3/17/2013

weekly update 3/17/2013

Ishy is here!  I spent the early part of the week getting ready.  I hardly ever clean any more, but I wanted to impress her that I don't live in filth, so I really did what I could to make it as clean as possible. 
 
On Wednesday, I picked her up at the Savannah airport, just around noon.  We got a quick fast-food sandwich, and then headed for Charleston.  In an amazing turn of events, we were able to find our hotel just like homing pigeons.  Our first stop was at the visitors center, where the lady in front of us in line was from Webster, and the young lady who gave us the information grew up in Penfield.  What are the chances?  We had already scheduled a walking ghost tour for that evening, and we lucked out because the tour was right in the same neighborhood as our hotel, and it included our hotel.  We are staying at the Embassy Suites, which was converted from the Citadel military academy to a Hilton hotel in the 1990's.  So, that was pretty cool. 







the atrium in our hotel. the rooms were formerly barracks at the Citadel

some headstones at the Second Presbyterian Church graveyard. we saw these on the ghost walk

 

 

We purchased a pass ticket at the Visitor Center that would get us into 5 historic houses, 2 plantations, an art gallery, and Charleston Museum over 2 consecutive days.  Well, 2 days wouldn't begin to get us into all those places (we never did make it to the Heyward-Washington House or the art gallery), so we decided to begin with the museum and a couple of houses that were quite close to the hotel.  The museum was interesting, and there were many informative displays inside, but it used up a lot of our time.  We then went to the Joseph Manigault and Aiken-Rhett houses, which were close to the museum.  We then hopped on (ok - hopped might not be the verb that best describes how Ishy and I do any kind of stairs or climbing) a free shuttle and took it to the south end of the Charleston peninsula.  Our feet were already begging us to quit, but we'd spend money on these tickets dammit and we were going to see as much as we could.  We toured the Nathaniel Russell House, and the Edmondston-Alston mansion along the battery.  They were both wonderful.  We had to walk a ways to get back to the shuttle stop, so we walked past rainbow row, wonderful pastel colored homes facing the water, not quite like the painted ladies of San Fran but nice nonetheless.  After standing for the trolley for close to 45 minutes, we finally saw it approach, and then watched as it passed us by.  Naturally, when things don't go well for me, what do I do?   I get pissed off, and then I withdraw, and make it very unpleasant for anyone with me.   Fighting that impulse, I strongly suggested that we had better walk back to the hotel in spite of sore feet, because it was not certain when the trolleys would stop running that evening and I didn't want to be standing on the corner all night long.  So, we began the trek back, and just about at City Market, we saw another shuttle approach, and we were able to climb on that one.  It was crowded, and we had to stand, but it got us back to the hotel a lot faster than we would have if we'd hoofed it.  We settled for room service 'burgers that night.  One great thing about the Embassy Suites is the nightly "manager's reception" where drinks are free and snacks are provided.  Nothing eases sore feet like putting them up and having a beer or ten (Ishy) or a vodka martini (me) and some nachos. 

 

 

Ishy standing near a replica of the Hunley, a Civil War submarine, outside the Charleston Museum

rainbow row of houses, and a blue recycling bin, and some tourists

 

Since we needed to use our 2-day pass on consecutive days, and because we were still having trouble with sore feet, we got in our car to drive out to Middleton Plantation early Friday morning.  We got there just as it opened, and were able to take a walking tour of the gardens and grounds, and then another tour of the history of the plantation.  We didn't go into the house because it was an extra fee, and we wanted to see Drayton Hall on the same day, but we did learn a lot about Middleton from the walks we took. After a quick snack, we headed down the road only a few miles to Drayton Hall, which is my favorite plantation.  It is owned by the National Preservation Society, and has not been renovated or furnished, but is simply in the condition that it was left in after the last Drayton lived there in 1974 (and she didn't live there full time, but treated it as a "camp" - no electricity, no indoor plumbing, not a really nice house, but historic).  We had a guided tour through the house which was led by a preservationist and it was interesting.  As we were leaving, we asked the ticket seller at the front gate for a dining recommendation.  She suggested a small southern-favorites food place on the highway back to the hotel.  We ate at the Glass Onion, and Ishy had pork belly (OMG!!!) and I had shrimp & grits.  And we still made it back to the Embassy Suites in time to enjoy free drinks. 

 

gardens at Middleton.  the flowers are beginning come out, but it must be amazing when they are in full bloom

inside Drayton Hall, one of the original fireplace mantles

Ishy with her pork belly dinner

 

 The St Patrick's Day parade in Savannah is HUGE, and it's large in Charleston.  We decided it might be better to avoid downtown, where the parade would be marching, and stay off the shuttles that in all likelihood would be stuck in traffic, and our experience with catching those was iffy at best.  So, after breakfast on Saturday morning, we walked to Liberty Square which was not far from our hotel, and take the boat to Fort Sumter.  That was very interesting.  There was a park ranger who told the crowd a little of the history of the opening shots fired during the Civil War.  It actually took more time to ride the paddle wheel boat out to the island and back than it did to tour the fort, but it was a nice day to be on the water.  When we arrived back in Charleston, we got on another shuttle boat that took us across the Cooper River to Patriot's Point, where the USS Yorktown, a WWII aircraft carrier, and  the USS Laffey, a 1945 destroyer are permanently moored and have been converted to museums.  We climbed up and down stairs & ladders all through the Yorktown to see where the navy personnel lived & worked when they were stationed in the pacific, and looked at many  aircraft that were instrumental in bombing raids and air battles during that war.  It was so interesting to see all that, we didn't have time to go on the destroyer, or the submarines that were on display, or to the Vietnam exhibit showing the living conditions and operational areas used by the navy between 1965-1970.  It was a full day to see as much as we did.  Luckily, there was a nice Italian restaurant that we had noticed the day before that was only 2 blocks from the hotel, so we had dinner there. 

Fort Sumter,as we approached on  our paddlewheel boat

 

a navy aircraft on the platform of the Yorktown

 

Sunday, we got up, packed, checked out of the hotel, and drove back to Savannah.  Ishy had to do some laundry, I had to do this update, and we both needed to rest.  So the narrative of Ishy's visit will continue with next week's update.