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Riverboat on the Potomac

301 Beach Terrace, Colonial Beach, VA

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Riverboat on the Potomac is a waterfront restaurant wedding venue in Colonial Beach, Virginia. Situated directly on the Potomac River, this unique venue offers couples and their guests astounding views of the water and beach. Windows line each room, casting beautiful natural light on couples and their loved ones as they celebrate this milestone.

Facilities and Capacity

The property offers couples an elegant upstairs banquet room to host their guests that accommodates over 300 people. This versatile reception area can be transformed into a magical, sophisticated space when decorated, allowing couples to hold the wedding they’ve always dreamed of. Alternatively, for those desiring a more intimate setting on their special day, The Tiki Bar and The Potomac Room are also available. The Tiki Bar can seat up to 85 people, while The Potomac Room can accommodate up to 75. The venue also features a beautiful outdoor deck, ideal for capturing enchanting wedding photographs in the sunset or taking a romantic stroll.

Services Offered

Riverboat on the Potomac strives to assist the happy couple in creating their vision as much as possible. They can provide tables, chairs, china, flatware, and more to make organizing your big day easier. Furthermore, they can take care of setup and cleanup, as well as staff the event with servers and bartenders. Loved ones can get together on the dancefloor after a sumptuous meal provided by the in-house catering team, and enjoy refreshments from the bar afterwards.

In order to make coordinating this special occasion even simpler, the venue has a choice of preferred catering menus for couples to choose from. These include mouthwatering appetizers, as well as homemade favorites such as roast beef and prime rib. The restaurant staff can deliver a fine dining experience in a variety of ways. They are able to organize buffet service, plated service, food stations, and more depending on your vision. Alternatively, you and your partner can work with the experienced staff at the restaurant to come up with a custom menu that suits your tastes.

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Frequently asked questions

Do you have a site fee for wedding receptions at your venue, what is the starting site fee for wedding receptions during peak season, what is the starting site fee for wedding receptions during off-peak season, do you have a site fee for wedding ceremonies at your venue, what is the starting site fee for wedding ceremonies during off-peak season, which of the following are included in starting site fee, which of the following are included in the cost of wedding catering, how many event spaces or rooms does your venue offer, describe your venue:, what kind of settings are available, which of the following wedding events does your venue service, what event services do you offer, what catering services do you offer, what bar services do you provide, what event items are available, what food and beverage items are available, what transportation and access is available.

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Reviews of Riverboat on the Potomac

• Quality of service 4.5 out of 5 rating 4.5
• Average response time 4.7 out of 5 rating 4.7
• Professionalism 4.5 out of 5 rating 4.5
• Value 4.7 out of 5 rating 4.7
• Flexibility 4.7 out of 5 rating 4.7

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• Cake Cutting
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• Uncovered Outdoor
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Riverboat on the Potomac

Riverboat On the Potomac

Review Highlights

“ We've gone before on Sunday morning for their breakfast buffet and it's outstanding also. ” in 4 reviews

“ Several venues were considered when searching for a place to hold our wedding reception ; then we met the staff at the Riverboat on the Potomac. ” in 2 reviews

“ Penny gave us amazing service. ” in 2 reviews

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301 Beach Ter

Colonial Beach, VA 22443

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Amenities and More

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About the Business

Restaurant serving Breakfast,Lunch and Dinner Off Track Betting Maryland Lottery, Keno and Viriginia Lottery Play Texas Holdem Dine over the Potomac River …

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Overall rating

Food was okay. Service was good. Location was great! But I now know where they filmed the "ozark series " If I drank still this could be a fun place.

