Why the Hell Not?

Boston's North End - a Foodie Find

Everyone who has been to Boston (and paid attention) knows that there is a rule in the North End - "Eat, preferably until you're so sick you cannot eat anything more.  Then, burp so you can eat some more."

The North End is the Italian section of Boston. It's known for its food and pastries.  There's a restaurant I've been to on each prior trip to Boston.  I didn't take a picture of it as when I took Mark there on his first trip this last month, it sucked.  I conferred with friends in town and they said the same thing.  The restaurant lost it's spark.  Which is really sad as it was truly fantastic.  So, morale of the story is that finding a restaurant in the North End doesn't mean you've found a good one.

However, we did find this place on our last day in Boston and it was divine.  As in so good it's worth the plane tickets to just go back and eat there.  It's that good.

Mark wouldn't let me take pictures of our food.  He said I was a weirdo. I felt like a dork taking this picture (thanks to his censure) so I didn't go to the Gelateria next door (which the restaurant owners also own).  They claim to make their own gelato (most places in the North End import theirs from Italy which is a bit of a sin in my book as gelato is best very fresh), so I likely missed out.

But back to the food - it was a chilly and icky October day so I ordered something that is a very rare find in Texas - osso buco.  It's basically a large piece of bone-in veal flank that has been slowly cooked in a tomato-based sauce.  Kinda like a whole meat Italian stew.  They served it over a bed of saffron risotto, which was a bit undercooked.  I wasn't a fan of the risotto by itself, but with the veal and sauce, it was incredible.  The blend of the flavors was fantastic.  And, the veal, as it should be is osso buco, was fall off of the bone tender.  The portion was also insanely large, so I could only finish about half of it.  Had I not thought the TSA would give me hell for bringing it on the plane, I would have taken the rest home.

Mark got a daily special of squid ink pasta (also called black pasta) with a tomato and garlic sauce and fruiti di mare (assorted fish).  The pasta was homemade.  he pasta had kind of an earthy, yet under the sea, taste.  The sauce was light yet creamy and full bodied.  The fruiti di mare included mussels, clams, shrimp, and some additional fish.  I'm not a big fish person, but I really and truly had to fight stealing his plate from him.  It was that good.  My mouth is watering just thinking of it.  I liked it even more than the squid ink pasta (that had a squid ink sauce) that I had in Venice in 1997.  Heck, I liked it a lot more than that; that was a bit much. 

The one downside to this restaurant (besides that it's not in Dallas) was that they do not serve tap water.  Is that authentic Italian?  Annoyingly, yes.  However, even in Italy you can get tap water at most places if you ask in Italian. Here, not so much.  However, the bottled water wasn't unreasonably priced for a restaurant, the food was fantastic, the bread basket they brought (a mixture of a peasant style loaf and focaccia) was divine, and the food, oh God the food, was absolutely incredible.  And, the waiter suggested a wine that was not on his glass list that went perfectly with my osso buco.  And, he did it by the glass.  Great food and service makes it a total foodie find.

Bunker Hill

Today is Veteran's Day.  While we're remembering and paying respects to the men and women that have fought for our freedom over the years, we should also remember our first set of veterans - those that fought in the American Revolution.  Those that originally gave us our freedom.  Those that helped to form the great nation we live in.

The Battle of Bunker Hill was the first major battle in the American Revolution.  Bunker Hill is also in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and only a ten or so minute walk from the U.S.S. Constitution.  Ironically, the monument, like the battle, is not on Bunker Hill.  It's on Beacon's Hill.  The story goes that the British had an incorrect map and intended to fight on Bunker Hill but went to the wrong hill.  Abigail Adams, who later became the First Lady and even later became the First Grandma, witnessed the battle and wrote about it in her diary.  Can you imagine witnessing such a battle almost in your own backyard?  Back then, this area was sparsely populated.  Now, the monument park is surrounded by a neighborhood.  Cars line the street as off street parking is a rare treasure. 

This is actually the view of the monument as we came up the hill:

It's a 221 foot granite obelisk.  Like the Washington Monument and the San Jacinto Monument, you can go to to the top.  Unlike the Washington and San Jacinto Monuments, there are no elevators.  So, if you plan to go to the top, make sure you're in shape, have your walking shoes, and aren't afraid of confined spaces.  Oh, and arrive earlier than we did so the monument will be open.  

As you walk up, you see this:

As for the battle, it occurred on June 17, 1775.  June is typically warm and a bit rainy in Boston.  However, due to the rain, the weather can also be chilly in June. 

