Ah, yes. I know what you're thinking. It is November and I am still rambling on about our 8-day family vacation way back in the first part of October. But things move slower the father south you go and Charleston, South Carolina, is about culturally Southern as you can get.
After our first day of driving back from Florida, we checked in to a brand-spanking new Springhill Suites hotel in North Charleston. It was very modern in its decor and really sleek. Q was going to use some saved-up points to pay for the room, but they offered to let him have it for $40 instead so he agreed. I'm not sure how they made any money off us at all because we ate nearly that at the complimentary breakfast, I think. Did I mention the free lollipops at the front desk?
In the morning, we headed downtown to the Visitors' Center. It's in a refurbished old brick train station just on the border between a nice part of town and a scary one. Q stood in line to talk to the folks there about a good walking tour while the rest of us gathered too many brochures from the displays. There were no fewer than thirteen art galleries or museums listed and I was intrigued.
Our walk was indeed lovely, winding past shops, churches, galleries, restaurants, and boutique hotels. It led through the old City Market which was full of local baskets, trinkets, imported jewelry from Eastern Europe, cheap hand-decorated sweatshirts, beautiful carved wooden bowls, pashmina scarves, and more jewelry. We paused at the waterfront, which the children enjoyed very much, before meandering back. We passed an artist waiting for his painting to dry. There were horse-drawn carriages (tours, with guides) and way too many interesting gated alleys to peer down.
The city has done an admirable job restoring many old buildings and the Greek Revival, Classic Revival and Georgian styles are everywhere. Apparently, the whole downtown is a National Historic Landmark and more than 3,000 buildings there are labeled as "historic". One could spend days just looking at the architecture and then weeks getting to know the local art scene.
There's a very chic shopping street- the main shopping avenue of years ago- and we took that way back. Rejuvenated by Five Guys, we arrived at the Visitors' Center ready. Ready for the last day of vacation before the clock struck midnight, so to speak, and we all turned into pumpkins.
It was a wonderful October vacation.
1 comment:
Lovely photos. It makes me want to visit!
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