Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Savannah Georgia



Today saw us touring Savannah with Peter. Pleasant trip that went reasonably quickly. Much the same type of scenery as seen on any other road trips made by highway. When we arrived in Savannah we went to the visitor centre and caught a tour called Old Savannah! Charlie our tour guide was excellent and a wealth of knowledge. Very friendly.

The Old Historic District of Savannah is layed out in a grid pattern with 23 town squares which are beautiful parks with grand old trees, statues, monuments, fountains and garden seats where many locals can be seen reading a good book. A plaque as pictured is found at each square detailing the history. Surrounding these squares are equally grand houses that date back centuries. Most of the houses are 200 - 250 yrs old. It is often easy to date the houses as many have a construction date plaque near their front door. Old Savannah has a large collection of stately manors that are architectually beautiful to behold. Savannah has it's share of movie fame with parts of "Forest Gump", 'Mosquito Coast', 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil', and many others being filmed here. It also was also the birth place of the Girl Scouting movement.

Savannah, along with Charleston, also has a rich ghost and spirit tradition with our guide giving us some stories about some iteresting ghosts haunting some of the buildings. The town was also influenced by the occassional pirate. Several drinking dens of pirates of old still exist as popular restaurants. The town also has a rich history of being either enseiged by invading armies. Firstly by the British and later by the damn Yankies. During the civil war, bored occupying Union Troups disfaced many headstones in a cemetry where they were based by moving around the headstones and using their bayonets to change dates. Hence there are many people buried in the cemetry who died at 140+. Unfortuately many headstones could not be returned to their rightful resting place and are now mounted on a wall nearby. (Cemetry has the arched entry)

Charleston and Savannah can be compared as being similar. Savannah, however, is more leafy. It has more parks, Charleston had very few public parks. The parks in Savannah are dominated by huge old live (non discideous) oaks covered in Spanish Moss. One of these is a Heritage listed 300yr old oak. Neither town had many private gardens as most house blocks are relatively small and have relatevely houses. It was obvious that Charleston had a high a higher population of slaves as it was noted that most houses had a separate dwelling at the back to house the slaves. This was not as evident in Savannah. We saw the first African American Baptist Church that was linked to the underground railway that led escaped slaves to Canada. It was built with 'ventilation' holes in the floor which is where the slaves could hide during escape. Another feature found on many old buildings are good luck charms such as fish downpipes for goodluck.
When we arrived we were informed by Charlie (tour operator) that there had been fire underground in the city sewer system. The result being the power had been turned off and the police had blocked the city centre off from entering traffic. Hence we were unable to view, by bus, much of the city centre and river front. As the bus was hop on hop off Peter was able to take us on a walking tour in most of the affected areas.

We finished the day at a typical bistro specializing in buffalo wings as well as other typical southern dishes. After discussion with Peter we discovered that tipping isn't a bonus but rather their wage. Most waitresses are a little over $2 an hour which basically coveres taxes. They live on thier tips!! Hence you don't see too many, oops any, unattractive waitresses with hairy legs.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Dam busting in Columbia

Today we took a walk across Columbia's dam. A very popular walk for the local walkers and joggers. Two lanes of the highway running along the top in one direction. The two reverse lanes of the highway running between the main dam and a second dam behind it, impessive! The lake is used for recreational pastimes is quiet large and seemed well used by locals for water sports. The girls probably didn't enjoy the 2 mile (3.2km) walk but it was refreshing anyway.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Visit to Charleston; Rebels and Damn Yankees

Today we visited the birth place of "succession" and the town where the US civil war was started. Like Venice, the old town is filled with rich history, (in this case: revolutionary and civil war history). As we toured the old streets, in my mind's eye, I could see "Southern gentlemen and belles" strolling along the footpaths quite clearly. Charleston's ghosts seem to be everywhere, especially along water front looking out to Fort Sumter. Some very interesting ghosts haunting the jail including one charming lady who accommodated people in her inn than robbed and murdered them and hid their bodies. As she was hung she refused to repent and asked if there were any messages for the devil.

Charleston is a pretty place with it's colonial era parks, water fountains and gardens. We also saw the darker side of the old town with it's slave dwellings, jails and market places.

After the tour, we visited the old town markets where bargains can be certainly found. Southerners are still a very polite people and friendly to tourists. We also came across a couple of confederate want-a-be's at the markets. Interesting folk,... Very proud and perhaps wishing that the war had never been lost. Interestingly, these same folks will also very politely tell you proudly how their ancestors sent the British packing. Hmm, the historian in me resisted the urge to give them comparative history lesson.

On the whole our visit to historic Charleston was fantastic. We are due to return in a few days for another day trip taking in the dungeon and Fort Sumter.