The very inexperienced colonials were told to hold their fire "until you see the whites of their eyes," to preserve precious ammunition.  Our militia was in its very early days and consisted of many inexperienced warriors.  Heck, at least in this battle, it consisted mostly of farmers.  However, we were also led by many former British officers, who were battle trained.  Regardless, the colonials were fighting a much more experienced and equipped British army.  

In the end, the British did prevail in this battle.  The colonials survived two major surges (finally losing on the third) and caused the British to suffer major casualties.  While the colonials suffered a considerable number of casualties themselves, the number of British casualties far outweighed the number of colonial casualties.  In the end, the British realized that the colonials, though inexperienced, were much more of an opponent than they thought we would be. 

The original monument on this site was an eighteen foot wooden obelisk erected in 1794 by the King Solomon's Lodge of Masons to honor Dr. Joseph Warren.  Dr. Warren, at the time of the battle, had recently been elected Major General of the colonial army.  He was also a mason.  He perished in the third surge of the battle. 

In 1823, a group of prominent local citizens began to work to erect a more permanent monument.  The monument we have now was completed in 1842 and dedicated on June 17, 1843 in a major national ceremony.

Also, like so many of the sites in the Boston area, the museum (which is across the street from the Massachusetts gate) and monument are free to visitors. 

U.S.S. Constitution - Charlestown, Massachusets

A few weeks ago, Mark and I went off to Boston for a fun vacation.  We found cheap airline tickets, got a great hotel in the Theater District for cheap, and off we went.

On our first day there (October 21), we walked over the bridge into Charlestown to see the U.S.S. Constitution - the oldest undefeated commissioned warship afloat.  We, by complete accident, visited her on her 212th Birthday.  See, we'd missed the morning activities of them towing her out into the Harbor for a seventeen gun salute.  Heck, we were so clueless that we didn't realize we were there on the day of her birthday (rather than just near it) until near the end of the tour.

She's not only the oldest warship in the United States Navy, but she's also the first.  President George Washington commissioned her shortly after we declared independence from England.  See, we'd been protected by the British Navy while we were one of their colonies, but once we declared independence, we no longer had naval protection.  So, we set out to build a powerful navy.

You might also know her by her nickname - Old Ironsides.  Although she is made of American Oak, the oak is so strong (and three layers thick) that it bounced most of the cannon balls off of it during her first battle with the British navy.  During the battle, one of the British seamen exclaimed, "Huzah!  Her sides are made of iron!"  Hence, the nickname.  Old Ironsides, and the crew, returned to Boston heros.  And, thirty-two battles later, she's still undefeated.  And afloat. 

And, she may be old, but she's a beauty.  Check her out -

Yessir, that there's a mighty purty frigate.  Mighty purty.

Half of her masts and all of her rigging are down as they're rebuilding her deck.  Again.  The new deck they put on ten years ago is flat and holds the snow on in the Winter, causing damage.  So, they're putting a curved one on. 

Here's the ongoing construction on the deck and a lady that was on our tour.  Hello lady:

Turning 180 degrees...

 

She has three decks.  The second deck is where the guns and kitchen are located.  They also located the daily rum and water rations on this deck.  This deck is shorter, but still tall enough that the average sailor (average sailor height back then was 5'6") could stand up.  I, however, had to stand in between the rafters. 

This shows just some of her 44 guns.  Each gun took approximately nine sailors to operate.  Which means that the U.S.S. Constitution sailed with nearly 500 sailors aboard.  

See the thick white rafters that go up the sides of the hull in between the guns and end about ten feet into the deck above?  Both below decks have those.  They're part of the support system that allows the frigate to be both be balanced and to hold these super heavy guns while not buckling the decks. 

Turning around...

 

Our tour guide (the guy in all white with the blue scarf) is talking about the water and rum rations.  The daily doses came from wooden containers like the one in front of him.  Note his clothing.  The pants were made of left over canvas from the sails.  They usually used sails that were no longer usable as sails.  The pants have a lot of pleating in the back, as the sailors had to bend over the rigging and needed gimme room so their pants wouldn't rip.  The shirts were usually made of cotton or canvas.  The scarf was actually not for show, but rather to protect their backs when they were up in the rigging.  The scarves would block tar and grease from getting onto their clothing and was much easier to wash than their regular clothing.  His uniform is what sailors would have worn when they were doing ceremonies or coming into their home port for a celebration.  During normal operations, they would wear whatever clothes they brought on board with them.  And, they'd have two hours one day a week to do the washing - meaning washing their clothes, themselves, and anything else they had that they wanted washed.  They also had to use part of their water rations to do the washing.

