I’d never heard of Alexandria, Virginia until Dean suggested it might be a good place to live. We visited it summer of 1985, found a realtor who showed us a delightful rental house in a neighborhood called Beverly Hills. The following year we bought a home in the Delray neighborhood which at the time was a working class area of town. It’s since gentrified.
Alexandria still holds a special place in my heart and I often wish we hadn’t moved away. It was a place with real neighborhoods and genuine people.
We rarely visit despite it being less than 25 miles away.
Cedar Waxwing's 365 
What is going on with that fountain?
Ha. I ran out of my allotted word limit or I would have explained the photo. It is called Promenade Classique and is on the waterfront near Old Town. We visit whenever we stop in Alexandria, and especially if we are with friends who have never been. We call it “The Lips” because other parts of this area have marble lips and eyes spewing or dribbling water. Here’s more information https://www.publicartarchive.org/work/promenade-classique.
I don’t remember the lips. Tim used to take classes or figure drawing or something at the Torpedo Factory. It’s really hard to take the time to get around the huge metropolitan area!
I think I visited Alexandria once. Briefly. We’d been to Mt Vernon, and stopped there maybe for lunch? It was charming.
For a couple of years I lived in the Rosemont neighborhood. Alexandria was definitely the best place we lived in the DC area.
If we stayed in Alexandria we probably would have bought a house in Rosemont.