’s top five rock clubs in 2008.

Saturday:

3. Chase the mermaids – It’s been over ten years since the Mermaids on Parade first hit the streets of Norfolk—not only as the city’s new logo, but as a kind of artistic trademark as well. Modelled after the famous CowParade, there are currently 89 mermaids floating around Norfolk, and there’s even a Mermaid Spotting walking map to help you chase them down.

4. Get lost in the Chrysler Museum– First opened in 1939, the Chrysler Museum of Art began as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. Only after a gift from New York Times art critic Walter J. Chrysler in 1971 did the museum get a new name, a new modern façade, and an updated collection featuring works by Delacroix, Matisse, Hopper, and Warhol, to name a few. The NYT once described the collection as “one any museum in the world would kill for,” and yet there it is in my backyard.

5. Retro dining at Doumar’s – If the hamburgers and homemade milkshakes aren’t already good enough at this historic restaurant, the fact that they’re served straight to your car window makes them even better–sadly the rollerskates are the one tradition that has been done away with at this drive-in diner.  Doumars’ founder and namesake Abe Doumar (great name, right?) is also credited with inventing the world’s first ice cream cone, selling nearly 23,000 at the Jamestown Exposition in 1907. So in a way, really, you’ll be tasting history.

6. Creative inspiration at Color-Me-Mine – After a morning of mermaids and museum-hopping, you might find yourself ready for a little roll-your-sleeves-up creativity. Head back down to Colley Avenue in Ghent, where Color-Me-Mine, a paint-it-yourself ceramics studio, is the perfect place to make a souvenir from the weekend.

7. Indie flick at the Naro – The name for this independent cinema isn’t as easy to guess as the NorVa—while it began as the Colley Theater, a new owner in the 1960s renamed it after his parents, Nathan and Rose. Throughout its seventy-five years of existence, the Naro has served many lives, but is now home to indie releases you’re not likely to find playing elsewhere.

8. [Almost] midnight snack at Skinny Dip – The frozen yogurt (or should I say froyo?) craze sweeping the nation in recent years certainly hasn’t spared Norfolk. After you leave the Naro, wander down Colley Street to either Swirls or the Skinny Dip frozen yogurt bar, grab a bowl of froyo and load up on myriad toppings like fresh pineapple, cookie dough pieces and brownies.

Sunday:

9. Morning stroll through the Botanical Gardens – If there was one thing I missed most about life in London while at home, it was the lack of public garden spaces in suburban American neighbourhoods. With its fountains, mirror lake, and even a butterfly garden, the Norfolk Botanical Garden does something to relieve this. What’s even cooler to learn is that the gardens began in 1938 with a Works Progress Administration grant.

10. An afternoon with the Norfolk Tides – We may not have a team in the majors, but when it comes to professional minor league baseball, we’ve got our bases covered (don’t worry, pun shamelessly intended). Founded in 1961, the Norfolk Tides make their home in Harbor Park and are currently affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles, although this only recently changed from three decades with the New York Mets. I grew up going to their games and, forgive me if I sound like my grandmother, can even remember when they were called the Tidewater Tides.

If that doesn’t leave you inspired, here are a few photos from my visit to the Chrysler with Emily…thumbnails courtesy of VisitSouth, Doumar’s, PBase, and Wikipedia.