The Events of Wednesday, December 15, 2010

          At times, we call ourselves the Flexible Taylors. Our flexibility was tested today. When we woke up, we had a general idea of what to do on this frigid day. These plans were changed, altered, and amended through circumstances that were not under our control.

          We woke up in the parking lot of a fantastic Walmart. We had a “cold morning” breakfast: hot cocoa, cider, and oatmeal. We headed inside Walmart to brush our teeth (always an interesting venture) and then departed for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. We found out online that there were tours of the Rotunda, the main building, at 10 and 11. Since it was nine when we left, we thought for sure that we could make the 10 o’clock tour. We arrived on the campus at 9:40 but could not find a place to park. Like all the other campuses we have visited, the University of Virginia is not RV-friendly. It is designed for an SUV at the best with narrow streets and low clearance. As we came storming down two really narrow roads, we finally found a parking lot. But there was a limit on clearance: 8’. Since we need the top three feet of our RV, we asked the attendant if he knew of anywhere we could park our behemoth. He pointed us down yet another narrow street to a parking area where we might fit. We decided that, if we were to find a parking spot anywhere, we might as well try. As we turned onto the alley, we found the lot and, sure enough, there was enough vertical clearance.  But how did we get in there?

          Three delivery trucks were lined up near the entrance of the garage, so Mom hopped out to direct. Dad maneuvered the rig beautifully—forward, backward, this way, that way, as close as you can get to that car without smashing it – you get the idea. After finally getting around that Bud Light truck, we were in the lot. But then we had to get in a parking spot. More tight maneuvering and, 20 minutes after finding the garage, we were in a parking spot. It was a team effort requiring a great skill from everyone. Mom directed, Dad drove, Lindsey watched out of the back, and the rest of us sat on the couch, hoping we wouldn’t hear a sickening crunch and a muffled “Woops.”

          We then left the parking lot and headed to the Rotunda. We had missed the 10 o’clock tour, so we planned to wander around campus until 11. But when we got inside, we found out that, due to exams, student-led tours of the Rotunda were unavailable. So we picked up a brochure about the Rotunda and headed off for a self-guided tour. Thanks to the informative paragraphs about each room and hall, we gained valuable knowledge about the building, its architecture, the symbolism, and Jefferson’s philosophy. The round building, the heart of Jefferson’s “Academical Village”, was modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. It is the main building of the original university, which consisted of the Rotunda, ten Pavilions, their gardens, the East and West Ranges (student housing), and six Hotels, or dining halls. The ten pavilions served as both classrooms and faculty housing. The Rotunda, which Jefferson referred to as “a temple of knowledge”, was the central unit of this village. In addition to lecture halls, the dome room housed the university library. But when you stand in the center of the dome room, you can’t see any shelves or books. Jefferson, wanting to use the room for dinners and other festive occasions, hid the shelves behind double pillars.

          As we headed downstairs, we admired each of the elliptical rooms, which Jefferson preferred to other shapes. Unique to this building was the hourglass-shaped hall joining the rooms, for that is what happens when elliptical rooms are on either side of a round building. Each part of the building features a different classical architectural order: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Jefferson combines these to form a fifth order with a little bit of everything. Jefferson, with strong faith in the power of knowledge, created the campus as a classroom for architecture students. Everything in the campus connects the students to knowledge. Each Pavilion has a different architectural structure so the students could look at them and learn:  the availability of the faculty, the central lawn unit, the domed Rotunda building, everything. Jefferson was the one who coined the phrase “Knowledge is Power”, so he designed the building as a proper learning  environment. Jefferson’s goals continue to this day as students are learning restoration and preservation techniques for this World Heritage site.   

          We wanted to see Jefferson’s works up close instead of just reading about them. We walked down one side of the lawn and back the other. An interesting fact about the Lawn: even though there is no central heating—just fireplaces—and no bathroom in the dorms on the Lawn, it is considered an honor to live there. Fourth year students have to apply to live there! After a nice stroll around the lawn, we headed back to the RV, maneuvered out of the parking lot, and headed to Monticello. We were finishing off our nice lunch in the parking lot as three charter buses pulled in. We hurried through the rest of our meal so we could beat the crowd. We ran in, purchased our tickets, and hopped on the next shuttle heading to the top of the hill. We were lucky—we beat a huge school group by 5 minutes and, therefore, got a smaller and less rowdy tour group.

          Our tour guide gave us an extremely fast tour of the Mansion, which Jefferson designed himself. Like many colonial houses, it expanded as the family, their wealth, and their needs grew. It was very cool to see many of the architectural styles we saw at the University repeated in Jefferson’s house. My favorite feature was an alcove bed, an idea Jefferson had brought back from France. Every bedroom had the bed tucked away into the wall to make the room more spacious. After our 30-minute tour, we walked around the west lawn and then headed underground. Here, we saw the slave quarters and their working orders. The house looked much better, but it was good to see the behind-the-scenes action. We headed down to the graveyard, where Jefferson and his relatives are buried. It is still an active cemetery—descendents can be buried with their 18th century ancestor! We waited a little while longer before the next shuttle arrived, hopped on, and headed back to the information center.

          The orientation movie was supposed to be fantastic, so we put that next on our to-do list. Unfortunately, due to a private holiday party, the last showing was at 3:00—20 minutes earlier. Disappointed, we skimmed through the exhibit rooms. We had seen information about a Discovery Center with lots of hands-on activities and wanted to explore. At times, we are just like little children. Text interests us for a while (i.e. 2-3 seconds on average), but we really want to play with the artifacts to see how everything worked. In the Discovery Center, we could do just that. We tried a model of Jefferson’s polygraph, which copies what you write as you write! It has two pens and, with a little practice and a better model, could be very functional. As Caitlin and Lindsey played with the blocks, building a “model of Monticello”, Abby and I played on the computers, creating our own classical-style home.

          At four, Monticello closed, and we were torn from our interactive fun. We headed back to the RV and looked for a campground. Snow is predicted throughout Virginia tonight, and we want a place between Monticello and Mount Vernon where we can be plugged in and warm in the frigid weather. We found Small Country Campground, which was, as the name described, was small and in the country. We set up, dumped our now defrosted waste, brought in supplies, and then cranked up the heater. After dinner and math, we headed to bed. It is really nice to have a nice heated RV in a quiet, secluded, and dark campground—no matter the temperature outside.