At home with the Jeffersons'

Given that our trip last Monday to Mount Vernon (George Washington's house) was such a resounding success, we went to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's house) a week later. It's located outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, a good two hours drive south of Washington DC.



Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd President of the US and - by the sounds of it - a real genius. He spoke 7 languages and had a collection of 6,000 books. He could easily read 15 hours non-stop (..must have had some good books at that time!) - One of his inventions was a book-holding device, enabling to have 5 books open at the same time.

TJ (as we like to call him) wrote the Declaration of Independence, was US Secretary of State, US ambassador in Europe, a self-taught architect (e.g. responsible for the University of Virginia campus and the construction of his home Monticello) and a keen farmer and plantation owner. As if this didn't keep him busy enough he also had a large family - ...including fathering some children with Mrs Hemmings, one of his slaves.



After a very interesting family tour of Monticello, where all the kids got to be historic characters (and where "yours truly" was chosen to be TJ himself) on a really hot day, we need some refreshment. An found it in an old diner in downtown Charlottesville, which hadn't changed for over a 100 years (...including its staff, if I may say so).