Colonial Williamsburg 2013, Day 1

We are blessed to be back in Colonial Williamsburg again this April, although it appears that spring is as late coming to this part of the country as it is at home.  Our first day started wet after rain came through last night, so we decided to shop for antiques around town until our first Historic District activity in the afternoon.  The Vintage Rabbit and The Velvet Shoestring were both home furnishing consignment stores that displayed their wares attractively, but didn't convince us to purchase anything.  By noon the sky was clear, the temperature was warming, and our appetites were ready for the buffet at Nawab Cuisine.  The staff at Nawab did not disappoint us, confirming its status as the best Indian food on the East Coast (or at least Williamsburg).

After lunch we had time to visit a small antique store on our way back to the Historic District where we wandered through an exhibit of "Painters and Paintings in the Early American South" while waiting for a music program to begin.  The music program was 30 minutes of listening to a quartet on the harpsichord, viola de gamba, violin, and German flute playing short selections from a variety of 18th century composers, famous and not-so-famous.  The venue was a stark classroom in the DeWitt Wallace Museum, but the music was as inspiring as the venue wasn't, and still left us time for more antique shopping at the Williamsburg Antique Mall.

This was our view of the Capitol as we approached for the Capitol Concert this evening which consisted of an a cappella quartet singing madrigals from the 16th and 17th centuries.  The artists, Michael Monaco, Jane Hanson, Jennifer Edenborn, and Herb Watson, are all familiar to us, but in the past we've only heard Jane Hanson's singing as the others are usually busy with their instruments.

Sharp eyes and good memories will notice that the trim and cupola on the building have been painted a different color since our last visit.

This was my view of the singer's "music stand" for the concert.  Herb Watson was close enough I could have reached out and touched him -- we were definitely in the spit zone!  The House of Burgesses hall in candlelight makes a wonderful atmosphere for live colonial music, and the musicians tonight performed well enough to bring honor to the venue.