Charleston and North

Charleston is just a hop and jump north of Savannah. We dropped off the freeway at the Visitor Center in Charleston only to find the parking lot was full. My hero, Chuck the incredible driver, parallel parked on a side street for free. There was only an inch or so on each bumper, plus it had to be the only free place in the city. We snagged a good map at the visitor's center and decided to walk what looked like a short ways to the Battery, a park on the bay. We walked about four blocks admiring large buildings, old buildings, when Maryann struck up a conversation with a city cop who was heading the same direction. We were at the Four Corners of Law. He pointed out the Federal building, the State building, a church (God's law), and the city hall we were standing by, each on a corner. This incredibly generous man proceeded to give us a tour of the newly renovated building. The main council room was restored to what it was in the 1700's, complete with the school desk-like tables. The art in the room was noteable with paintings of Andrew Jackson, John Calhoun, and an 8 million dollar painting of George Washington. The focus of the room was the painting of Washington, but this was the second painting of Washington by that artist. Washington had visited Charleston and posed for the artist who painted a nice likeness in front of a horse whose head was over his right shoulder. Unfortunately Washington didn't like the painting, so the artist painted a second one which is the one hanging in the council chambers. This painting of Washington is just like the first except for the horse. In this painting, the horse's rear is over his shoulder, and the tail is up. Well, you get the artist's message.

Then we started toward the bay again, walking past beautiful Charleston mansions. Meeting Street smelled of horse urine because of all the horse drawn tour wagons, but other than that, it was a beautiful walk past huge homes with balconies on the sides—either the West or South to take advantage of shade. By the time we reached the bay and a view of Fort Sumpter—that three story fort in the middle of the bay, we were really bushed. We looked for bus stops, only to find there weren't any. (We found out later that the bus stops had been changed, but our old map from the visitor's center had not.) So we hired a bike taxi to take us back to our car. Wise investment.

We drove through Myrtle Beach on our way to Wilmington, NC. So many expensive restaurants, so many golf courses. My brother would have loved it.