I don't leave reviews much anymore but I had to! Went today for our 15th anniversary because hubby loves keno. It was an utter disaster. Mikayla was behind the bar and should never be in the service industry. There was an older woman with glasses who came around twice but never came back. She was personable and actually TALKED to us. Mikayla never came back we had to constantly call her. We had to ask for our menus, call her back for our drinks. We never completed our meal we left soon after. She spent her time talking at the other end of the bar. We had to YELL for silverware! The food was an utter disaster. The oysters were overcooked, the flounder was raw in the center, the crab cake was inedible. The baked potatoes were RAW. Mikayla delivered the plates and walked away as we were talking to her. She didn't offer lemon, silverware, ketchup or salt/pepper. Hubby loved their ruben but as long as Mikayla is there they've lost 15 people going there.

Not bad, got their burger and was quite impressed. Poor gals were overwhelmed and they had no help, so give them a big hand

Came here a Monday for a late lunch and the place was empty except two other tables. We ordered the prime rib, small shipwreck platter, kids Mac and cheese, and kids cheeseburger. I thought the food was pretty good. I would get the food here again for sure. Our server was also nice and friendly. He did, however, forget both our appetizers and we didn't notice until after our entrees had been out. Inside could use a little revamping as it is outdated but you can't beat the view. There is also plentiful parking.

See all photos from Lillian L. for Riverboat On the Potomac

This restaurant caught our attention because it is probably one of the biggest buildings in Colonial Beach right off the boardwalk and sits over the water. Once inside, the seating/bar/dining room are all extremely dated and not well taken care of at all, very dirty. We considered leaving right then and there but decided to try an appetizer and drink. Menu was super small, and the appetizers we got looked like they were freezer food from the grocery store. Mixed drinks were just ok, way overpriced for the atmosphere and size of drink you're getting. Waitresses seemed disinterested, were sitting at one of the tables at the front of the restaurant just talking, took a long time to attend to the table. Will definitely not be going back unless they do a major upgrade.

The Riverboat on the Potomac has beautiful views, a great menu, and yummy food. Their Valentines dinner for two was amazing. While they may have stumbled in the past, April and staff are doing a great job. Give them a try...If you are a sports fan, the Gaming room is great - TV's comfy chairs, and betting.

Came here for our Christmas lunch with my grandma and her bf who live in the area. Haven't been in years and years and hadn't heard many positives so didn't have high hopes. Honestly the food was way above my expectations. There were 6 of us. We got some drinks to starts and service was slow but there were only 2 servers and 1 person in the kitchen from what we were told. Mom got the fried rockfish bites which were delicious and a huge portion. Grandma and her bf got the rockfish and shrimp dinner (one fried one broiled) which were also large portions and very tasty. Dad got a burger that he said was good but overcooked. My sister and I got the large platter to share broiled and everything was great except the scallops which were super small (should have been more then 4) Overall things were tasty and I would go back

Riverboat is a complete dive. If I could give it zero stars I would. Leaking ceilings. foul carpet and gross furniture. We waited for an hour and we were never served our breakfast that was ordered all with only two other tables in the dining room. It's absolutely clear that Riverboat owners dont care about regular dining as they put all the money into the new sports betting Room. Never again will I walk into your establishment.

This place is located in a very convenient location and this is the only good part about this restaurant. We ordered quite a few food items and some were not available. The service took very long time. Lastly, the food was in low quality. So if not for the convenience, I would recommend other places.

Service was slow. I felt like I was waiting forever but I was also very hungry. The food was solid. The chicken tenders were not good. The 1/2 lb steamed shrimp was really good and so was the fried shrimp poboy. Really great ambiance and live bands on Sunday. We ate outside and the birds didn't bother us

Positive : view is nice Negative: BATHROOMS DISGUSTING! EXTREMELY slow service, nothing on the patio to keep birds away while u eat, not the cleanest place, the flounder was to soft, burger was frozen bot fresh, green beans canned, most places have umbrellas on the patio seating in case the sun is beating down on you. No umbrellas. Floors and seating areas were DIRTY from previous patrons and never got cleaned the entire time we were there. A couple came in and had to wipe the crud off their own seats. First time in the area , Wont return here.