Saturday, December 27, 2008

Boxing Day

Today we braved the boxing day sales. We believe the sales where not as supported as in previous years. Later the crowds arrived as we went to the movies. The movies where very quite as well. A generally pleasant day.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas


We had a delightful day, starting at a civilised 7.30am in the morning. The girls did well as usual, fortunately Santa took into account that we have transport these gifts home to Australia. So many were consumable. After checking their stockings we sat down to a very tasy breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage and bisciut (like a scone)
We than opened presents. It was nice to share Christmas day with Chris, George, Peter and Andrew. Christmas lunch was hot, huge and extremely tasty. We ate Turducen ( a turkey stuffed with a duck which is stuffed with chicken). The 3 birds are slow roasted together so their favours mix in a most agreeable way. The roast was served side dishes of cauliflower in white sauce, bean casserole , a potato bake, stuffings, salad, and a host of sauces. This was followed by a nap and desert at about 5.30 of pumpkin cheese cake.

Just before tea George took us for a drive to a local park that had a great drive through light display. It could be likened to Butstows light display of previous years but much larger and drive through. The lights were grouped into themes and often contained movement. Needless to say tea cosisted of a very light plate of leftovers.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Chimney Rock and North Carolina

Late morning we left Biltmore Estate and township of Asheville for Chimney Rock State Park. Chimney Rock is part of the Smokey Mountain range and is about 30 minutes from Asheville. A small village sits below the rock in the river valley. The slopes above the town are carpeted with dense tree coverage up the mountain. A windy road leads up from the valley ending at the base of the rock. An elevator inside the mointain takes you up a 26 further floors to the summit. A cat walk then leads across to the rock and a view of countryside, mountain valleys and lakes. Though cold, we spent some time enjoying the views. Sadly the cold and time prevented us from exploring the many mountain trails.

The return to Columbia took us pass many small mountaim hamlets and villages (which were enjoyable to see) until finally we reached the inter-state. An enjoyable couple of days.

Behind the Scenes Biltmore

This morning we visited Biltmore Estate for the final time and took the behind the scenes tour. The tour shows guests another 60% of the house and gives us a more complete view of America's largest private residence.
It confirmed our view that the house is huge! Learnt that the owners haven't lived there for 50 years. The house opened it's doors to public in 1930 during depression. One could guess that the economic downturn of the era must have harmed the family's fortune.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Chicken and Nightmares

Last night we cheaply purchased some very nice 'Southern fried chicken pieces' from a local supermarket. Quite enjoyable! However the tale takes a twist for the worst when both girls had particularly scarely nightmares. Both Melissa and I also had increased dream activity from the norm. The only thing we can assume at the moment is that the chicken or sides had herb or spice we are not use to.

So far we have been very lucky considering the number people, places and different foods we have been exposed to. To be honest, we have seen very few people who have been obviously sick during this trip. (Now consider how many people walk our streets during the winter season with cold or flu! We must be doing something wrong back in Australia.

Biltmore Day Tour

Today we spent the day at Biltmore Estate doing a day tour. The day tour takes the same route as the night except we have access to a audio head-set that highlights the finer features of each of the rooms. We all really enjoyed the extra detail. Today was very cold, -12 c with wind chill, but fortunately warm clothes kept us generally warm.

We got to see the farm and winery as well today. The grounds even in winter are quite attractive, makes one wonder what the property would be like in spring. We found it interesting that the owners re-created the original forest.

Again famous Southern hospitality was demonstrated by the staff and visitors during our visit.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Asheville & Bitmore Christmas Candle-light Tour

Today we spent the morning downloading 1000+ images off 2 of our 4 cameras. Honestly about 40%are ok, and 10% are great shots, but it still leaves us with some great memories.

The afternoon we spent travelling 250kms to Asheville North Carolina. Asheville is located near-by Bitmore Mansion, the USA's largest home built between 1889 - 1895. The house was built by famous Vanderbilt family who were one of richest families in US history. We also spent some time in Asheville prior to the night tour. An interesting place as it is considered home to the more liberal elements of the state. We saw alot of alternative people living along side their traditional counterparts. The buildings are what you would expect in a North Carolina community. (A large community of want to be hippies element live in town!) A very pretty town in the mountains. Accents and cultural understandings was a bit of a problem ordering food at the local "Wendys" (like a Hungry Jack) but both sides got over it. Local craft is extensive, and we spent some time looking looking at local artists work. We intend to explore it more.

The Bitmore Candle-light tour was most enjoyable. The house is huge! It needed equally large team of servants during it's heyday to manage it's extensive French gardens and building. The girls are really starting to compare and contrast what they seen. Charlotte loved the house the most, while Jacq enjoyed putting questions to the guides. The grand nature of the house decked for Christmas as it was 100 years ago becomes apparent to any visitor. The house has 250 rooms (including 33 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, 3 kitchens, 1 indoor bowlling alley, indoor swimming pool and gym) and is modelled off a 16th century French mansion. The house enjoys a host of museum quality furnishings and artworks from Europe and Asia. Some are very rare (and probably should be in a national museum) like Napoleon's chess set or a set of 15th century Japanese Samuri swords! The only issue with the tour is it is below freezing in the grounds presently.