We have one day to spend in Savannah. Back in July we had spent a brief couple of hours in this splendid city but there was to much to see in such a short space of time so we decided to come back during this tour. The historic area of the town is made up of delightful squares and splendid houses. The town itself was a major player in the cotton trade industry and consequently was an important centre in the slave trade. Its role in these early industries made Savannah and its residents very wealthy, which the stately houses in the historic district attest to. There are many ways of touring the city – trolley buses (or normal buses built to resemble the old trolleys), horse drawn carriages and your own trusty feet. We chose the latter. Our fist stop was the residence of Juliet Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of America – this was a must see for Karen and Emily, whilst Mark and Jack decided to go for a walk around town. About an hour later we got back together again and took a tour around the town, walking down to the cobble streets running past the Savannah River. We walked through many of the historic district streets admiring the architecture of the houses and stopped frequently in the squares to admire the statues and read the historical markers, such as that for John Wesley the founder of the Methodist Church who lived and preached in Savannah for one year. After a good long walk we are ready for a hearty lunch – we had already pre-planned to eat at Mrs Wilkes Dinning Room, a place we had found in our Road Food book. It was a marvellous experience. When we arrived a large party was there waiting and we thought it might be a long wait, but no fear! We were in and sat down within about 15 minutes. They sit you down in tables of ten people, so immediately you are surrounded by strangers, and then the food is brought out. There is basically just one thing on the menu – good old Southern style cooking and as you sit there bowls of food including fried chicken, barbequed pork, beef and a dozen or so different vegetables (including macaroni cheese – which is apparently a vegetable in the South)are rushed to the table. The bowls of food are passed around – just like eating at home – and there is plenty of it (and more if you finish the bowl). It was fantastic – we ate our fill. At the end of eat-a-thon we followed the Mrs Wilkes tradition and took our plates and glasses to the kitchen to pass to the lady doing the washing up. So the only thing left was to pay. As we were paying Jack picked up a Mrs Wilkes cook book (Mrs Wilkes passed away several years ago but her family continue to run the restaurant) and asked the man at the till how much …. and then asked Karen whether we could cook some food from within its succulent pages. Karen explained this would all be too difficult on the camp stove. The man serving us at the till, who was obviously a family member, took pity on the poor, destitute Jack and gave him the book for free,writing a personal inscription to Jack in its covers!Jack was touched by this generosity ... it is still difficult to see how we will cook anything from it!
We had on chore to do before setting off down to Florida and that was to change our tent. The reason for this is that our large 9 man tent is of a shape not too dissimilar to a croissant, and we were concerned about fitting this on to some of the sites we planned to stay on. So we found the local Bass Pro Shop (for those not familiar with Bass Pro they are the most amazing outdoor world retail chain) and selected another tent – this one being of a more regular shape – long and thin.
To end our day we planned to do a ghost tour of Savannah. This tour had a difference in as much as that you get to sit in the back of a hearse as you are driven around the town. The top the hearse (where the coffin would sit) has been removed so the passengers can sit there in somewhat makeshift chairs with their heads out during the tour. Our tour guide was ever so slightly mad, and had obviously seen some life, kept screaming loudly in mid sentence… which scared anybody we were passing at the time. So the four us plus a three others set off on the tour. We stopped shortly at a local hostelry and took on some liquid refreshments – which tended to try and leave its' vessel as we took some of the corners almost on two wheels and shot a couple of bumps in the road (which all added to the fun). Our hostess screamed," We are all going to die!" every time she did this! The tour went on for about an hour and a half … and as there were no more tours planned for the day we got the extended tour. It was not the most serious and frightening of ghost tours but it was great fun – albeit a bit cold on this chilly night.
We had on chore to do before setting off down to Florida and that was to change our tent. The reason for this is that our large 9 man tent is of a shape not too dissimilar to a croissant, and we were concerned about fitting this on to some of the sites we planned to stay on. So we found the local Bass Pro Shop (for those not familiar with Bass Pro they are the most amazing outdoor world retail chain) and selected another tent – this one being of a more regular shape – long and thin.
To end our day we planned to do a ghost tour of Savannah. This tour had a difference in as much as that you get to sit in the back of a hearse as you are driven around the town. The top the hearse (where the coffin would sit) has been removed so the passengers can sit there in somewhat makeshift chairs with their heads out during the tour. Our tour guide was ever so slightly mad, and had obviously seen some life, kept screaming loudly in mid sentence… which scared anybody we were passing at the time. So the four us plus a three others set off on the tour. We stopped shortly at a local hostelry and took on some liquid refreshments – which tended to try and leave its' vessel as we took some of the corners almost on two wheels and shot a couple of bumps in the road (which all added to the fun). Our hostess screamed," We are all going to die!" every time she did this! The tour went on for about an hour and a half … and as there were no more tours planned for the day we got the extended tour. It was not the most serious and frightening of ghost tours but it was great fun – albeit a bit cold on this chilly night.
No comments:
Post a Comment