6 other reviews that are not currently recommended

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Watch CBS News

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo makes good on vow to swim in the Seine river to show its safe for the Summer Games

By Elaine Cobbe

Updated on: July 17, 2024 / 7:20 AM EDT / CBS News

Paris — The City of Light placed the Seine river at the heart of its bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics . The opening ceremony will be held along the Seine, and several open water swimming events during the games are set to take place in the river.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo had vowed that the Seine would be clean enough to host those events — the swimming marathon and the swimming stage of the triathlon, plus a Paralympic swimming event — despite swimming in the badly contaminated river being banned 100 years ago.

To prove her point, she had promised to take a dip herself, and on Wednesday, she made good on the vow, emerging from the water in a wetsuit and goggles to proclaim it "exquisite."

Hidalgo dived in near her office at City Hall and Paris' iconic Notre Dame Cathedral , joined by 2024 Paris Olympics chief Tony Estanguet and another senior Paris official, along with members of local swimming clubs.

"The water is very, very good," she enthused from the Seine. "A little cool, but not so bad.''

Much of the pollution that has plagued the river for a century has been from wastewater that used to flow directly into the Seine whenever rainfall swelled the water level.

A mammoth $1.5 billion has been spent on efforts since 2015 to clean the river up, including a giant new underground rainwater storage tank in southeast Paris.

Last week, Paris officials said the river had been safe for swimming on "ten or eleven" of the preceding 12 days. They did not, however, share the actual test results.

A pool of reporters stood in a boat on the Seine to witness Hidalgo's demonstration of confidence in the clean-up on Wednesday.

Heavy rain over the weekend threatened to spike contaminant levels again, and water testing continued right up until Wednesday.

There is a Plan B, with alternative arrangements for the Olympic events should the Seine water prove too toxic for athletes once the games get underway on July 26, but confidence has been high, and the country's sports minister even took a dip on Saturday, declaring the water "very good."

If the Seine is fit to swim in for the Olympics, Hidalgo will have managed to accomplish a feat with her nearly decade-long cleanup project that eluded a previous effort by former Mayor Jacques Chirac (who then became French president), when he led the capital city for almost three decades from 1977.

Elaine Cobbe is a CBS News correspondent based in Paris. A veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering international events, Cobbe reports for CBS News' television, radio and digital platforms.

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Drought likely to persist in Potomac River; higher chance of release from backup reservoirs

Neal Augenstein | [email protected]

July 12, 2024, 5:23 PM

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The probability of releases from backup reservoirs to ensure an adequate drinking water supply in the Potomac River is higher than normal this year, according to the group that coordinates the three major water providers in the Washington, D.C. area.

“It’s going to be dry,” said Michael Nardolilli, executive director of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. “I think we’re going to have a dry, at least couple of weeks here.”

Asked to describe the current drought conditions, Nardolilli said: “We would classify this as a flash drought. It came up very quickly — we had plenty of water earlier in the year.”

The D.C. Aqueduct, which processes drinking water for D.C., Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, as well as the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which serves Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, as well as Fairfax Water, which also serves Prince William County share up-river reservoirs, that could be released into the Potomac River.

“There’s plenty of water,” Nardolilli said. “However, we have to be very mindful of the fact that we’re going into the dry season of summer and fall, and so we have to just monitor the Potomac carefully.”

In fact, the ICPRB is engaged in daily drought monitoring, which is triggered when the flow of the Potomac River drops below 2,000 cubic feet per second at Point of Rocks, Maryland. The monitoring was needed in both 2023 and 2022 .

While the region’s water supply is currently stable, Nardolilli said water is a resource that should always be used wisely.

“We don’t want to see it wasted — like if you had a leak, you should try to fix it.”

If drought conditions persist, the region’s water companies share three reservoirs.

The nearest is Little Seneca Reservoir, located in Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds, Maryland, in Montgomery County.

It would take about one day for water released into the Potomac to reach downstream intakes for Fairfax Water, WSSC Water and the Washington Aqueduct, and be processed as drinking water.

