Weatherman predicted rain for most of the day, so we decided to provision for groceries in the morning. We took advantage of the free transportation provided by the marina to a local Harris Teeter market.

An older gentleman Steve from a boat named “Blue Moon” joined us for the ride to the market. Turns out Steve is a pilot who owned his plane and has traveled around the world twice with his wife on his own plane. Due to his wife’s recent health issues, they switched to boating. Blue Moon is a 65′ state-of-the-art motor yacht, capable of single person precision docking and going around the world (their eventual goal). We had fun chatting and swapping sea stories. After shopping, I help Steve loaded his groceries onto Blue Moon.

Later that day I went for coffee while Claudia go for her haircut at a nearby hairsalon. At the Starbucks, a couple came up to me and said they saw me delivering groceries to a boat and asked if I worked for Uber or Instacart and if I would do the same for them. What’s up with that?

The sky continued to drizzle, we decided to take the 5 minutes ferry ride across the river to Portsmouth for a movie night at the highly recommended and the must-visit Commodore Theatre.

The iconic Commodore Theatre in downtown Portsmouth is a  luxuriously restored 1945 Art Deco-style motion picture theatre, showing first run films on a huge 42-foot screen with state-of-the-art THX, Dolby Digital sound and digital projection system. This historic theatre is on the list in the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register, and was named after the War of 1812 veteran Commodore James Barron.

While we waited to purchase tickets, we met Ro & Steve, the most kind, friendly and charming couple, on their date night. They helped us picked our table and gave us all the inside scoop about the theatre and other local scenes. Later they even made sure that we got back onto the ferry on-time and would give us a ride otherwise. Thank you Ro & Steve; you are the best!

From the moment you walk in the doors of this vibrant cinema cafe, you feel like you’ve walked into another time. A time when Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn ruled the fashion and movie world, when women wore hats and gloves for an evening on the town. Somehow, you feel more…elegant…just being there.

Part of the fun is that you order your food by picking up your very own private phone on your marble-topped table. Then they bring it to your seat before and during the first 30 minutes of the movie. Cushy chairs completes the eating and viewing experience.

We finished watching the very entertaining movie “Amsterdam”, starring Christian Bale & Robert Dinero and went back to the boat. We added the Commodore Theatre to the list of our own hall-of-fame date night spots.