Argentan

Sint-Niklaas

Schongau

Lucca

Colmar

 VIRGINIA TRIP

Visit to Abingdon, Virginia, USA

 for their 230th birthday celebrations,

The Blue Ridge Pathway (part of the Appalachians)

in the Fall

and

Washington DC

as it gears up for the Presidential elections

28 September – 11 October 2008

In November 2007 there was a Twinning Conference held in Abingdon with representatives from our twin towns of Argentan, Colmar, Lucca, Schongau and Sint-Niklaas, together with a representative from Abingdon, Virginia, Garrett Jackson. During the presentation on his town Garrett told us of the 230th birthday celebrations to take place from 2 – 5 October this year and invited people from our five twin towns, together with members of ADTTS to go to Abingdon to help with the celebrations.

Since then Garrett and I have got together to plan a trip that we can all do together. The idea was put to the committee of ADTTS who felt that it would be a wonderful opportunity for friends from Belgium, France, Germany and Italy to join us on what we hope will be a very special trip.

The basic idea is that we should all meet at a hotel, probably near Washington Dulles airport on Monday morning 29 September. ADTTS will then plan the land arrangements, travel and accommodation, from hotel reservations on the 28th until the morning of 11th October, back in Washington DC. We will have a coach to meet us and will travel south from Washington, through Virginia, stopping at historic towns like Lexington and having time to see a little of the Appalachian mountains on the way. We hope there will be some lovely autumn colours. We will arrive in Abingdon in time for their celebrations and spend about five days there, hopefully staying in bed and breakfast accommodation across the town, so that we get to feel more part of the town that is named after ours. We will have guided walks, try and attend an American football game, do a walk on the Virginia Creeper trail and drive to famous landmarks both in Virginia and in North Carolina. (See provisional programme below.) 

When we leave Abingdon we will take two of three days to drive north again, via towns from the civil war like Charlottesville and to Mount Vernon, birthplace of George Washington. We will then have three nights in Washington DC where you will be free to see just what you want to see of the city that will dominate our headlines the following month. Our trip will finish on Saturday 11th October, but of course you can always extend your stay, maybe even going up to New York and flying home from there.

In stops along the way and in Washington DC accommodation will be in hotels and motels, in Abingdon we hope it will be in bed and breakfasts. There is a hotel there, Martha’s, and we can arrange for you to stay there, probably with a price supplement.

The cost will include coach travel, accommodation on a bed and breakfast basis, a barbecue or two, maybe a lunch. It will also include town guides and any entrance fees that we have en route. ADTTS will make the land arrangements and we will have Garrett and others from Abingdon, Virginia to help and guide us there. You will need to be a member of ADTTS if you live in Britain (£6 a year for single membership, £9 for a couple), or belong to one of the European Twin Towns societies as dictated by that twin town. Payment for the land arrangements will need to be made in £ sterling.

Stella Carter
Chairman ADTTS

00 44 (0)1235 520317
stella@bakehouse.supanet.com

Provisional Programme for the Stay in Abingdon, Virginia

Obviously it is a long time until October and this programme may be changed a bit. However, I think it gives a flavour of that part of the trip. Exciting! The rest of the trip will be taken up with a few days in Washington and one or two other places of interest.