Miles upstream, the larger Jennings Randolph Lake, straddling Maryland and West Virginia, and the Savage River Reservoir, in northwest Maryland, can be tapped.

The last times releases were needed were 2010, 2002 and 1999.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here .

© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

• @AugensteinWTOP

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Featured In Your Town News & Politics

Georgetown rower to compete at paris olympics, by peggy sands • july 17, 2024 0 59.

While Matias is perhaps “old” for the average Olympian, this won’t be his first rodeo, so to speak. In 2016, he competed as a lightweight men’s double sculler in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (where he was especially comfortable speaking his native language of Portuguese). He was introduced to rowing at his boarding high school in New Jersey, going on to college-level competition at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.    

 Paris Olympics by the Numbers

• $8.2B+ – Estimated cost of hosting the 2024 Paris Olympics.
• 1st – Paris is the most vulnerable capital in Europe when it comes to heatwaves.
• 200% – Increase in Paris hotel prices for Olympics opening night.
• 40K – People who will join the 26 mile “Marathon for All” in Paris on August 10 at 9 pm, considering heat issues.
• 45K – Number of security personnel who will work the Paris Games.
• 16 Years Old – Age of the youngest members of Team USA — gymnast Hezly Rivera is the youngest of three athletes who are age 16.
• 100 Years – Length of time since Paris last hosted the Summer Olympics.

tags Georgetown georgetown olympian olympian olympian rower olympics rowing summer olympics

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Paris mayor swims in the Seine to show the long-polluted river is clean enough for the Olympics

PARIS — Under blue skies and bright sunshine, curious Parisians gathered along the right bank of the Seine to see the French capital's mayor plunge into the water.

After months of anticipation, a smiling Anne Hidalgo fulfilled a promise to show it was clean enough to host open swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics — and the opening ceremony on the river nine days away.

Clad in a wetsuit and goggles, she plunged into the river near Paris' imposing City Hall, her office, and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

She was followed into the water by Paris 2024 Olympic President and former canoeist Tony Estanguet, as well as Marc Guillaume, the top government official for the Paris region. Guillaume is responsible for the safety and traffic on the famous Parisienne waterway, which will be at the center of the opening ceremony.

Members of the City Council also made the long awaited dip along with swimmers from local swimming clubs. 

“The water is wonderful,” Hidalgo told NBC News after she emerged from the water, adding that it was “very cool and very nice.”

Estanguet added that it was a “very important milestone because it’s the confirmation that we are ready for the Games.”

“The Seine quality is perfect,” he said. He added that it sent a message to the athletes that they should enjoy the Games.

Hidalgo's swim is part of a broader effort to showcase the river’s improved cleanliness ahead of the Games, which are set to kick off July 26 with a lavish open-air ceremony  that includes an athletes’ parade on boats on the Seine.

Swimming in the river has been banned for more than a century. But the Paris Games organizers have invested $1.5 billion to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure residents will have a cleaner river after the Games.

This included the construction of a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.

But concerns over the Seine’s flow and pollution levels have persisted, prompting daily water quality tests by the monitoring group Eau de Paris. Results in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria , although readings have since improved.

Originally planned for June, Hidalgo’s swim was postponed because of snap parliamentary elections in France. On the original date, the hashtag ”jechiedanslaSeine” (“I’m pooping in the Seine”) trended on social media as demonstrators threatened to protest against the Olympics by defecating upstream.

That didn’t deter Hidalgo, who carefully entered the river using the ladder of an artificial pond set up for Wednesday's event. Seven security boats were deployed for the occasion.

They swam down the river for about 300 feet, switching between crawl and breaststroke as curious onlookers crowded along the upper banks.

“I wouldn’t have missed that for anything in the world,” Lucie Coquereau, who woke up early to get the best view of Hidalgo from the Pont de Sully bridge that overlooks the swim site, told The Associated Press.

Other politicians have promised to clean up the Seine but haven't succeeded. Jacques Chirac, the former French president, made a similar pledge in 1988 when he was Paris mayor, but it was never realized.

