a saturday in the summer is the best day to visit colonial williamsburg.  yes, there are a lot of people-it is tourist season, but there is also a lot more to see.  the historical village is alive with people in period costume and they are busily re-enacting everyday life as the colonists experienced it.  they are also friendly and will patiently listen to you and answer every question you have for them.  just be prepared for canons to go off-they can scare the crap out of you if you are not watching the performance and are just strolling the nearby gardens…

after a busy day of driving in endless loops looking for a place to live, we wandered back to colonial williamsburg to see the village.  something to keep in mind, you can enter the village freely and wander the streets without buying a ticket.  many of the gardens and exhibits allow you to enter for free as well but to see and experience the entire village, you will need to buy a ticket since many areas require it for entrance.  we had only an hour or so to walk the village and decided to wait to buy tickets on a day that we could truly stay and experience it all.

after spending much of our time just wandering gardens, we ventured back to merchant square and into the dog street pub for what we thought would be a drink in the bar and a chance to cool off and get out of the hot sun. we sat at the bar sipping drinks; a glass of pinot grigio for me and a glass of the founders pale ale nitro for darry.  since we were a bit tired from all of the time spent driving, a little overheated from the hot summer sun and apparently hungry, darry decided to order something to snack on.  we started out with house made hummus.  the lovely presentation of a glass jar and freshly baked croutons was almost too pretty to dig into.  the light, creamy hummus was made with just the right amount of garlic and lemon and was just what we needed to accompany our drinks.

of course, one thing led to another and we stayed for dinner-but don’t worry, we went home at a respectable hour and there was no walk of shame…darry has a thing for burgers and the dog street pub did not disappoint him.  the feta and onion stuffed lamb burger was devoured quickly and every burger he has eaten since (he does love burgers) has been compared to it-none have come close.

anyone that knows me, knows of my love for mussels.  these were simmered in a cider and bacon broth.  i ate each and every one and used all of the bread available to soak up the broth.

i think i will like living so close to the bay and the ocean, especially if it means these will be fresh and readily available.

the pub has quite the selection of beer on tap but none is as unique as the “real ale” which the bartender was kind enough to explain.  the brewing process uses traditional ingredients but also includes a second fermentation process in the container.  the ale is only served from a special tap on the bar and this tap does not use the additional carbon dioxide or pass it over cold plates like beer served from a standard tap.  the result is that the ale is a little less carbonated, a little less cold and it likely will have a trace of sediment from the fermentation process in it.  the real ale available on our visit was a legend brown ale and it had a nice deep amber color and a smooth flavor with absolutely no bitterness- a good thing since i am not a beer drinker (as if that wasn’t obvious already) but if i had to, i could have easily consumed a 10 ounce imperial half pint.

the two beers, side by side, the real ale on the left and the pale ale on the right.  it was an enjoyable way to start the evening, we look forward to being able to do this again especially as the seasons progress.  the chance to see the colonial village during the different seasons is something i am looking forward to.

many thanks to the bartenders on duty during our visit, they gave us great service and answered all of our questions-even those about where they lived; well, we are trying to find a place to live…to see the menu, and the beer list check out the website.

and one more thing, we were not compensated in any way for this, we paid for our drinks and food ourselves!