Thursday, July 9, 2009

Savannah pleases all of us


I am sitting in the living room of the apartment we rented for the week and thinking about packing up and leaving in the morning. Everyone who came agrees that this was a great place - both the town and the apartment.

Savannah combines at least two special ingredients that make it a great place to visit. The first is history packaged. Stuff happens everywhere, but in many places the essence of the events are lost as renewal and modernization destroys the artifacts resulting from the lives of the people that shaped that history. Not so with modern day Savannah. Great care has been taken to restore and preserve the buildings and squares of the city. There is surely some tourist trap stuff, but walking a block from it moves one a century back in time. The other ingredient may be the SCAD (Savannah College for Art and Design) students and staff or the fact that real people also live in the historic section. Anyway, it works unlike other historic downtowns I have visited.

We ate a great meal at the Olde Pink House as well as at Harris Baking Company, the Gryphon Tea Room and in our own dining room. We shopped at Parker's Market, a 24 hour gourmet gas station/purveyor of food and wine and whatever you might need. We went to a concert in the park at noon one day, walked a lot every day, took the 90 minute Oglethorpe tour, Anilia and Ann got pedicures and overall just had a relaxing, layed-back time. And did I mention that the food was really good?

Pat (a classmate from high school) and Dorothy from the eastern most part of Virginia came as did Lisa and Joel from Atlanta and daughter Anilia and 10 week old grandson Emerson. Sorry you didn't make it. Maybe for my 70th birthday....


Monday, July 6, 2009

Good times are here!


There is some hope for a motorcycle related experience here in Savannah. I could rent a Vespa, but probably not...

We have, at last arrived. After almost 2000 miles of driving, I am happy to report that I am writing this from the lovely living room of the Suites on Lafayette, 1st floor with Anilia and Ann at my side. Emerson is in bed after a 4-handed bath and dreaming good, southern thoughts.

On the way down we had a good experience in Orangeburg, SC which I planned as a stop to avoid Emerson having to spend too many hours in the car seat. Anyway, we were all impressed by how nice everyone was and how pleasant normal race relations appeared to us. We paid a short visit to Edisto Memorial Gardens in Orangeburg, a flower (and more) garden maintained by the city and many volunteers, I'd guess. It was a huge project with lots more to see and do than we had time or energy to do as the sun set. We also had a good time at a restaurant that had nothing vegetarian on the menu, but made it work for Anilia.

This morning's drive to Savannah was only 2 hours and we arrived well before noon. We spent some time walking around and eating, of course, while we waited for our apartment to be readied.
Lafayette square is right outside our window and we spent time just sitting in the shade there feeling the breeze and the spray from the fountain. We also spent some (air conditioned) time in the cathedral which had a large pipe organ that had silver pipes even for the lower ranks which I thought were usually wooden.

From what little I have seen so far Savannah is a great destination, and in the next few days I'll share what we learn with those of you that have not yet been here. The apartment rental in the historic area also seems great. I'll have more pics of that as the week progresses. That bath photo is in the kitchen which was site of our dinner preparation this evening.
A good start to the week. Pat, my old friend from high-school, and his wife Dorothy, drove all the way down from Virginia and we will be getting together in the morning for a day of laughing.

Then my sister and brother-in-law will arrive about 3pm and the joy will continue with a Southern (read as fried) dinner at Paul Dean's place. We may not need to eat again for a week!