Hidalgo followed in the footsteps of French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who swam in the Seine on Saturday wearing a full-body suit.

The Seine will host several open water swimming events during the Games, including marathon swimming at the Olympic Games and the swimming legs of the Olympic and Paralympic triathlons.

Nancy Ing is a Paris-based producer.

Team USA track & field team set for Paris Olympics: Meet Vernon Turner and full roster

USA track and field announced its Paris Olympic roster Tuesday.

The team includes high-jumper Vernon Turner — the Yukon High School grad and former Oklahoma Sooners standout — and is headlined by two-time Olympic champion and shot put world-record holder Ryan Crouser , Olympic champion and 400-meter hurdle world-record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and defending 100 and 200 world champion Noah Lyles.

First-time Olympians include reigning 100 women's world champion Sha’Carri Richardson and U.S. Olympic trials 400 men's champ Quincy Hall.

Sprinter Christian Coleman, who didn’t qualify in an individual event, has been selected on Team USA’s 4x100-relay pool. High school phenom Quincy Wilson, who broke the under-18 world record in the 400 at the trials, is among the 4x400-relay pool. Wilson is the youngest male ever to make an U.S. Olympic track and field roster .

The Olympic track and field competition begins in Paris Aug. 1 and concludes Aug. 11.

Here are the full U.S. Olympic track and field rosters.

More: Paris Olympics 2024 schedule: Complete time, dates for each event at Summer Games

Women's USA Track & Field roster by event

Men's USA Track & Field roster by event

Staff Olympic roster for USA Track & Field

The Open Championship

Royal Troon

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British Open 2024: Meet the most interesting man in Troon

TROON, Scotland — In the fall of 1963, four years into his time in America, Gordon Murray was giving a lesson to a woman named Janet Lee Auchincloss at Maryland’s Chevy Chase Country Club. She had brought her granddaughter Caroline, just 5 years old, and the girl played behind them. In the middle of the lesson, the starter came out with an urgent message—Aucinchloss was needed on the phone. Murray drove them back to the clubhouse, and when she picked up the receiver, the voice on the other end told her that her son-in-law, John F. Kennedy, had been shot in Dallas.

Gordon Murray is 88 years old now, and he lives in a beautiful flat on Portland Terrace in Troon overlooking the Firth of Clyde. Walk 20 minutes southeast, past the beach and the great white ferris wheel, past the fields of fescue and ragwort and yarrow, and you'll run into Royal Troon Golf Club, host of this year's British Open. For an hour on Wednesday afternoon, with the sun shining over the water, Murray chatted about his life and golf looking out his large bay window that offered "the best view in Troon." He gave an entertaining and occasionally staggering account of his 88 years, but you had a feeling we only scratched the surface; his afternoon with JFK's mother-in-law and daughter on the day the president was killed is just one example of a life that has an almost Zelig-like quality—through golf, he has been in some very interesting places at some very interesting times.

And some very interesting things just seem to happen around him. This is a man who, as he's showing you his photos can casually point to a image of his son—long-haired and youthful in the picture—and tell you that he's Bruce Murray, who retired from a professional soccer career as the leading score in the history of the U.S. Men's National Team. It's almost unbelievable, but from Murray's humble demeanor, you know that embellishments are furthest from his mind.

In his career as a PGA teaching pro, first at Gleneagles and then in the U.S. at Burning Tree, Chevy Chase and Bretton Woods, Murray has had occasion to play with a jaw-dropping cast of the famous and powerful. Names as diverse as King Badouin of Belgium and Jesse Owens pass from his lips with ease. Bing Crosby, side by side with Bob Hope, serenaded his wife Elro at Gleneagles with "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin.'" Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and his wife Lady Dorothy were old-fashioned, and wore Grenfell clothing. Rita Hayworth left her latest husband in the clubhouse at Chevy Chase while she and Murray played together, and he remembers that she was "a terrible swearer." He played at Gleneagles with Douglas Bader, the World War II British flying ace, when Bader shot a 72 despite having lost both his legs in a crash. When he played with King Edward VIII at Chevy Chase, it was after the monarch abdicated due to his controversial marriage with Wallis Simpson, and Murray had the nerve to ask him what he carried in the flask on his bag.

