Revisiting my old town

On our anniversary, our friends took us to Al Fresco Italian Restaurant, which was located at Oyster Point Square Shopping Center in Newport News. Before we entered, I noticed that Nawab Indian Cuisine was located at the same shopping center. When we entered, there weren't many diners in the restaurant. We were asked if we had reservations. We had none, but it didn't prevent us getting a table. However, as the night progressed, the restaurant filled up easy and I don't know whether we would be lucky if we had arrived later.

The restaurant had dim lights, which gave a relaxed but elegant atmosphere. One wall of the restaurant was covered with murals that depict rural life in Italy; the windows were covered with gold colored silk draperies, which gave a sense of being in Rome during the Roman Empire. Cloth napkins and tablecloths enhanced the ambience.

All four of us ordered different entrees. One of my friends ordered chicken cacciatore ($15.95), chicken served with spaghetti in marinara sauce. Our other friend ordered one of the special for that day, which was a chicken dish ($16.95). My husband ordered lobster ravioli ($16.95), which had big pieces of ravioli and shrimp served in a special sauce. I ordered linguini with clams, shrimp, mussels, and squid in white wine sauce ($16.95). The entrees came with a salad and garlic bread sticks. The salad was fresh and crispy, just like the way I like it, but the garlic bread sticks were soaked in oil. Although I love garlic bread, I couldn’t eat more after I ate the first stick. The restaurant slowly filled up by 6:30pm and it seemed Al Fresco had a loyal clientele, as the waiters seemed to know some of the guest by their names. After dinner our waiter, who we learned was originally from Spain, brought us the dessert menu. Tiramisu ($4.95) and another dessert made of ice cream were our choices and the desserts were really delicious.

If you like Italian food, this restaurant will satisfy you. For us, it was a little bit bland. My linguini advertised that clams, mussels, shrimp, and squid were to be sautéed in garlic sauce, but the taste of garlic was dominated by the banal taste of white wine sauce. It may be a nice place to dine in summer, as they have an outdoor patio. It must be nice sitting outdoors, al fresco style, and eating one of their delicious desserts (I would pass on the entrees).

The Virginia Marine Science Museum is a really fun place to visit, and therefore really popular. The first time we visited the museum, it was Christmas break and there were not so many visitors, which was good as the volunteers had spent a lot of time, one-on-one, explaining about the snakes, the fish, and the vegetation. We had attended the feeding of the fish, cleaning of the tank with the big sea turtles, played with the stingrays and watched the sea otters play with each other.

However, when we visited the museum last Easter holiday, we couldn't believe our eyes. The parking lot was so full with cars and buses, we hardly found a place to park our car. The ticket lines were so long, it took us nearly 10 minutes to get our tickets.

We opted only for an IMAX movie, as we didn't see one at our last visit. "Into the Deep" was the name of the three-dimensional documentary. I had been to IMAX theaters before, but I had never watched a 3D movie. It was amazing. The documentary was filmed in the California kelp forest and we saw different kinds of fish in their natural habitat. It was much different than seeing the fish in an aquarium. There were no glass between us and the fish. The music was awesome, and the colors and the shapes took me to some magical time when I was a little kid and everything was possible, where fairies exist and colors were so bright. At the end of the show, the beauty touched me so deeply that a couple of tears dropped from my eyes.

If you visit the museum, make sure you see "Into the Deep." Good Friday (or the Easter weekend) is not a good time to visit the museum as it will be too crowded.