After the Shamrock Marathon: Norfolk

The Route: Virginia Beach → Norfolk waterfront → Chrysler Museum → back Logistics: Around 30 minutes by car. The waterfront is flat and walkable once you are there; the Chrysler Museum is about 2 km from Nauticus and worth driving between. Marathon Month: March Duration: Half day

Virginia Beach ──(≈30 min)──> Nauticus / USS Wisconsin
                                        │
                                  (≈2 km north)
                                        ▼
                               Chrysler Museum of Art

Norfolk is the naval half of Hampton Roads and the thing to see there is moored in the middle of it. The USS Wisconsin, BB-64, is one of the last battleships the US Navy built, 270 m long, commissioned in 1944, recalled twice and finally struck in the 2000s. She sits alongside the Nauticus museum on the Elizabeth River, a few minutes' walk from the centre of town.

USS Wisconsin and Nauticus

The ship is open for self-guided walking of the main deck, with the 16-inch gun turrets overhead and the superstructure above that. Interior tours below decks run separately and go into the engineering spaces and the crew areas, and they are worth the extra if you have the legs for ladders. The scale is what registers: the deck is longer than three football pitches and the guns fired shells weighing more than a small car.

Nauticus itself wraps around the ship and covers the maritime and naval history of the region alongside a set of aquarium and interactive exhibits aimed largely at children. The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is inside the same building and is free.

The waterfront beyond it is flat, with a short boardwalk along the river and the Waterside district for food. Harbour cruises and the ferry across to Portsmouth both leave from here, and the Portsmouth ferry is a cheap ten-minute crossing that gives you the view back at the city.

The Chrysler Museum of Art

About 2 km north, in the Ghent neighbourhood, the Chrysler holds a full collection of European and American painting given to the city by Walter Chrysler Jr., and alongside it one of the most substantial glass collections in the country: Tiffany, Venetian work and a long run of the history of glassmaking. Entry is free.

The Perry Glass Studio next door runs live glassblowing demonstrations on a published schedule, which is the reason to check the times before you drive over. Ghent itself, the streets around Colley Avenue, is where Norfolk eats.

March in Norfolk

Everything here is indoors apart from the ship's main deck, which is exposed and cold in March with the wind coming up the river. That makes Norfolk the sensible choice for the day after the race if the weather has turned, and Williamsburg the choice if it has not.

Where to Stay and Eat

Where to stay: A half day from Virginia Beach, so no overnight needed. Downtown Norfolk has hotels near the waterfront if you would rather be close to the airport for an early flight.

Where to eat: Ghent, near the Chrysler Museum, has the best of it. Downtown around Granby Street works for lunch, and the Waterside district by Nauticus is convenient and no better than that.

Getting Home