"Darjeeling tea, sir," the former king replied. "Darjeeling tea."

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Add to this a list of Washington D.C.'s power brokers, including four U.S. Presidents. George H.W. Bush was a nice man, and a good stick. Richard Nixon, upon meeting him at Chevy Chase, asked if he was from the south. "Yes sir," Murray replied. "The south of Scotland." JFK was another strong golfer, and when they played at Chevy Chase, in a sort of harbinger of what Murray would experience later, the Secret Service intervened after the fifth hole to re-route their group, and they finished by playing 16, 17, and 18—he was never told why. Then there was Dwight Eisenhower, who would fly in with two helicopters.

"Eisenhower was one of the worst golfers I've ever seen."

Murray was born in St. Andrews and took up golf at age 12. At first, he started playing in the fields by a local castle, using the clubs from the rack of a gamekeeper to hit balls at the trunk of trees. He was hooked quickly, and when Ben Hogan came to the British Open for the first and only time in his career, in 1953, he made the trip to Carnoustie to see the great player. That was the year Hogan won three majors, and he made the trip early to Scotland to practice obsessively (the standard British ball at the time was smaller) in what he understood would almost certainly be only chance to win the tournament. On Friday, July 10, when the final two rounds of the tournament were held, Murray followed Hogan for 36 holes. He still vividly remembers Hogan missing the fifth green—one of just two he missed on the day—and taking so much time evaluating his downhill 60-yard chip that the fans began to grow restless. Hogan was facing a downhill shot over a bunker, a cigarette hanging from his mouth as he walked back and forth to the hole on the tiered green twice. Then he took the pin out and buried the chip.

When Hogan won, it took him an hour to come collect the trophy. Murray was still watching when he walked in wearing a brown polo-neck sweater and received an ovation from the Carnoustie Club. Hogan took the trophy and never said a word, recalls Murray, even to acknowledge the grounds crew or the course.

"He just took the trophy and left," Murray said, still stunned these 70 years later. "He was a peculiar guy."

Among Murray's favorite golf memories is following Ben Hogan for the final 36 holes at Carnoustie en route to his 1953 British Open win.

Murray won 22 trophies in his two-year amateur career in Scotland, went on to serve in the Royal Air Force, and then got the job as an assistant to Jock McLean at Gleneagles. There, he met Coleman Jennings, a philanthropist and member at Chevy Chase Club, and through him, he got the job at Burning Tree and Chevy Chase soon after, at age 22. (Before he arrived in the U.S., he took one crack at qualifying for the Open, but didn't make the cut.) He stayed at Chevy Chase for eight years, and then moved to Bretton Woods, a new D.C. course being developed on the Potomac River by the International Monetary Fund at the behest of James Symington, Chief of Protocol of the U.S. The concept was to create a venue where minorities could play, although according to Murray, that original purpose never came to pass. He helped design the course and served as head professional until 1988. When he retired, he decided to start his own business conducting golf tours in Scotland. He built it from the ground and quickly grew to serving 250 people per year. He moved back to Scotland, and today the business is mostly run by his sons, though at 88 Murray still serves special clients.

Part of the reason the memory of the '53 Open is so vivid for Murray is Ben Hogan himself, of course, but part of it is Carnoustie, which he considers the finest course in Scotland. "If you played Carnoustie, you'd remember every hole you played because it's so good," he said. "That's the sign of a good golf course.

He thinks highly of Troon, too, except for the first three holes, which he called "no good."

And what about St. Andrews?

"People here call it the cow pasture," he said, with a slight grin.