Another important point is that our tour guides (we had one at each station) were not just tour guides.   They're active duty service men and women that are stationed there.  Remember, the U.S.S. Constitution is still a commissioned warship.

And lastly, we visited the third deck - the berthing deck.  This deck was too short for even most of the sailors of the time.  However, since it was a deck for sleeping, it didn't matter as much.  The regular sailors slept in hammocks strung throughout the deck.  They had three inches of "space" left in between the hammocks when they were all strung.  Sailors would sleep in shifts, so there would usually be 250 sailors sleeping at one time.  Can you imagine the smell?

 

As you can see, the same supports (in white) are down here as well.  When sailors had done something exceptionally good, the captain would reward them by letting them move their hammocks to where they were in between the supports.  In that location, they had an extra two inches of space in between the hammocks.  Ooooooooohhhh...  Of course, on a ship that had been sailing for months at at a time, a little extra space was a big deal.

The officers slept in berths like this -

 

As you can see, there isn't a lot of space, but it's a heck of a lot more than the enlisted men got!

And let's talk about food.  Although the sailors did get three meals a day, they usually only got one hot meal - lunch.  The rest were cold leftovers.  And they had a huge variety in what they ate - heavily salted stew and hardtack.  Every day.  Yum.  Since salting was the main preserving method of the day and they didn't have enough fresh water to soak the salt back out of the meat, they ate very salty meat. 

Also, there were two cooks on board (yes for 500 men).  One for the crew (hence the stews) and one for the captain.  Let's just say, it was good to be the captain or an officer.

Prior to boarding, we went over to the museum.  By the way, all of this exhibit is free to the public.  They do have a suggested donation, which we did, and I recommend giving.  The museum has a very cool kids' section upstairs that gives you hands on learning about how sailors lived during that time.  Your kids can try out the hammocks and even walk amongst the rigging.  And, like a Disney movie, it has plenty to keep the adults interested as well.

On the way to the museum, we passed the original dry dock -

 

They bring her in here, pump out the water, and she'll sit on the blocks below so they can clean the hull, repair it, paint it , and whatever else needs to be done.  At one time, there were quite a few more of these in this area, as Boston was a huge shipping port.  However, now only a few remain.

If I remember correctly, when they launched Old Ironsides, they took her out of this dry dock.  It took several tries, and nearly a month, to launch her.  She sunk down in the ways too much when they initially tried, so they had to excavate more before she could get into the harbor.  Plus, they had to add a lot more men to the pulling ropes.  The men lined the sides of the dock and literally pulled/pushed her into the harbor with well tied ropes. 

A bit of weirdness from our trip...

Sorry we've been away for a while.  We've been blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...it doesn't really matter, so let's get to what does.

We found this lovely, um, painted terracotta planter as a decoration in the kitchen in our carriage house in Savannah.

I had a hard time getting a non-blurry picture as I was laughing too hard.  Yeah, hard.  And why does his friend have his tongue out too?  Not only that but the friend's eye is literally on the side of his head.  Creepy and well, ew.

Moving on...

And we had this lovely, and super tiny, remote in our Charleston house:

Oddly enough, it wasn't any easier or faster to find the buttons on this remote than a normal one.

Fort Sumter

This afternoon we traveled out to Fort Sumter.  The day was beautiful and the breeze was well, like Amarillo on a super windy day.  Apparently it's always like this in the Fall.  In fact, our tour guide (we took a guided bus tour which I'll talk about in a later post) this morning told us, as we stood on the sea wall at the Battery, that it's always like this.  It was so windy on the Battery this morning that we were nearly being blown over. What's funny is that the news weathermen will get onto that same seawall when a hurricane is coming in and talk about the wind.  The same wind that they had today.  

As for Fort Sumter, we took the one and only boat tour out there (though there are two points that you can leave from).  On our way we saw several pods of dolphins swimming and playing in the water.  You could tell when each side of the boat spotted some as you'd hear shrieks of pleasure from certain sections of the boat.  I tried to take pictures of the dolphins, but those buggers are fast!  So, alas, no pics worth posting.  However, here is a picture of what remains of the Fort:

The building you see with a slanted roof in the middle was not there during Civil War times.  It was added as a response to the Spanish American War when the U.S. believed it needed to enhance its fortifications. 

