Day 18

David was on leave today and so, after an early morning trip and queue at the Social Security Administration in Fairfax to obtain my Social Security card (essential for many processes here), we went to the neighbouring town of Vienna.

The above picture shows the town's original library which ceased to be in use in 1970 or so (we visited and signed up to the new one).

Modern Vienna is a series of 'strip malls' along the main road but running parallel is Church Street which, in Virginia terms, contains a number of historic buildings, including as you may imagine, a church.  

It was built in the late 19th century..

The church has grown and prospered since then and is now significantly larger..

This picture still only shows a small part of it, there is another very large church building behind.

We also saw the former Vienna general store which is now open from time to time as a museum.

And finally the route of the Old Dominion railroad, now a cycle path which crosses Northern Virginia.

Our last stop in Vienna was (another) pasty shop - this one had a picture of 'The Chough' in Padstow on the wall, which made us feel a little nostalgic for home.

The shop also had an interesting range of English grocery items, amongst which the following;

We managed to resist these (even the Bisto cheese sauce granules) although it was harder to walk away from the Branston pickle and the Fry's Chocolate Cream!