Trip 1: Poe Museum, RVA

So to the start of the alternative curriculum and a weekly encounter with things not far from here.

Today is was Edgar Allen Poe. Of whom I knew little, though perhaps absorbed a bit thanks to Benedict's Sherlock and a dash of Stephen King. The horror starts with a tiny boy of theatrical roots, adopted into a Richmond family with big issues and ends with this tiny museum, that is not even one of the 10 homes he lived in. However he once stood outside the entrance stone cottage as a young cadet showing a French General the town and bricks from his first place of work help build this shrine at the end of the magical courtyard garden, with a pair of black cats observing.

There was so little directly of him, at most his 'death' stockings and scraps of handwriting and after-death busts, but in it's atmospheric handling, plentiful labels and characterful setting, the museum conjures him up brilliantly and there was even an echo of Lord Byron at Newstead Abbey, hanging in the air.

I consumed two short stories in the Library later - The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum. Dark, dark tales.

Playdate at the Main Library

There is nothing like a good portico to set the tone for a great read. The shelves were laid bare by their collective choices. For M: Big Nate, Judy Moody and Stink - The guide to the gross, the bad and the smelly. For the other M: Goosebumps, 39 Clues, How to train your Dragon and Harry Potter.

BBGB on Kensington

There's a cute, little bookshop on the corner and it's called BBGB. We had tokens and they have fabulous children's books. Today's personal choices were:

• Head to Toe by Eric Carl - J
• Let's go for a drive by Mo Williams - M
• Extra yarn by Mac Barnett - M
• Have fun, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell - C
• Nurse Clementine by Simon James - Gift

Russian Hill

I was trying to find Mrs Madrigal's steps - the wooden ones she chained herself too in one of Armistead Maupin's stories. We found Macondray Lane aka Barbary Lane, between the houses, with little ponds and palm trees and lush undergrowth and glimpses of the bay beyond.

Sampled a brief tram ride, walked down the crazy z-bended Lombardy Street and gazed into the loveliest community garden. This is a nice part of town!