America's Most Historic Town: Fredericksburg

Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House and Sushi Bar is a chain restaurant that serves the public in nine different locations in Maryland and Virginia. The restaurant has a section for Hibachi, a regular bar, a sushi bar and a section for sushi customers. We were greeted by the manager who forced us to choose either at the Hibachi section or at the sushi section. I wanted us to eat both sushi and hibachi, but we couldn't.

The decor of the restaurant was nice, with panels of Japanese drawings and caliography. When we decided to eat sushi, instead of a geisha an American waiter showed our way. We expected to receive a menu and look at the pictures and decide what to eat. There was no menu available; on our table there was a sheet of different kinds of food available, and a pen. The list included appetizers, salad and soup; sushi and sashimi a la carte; maki and temaki (hand roll) sushi; and sushi and sashimi dinner entrees. We choose Sakura Special for Two, that advertised 10 pieces of sushi, 6 pieces of california roll, and 10 pieces of sashimi. It also included miso soup and salad for $39.95. We also ordered green tea, but was told that their machine was broken so they couldn't serve us any.

First, we were served each a bowl of salad with ginger vinaigrette. Before we started our salad our miso soup arrived. I didn't want my soup to get cold so I started with the soup. Although the soup was very delicious it wasn't very hot. While I was eating the soy beans our sashimi arrived on a little wooden table-like serving plate. There were many different types of fish: tuna, salmon, crab, shrimp, yellow tail, eel and some other that I didn't know what they were. I wanted to ask our waiter, but it seemed it was his first day of working and he wasn't around much. (We kind of feel sorry for the guy). There were grated beets, thinly sliced cucumbers. I waited for the soy sauce and later noticed that there was a little container that looked like a miniature Japanese tea pot that was used to store soy sauce. We were also served with Wakame Salad (shredded seaweed salad with sesame seeds). The crab sashimi was the best. A pickled fish was our second choice. After we finished the sashimi we were served on a similar plate our 10 pieces of sushi and 6 california rolls. After the sashimi, I was so full that I decided to call it quits after tasting some of the sushi and take my food at home.

When we were leaving the restaurant we ran into a ghost of a shogun (a sculpture) trying to see if we paid our dues to his master.

". . . the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power . . ." -- James Monroe If you want to learn more about the life of James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States of America, and the intricasies of international and domestic political relationships during those ages you need to visit the James Monroe Museum . When we visited his Ashlawn Highlands home we mostly learned about how the Monroe family lived, as well as, got a general idea of the Americans'' lived in Virginia during that period. However, on our visit to the James Monroe Museum, we mostly focused on the political life of the president.

The James Monroe Museum is located on the property of the original wood-frame building where Monroe practiced law from 1786 to 1790. When you enter the museum an introductory information is given on the museum and in the exhibition room you can learn information on the life and accomplishments of the president. Later, a guided tour takes you to different rooms which are decorated with the Monroe family''s actual furniture and represents different periods in his life. One room is decorated as their dining room in Oak Hill, another room as the elliptical room in White House (it was called President''s House when they lived there), and another room as their drawing room in France. The original desk on which he wrote the Monroe Doctrine is on display. We were told that Monroe's grandson Laurance, who was also the founder of this museum, broke the leg of this desk. The repairman found a secret compartment in the desk where they found letters to and from Washington and Jefferson. I thought this was really cool as Monroe burned all his correspondence with his wife after she passed away.

45 minutes to one hour is more than enough time to tour the museum. It is nice to know that the admission fee we paid may assist in preserving the history. The library contained many books of Monroe that needs repair.

So we all heard about George Wahington and the cherry tree. The story of the cherry tree takes place here, in the Ferry Farm, where young George Washington cuts a cherry tree and when his father questions he states "I cannot tell a lie." It is not known whether this story is true or not, but it became popular after Washington's death. Ferry Farm was the boyhood home of George Washington. Although the original buildings do not exist anymore, the foundation is trying to raise money to have the original buildings built in their site. Currently, excavations were conducted to find the location of the various buildings, as well as, learning more about life in Ferry Farm.

George Washington lived in the Ferry Farm from the age of six to twenty. He inherited Ferry Farm from his father when he was 11. On Christmas Eve of 1740 the "home house" as George Washington would call Ferry Farm burned and his father build a new one. Although he lived most of his formative years in Ferry Farm after his half elder brother Lawrence died George Washington inherited Mount Vernon, then called Little Hunting Creek, and resided there while keeping his mother in charge of Ferry Farm. Finally, after buying his mother a house in Fredericksburg, he sold Ferry Farm in 1774.

Our visit started with visiting the exhibition center situated in visitors center, and then followed by taking a self-guided tour. There was not much to see in the grounds, except couple of closed buildings and excavation sites. While we were visiting there was no excavation, but we were told that there was going to be an excavation that Wednesday. We followed the steps to the Rappahannock River , which also played an important role in Civil War. Artillery of the Union Army was situated at the slopes and a few yards farther was where Union Army built a pontoon bridge in the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Second Battle of Fredericksburg.

When we visited, I guess due to the rains, the river was muddy, people were canoeing in groups and a Ferry was having a cruise on the river. Another story about Washington was that he was able to throw stones to the other side of the river. I challenged my husband to throw a stone to the other side of the river; a challenge many civil war soldiers took upon without success. I learned that the civil war was the cause of demise of the Ferry Farm house. First, it was used as headquarters to the Union Army, later it was dismantled and used as a source of fire.

Admission is $3 for adults, $ 1.50 for kids. We looked for cherry trees hoping there may be offsprings of that very famous tree, but no luck.