He doesn't like that there are no bunkers on the first or 18th hole at the Old Course, and while he conceded that the 17th is a nice hole, he called the ninth and 10th "drive and pitch holes." But in his time running his business, he knows how important St. Andrews is to people who love golf, and he took pride in being present with his clients to ensure they got on the popular course—a perk of the connections he's amassed over 88 years.

"Every person who has been with me has played St. Andrews," he said. "That's a record. Not many people can do that one."

As we left his flat, his wife Elro gave me a chocolate bar, and he walked me through a series of posters and photographs leading down the staircase to the bottom floor. The flat overlooking the beach was a kind of encyclopedia of golf history, but you felt as you left the building that it couldn't come close to matching the repository in the mind of its host.

Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson , is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.

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Murky waters: Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo fulfills Olympic pledge by swimming in river Seine

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo sought to prove a point Wednesday: She took a dip in the murky waters of the Seine to show to the world the river is clean enough for outdoor swimming events at the Olympics.

Hidalgo was filmed splashing into the Seine in a shorty wetsuit and goggles nine days before the Games' opening ceremony. She was accompanied by Tony Estanguet, a former Olympic canoeist and the president of the Paris Olympics organizing committee. They swam in a stretch of the river near the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Before taking the plunge, Hidalgo's office released a statement saying the swim demonstrated "the efforts made by the city and the state to improve the quality of the Seine's waters and the ecological state of the river."

Hidalgo had promised to clean up the often-polluted Seine in time for the Games. She had originally intended to show it was ready for the triathlon and marathon swimming legs of the Olympics by bathing in it last month alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. The long-awaited dip was cancelled because tests revealed high levels of bacteria. Macron also had another excuse: He had called a snap election amid a political crisis.

Separately, France's Sports Minister Amelie Oudea Castera swam in the Seine on Saturday. France has invested about $1.5 billion to prevent sewage leaks into the waterway.

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Lionel Cheylus from Surfrider Europe, a clean-water campaign group, said in a WhatsApp message that the latest tests appeared to indicate the river was "swimmable." Still, Macron was nowhere to be seen Wednesday.

Macron's pledge to swim in the Seine with Hidalgo to prove its cleanliness had sparked an online campaign: JeChieDansLaSeine . This translates to, "I'm pooping in the Seine." Some in France are angry at Macron for agreeing to host the Olympics while the country struggles with high inflation and the rise of right-wing political forces. Protesters threatened to defecate upstream, hoping the Seine's currents would deliver their message.

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Weddings at Riverboat on the Potomac

The Riverboat on the Potomac is a waterfront restaurant and a wedding venue in Colonial Beach, Virginia. Situated directly over the Potomac River, this unique venue offers couples and their guests astounding views of the water and beach. Windows line each room, casting beautiful natural light on couples and their loved ones as they celebrate this milestone.

Facilities and Capacity

The property offers couples an elegant upstairs banquet room to host their guests that accommodates over 300 people. This versatile reception area can be transformed into a magical, sophisticated space when decorated, allowing couples to hold the wedding they’ve always dreamed of. Alternatively, for those desiring a more intimate setting on their special day, The Potomac Room is which can accommodate up to 75. The venue also features a beautiful outdoor deck, ideal for capturing enchanting wedding photographs in the sunset or taking a romantic stroll.

Services Offered

Riverboat on the Potomac strives to assist the happy couple in creating their vision as much as possible. They can provide tables, chairs, china, flatware, and more to make your big day easier. Furthermore, they can take care of setup and cleanup, as well as staff the event with servers and bartenders. Loved ones can get together on the dance floor after a sumptuous meal provided by the in-house catering team, and enjoy refreshments from the bar afterwards.

In order to make coordinating this special occasion even simpler, the Riverboat has a choice of preferred  menus for couples to choose from. These include mouthwatering appetizers, as well as homemade favorites such as roast beef and prime rib. The restaurant staff can deliver a fine dining experience in a variety of ways. They are able to organize buffet service, plated service, food stations, and more depending on your vision. Alternatively, you and your partner can work with the experienced staff at the restaurant to come up with a custom menu that suits your tastes.

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