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Day 4 - Wed 12 April 06
Up early and walked into Charlottesville via the University of Virginia. The main street is pedestrianised, and has a lot of boutique type shops. I got to the visitor centre at 08:40, the trouble is they don't open until 10. So I went in search of a public phone - eventually I found one in the lobby of the Omni Hotel. I rang the taxi driver that picked me up at the station last night, but got no reply. In the end I got the front desk of the hotel to get me a taxi to get me out to Monticello. On the drive out there I had to explain that the UK used to 'own' the US, and that's what independence was all about.
Monticello is quite small, but there were a lot of queues to endure before I got into the house proper. The guide did an excellent job of showing the house. After that it was another taxi ride back into town. The visitors centre was open by that time and supplied me with a good road map that I need to get me to Point of Rock. Then it was lunch time, which was supplied by an Italian restaurant on main street.
A stroll over to the library allowed me to check on my e-mails, and to get back to the hotel I took the free(!) trolley bus up to the Rotunda at the University and had a look around - a very pretty building and campus.
Then it was down to the Mall to get a USA road map and a mobile phone (which I eventually got from the 7-11 for $30), back to the hotel to charge it up, and then out again to find a pay phone to enable it.
I've managed to hire a car for tomorrows trips to Emerald's place, they've even offered to come and collect me tomorrow morning.
NextView my route through the USA here
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