The remaining portion of Fort Sumter is only about 20-25 feet tall.  When it was completed shortly before the Civil War (and I do mean shortly), it was between 50-55 feet.  At the time, that was a formidable structure. 

The interesting history of this Fort all started when Abraham Lincoln was elected President in November 1860.  South Carolina had threatened to secede if he were elected and made good on that promise by becoming the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860.  Tensions gradually mounted over the following week, and the Union charged Major Robert Anderson with the job of protecting all four Federal installations in the area from the secessioners.  Originally, Major Anderson and his 85 men were stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island.  However, during the night of December 26, 1860, he moved his men to Fort Sumter as it was the most impregnable of the fortresses.  He flew the Union flag at Fort Sumter the following morning, alerting the South Carolinians of the change.  They took it as an affront and proceeded to occupy all of the other forts in the area and build additional batteries. They also demanded that the Union soldiers, as we Southerners say, get the hell out. 

At that time, the Fort was only about 90% completed and did not have most of the cannons installed.  In fact, the vast majority of the weapons in the Fort were piled in the center of the parade grounds.  General Anderson and his men spent the next several months readying the Fort for fighting.  However, they were not able to install most of the guns by the time the firing began.  

Also, in early 1861, President Buchanan sent a what was an attempted relief mission.  He sent the Star of the West, a ship loaded with 200 reinforcements and several months of provisions.  The Confederates got wind of the ship's coming and fired upon it as it tried to enter the harbor.  The unarmed ship turned around and went back to New York.

In early March 1861, Brigadier General Pierre G.T. Beauregard took command of the Confederate troops in Charleston.  He continued fortifying the city and harbor while the pressure increased for him to attack Fort Sumter.  However, Beauregard wasn't keen on attacking Anderson.  Anderson was his artillery instructor at West Point and they had remained friends.  In fact, they remained friends through and even after the War.  However, in April 1861, the pressure proved too great.  Beauregard sent a final command to Anderson to surrender the Fort of be fired upon.  Anderson refused. 

On April 12, 1861 at 4:30 A.M. the Confederates fired a single cannon shot that exploded just above Fort Sumter.  And thus, the first shot of the Civil War was fired.  This shot was the signal for the rest of the Confederate artillery to open fire, and they did.  Major Anderson withheld fire until 7 A.M.  I don't know why he did this, but I can speculate that he had limited artillery and even more limited manpower.  While the Fort did get hit quite a bit, the fire was not rifling fire, so it did little damage.  It also helps that the Fort walls are five to six feet deep.  What ended the battle for Major Anderson was a hot shot that hit the officers' barracks.  Those barracks were made of wood and were next to the artillery.  The fire in the officer's quarters ignited some of the gun powder in the artillery, which then exploded.  In fact now only partial walls of the artillery remain.

During the battle, citizens of Charleston picnicked on the battery and watched the firing (which was several miles away).  Others sat on their roofs and watched.  Most thought the war would be over in a matter of weeks.

Shortly after, General Anderson surrendered.  No men were killed in the battle.  In fact, the only casualty of the battle was during the performance of one of Anderson's conditions of surrender.  He had two conditions - (1) they were to be allowed to perform a 100 gun salute of the Union flag, and (2) they were to be allowed to return to the Union with no prisoners of war taken.  During the 100 gun salute (I think it was on the 46th shot), a cannon misfired killing one of the Union soldiers.  After that, Anderson shortened it to a 50 gun salute.  The remaining Union soldiers returned to New York to a hero's welcome.

The Confederates held Fort Sumter for almost the entirety of the War.  Although Union soldiers attacked the Fort many times, they did not finally gain control of the Fort until the last few months of the War.  In fact, they finally gained the Fort after a 20 month long battle (the longest of the War).  They only gained it then because Sherman's troops advancing North from Savannah cut off the supply lines to the Fort. 

The constant bombardment from that long siege is the reason the Fort is so much shorter today.  Ironically, the knocking down of the top two of the three total floors made the bottom floor more impregnable.  The men inside the Fort piled the rubble against the remaining walls, thereby further strengthening them from fire. 

Drayton Hall Plantation

Yesterday we toured Drayton Hall Plantation, which is just outside of Charleston.  Drayton Hall is the oldest remaining example of Georgian Palladium architecture in the United States.  It is also one of the oldest plantations in the United States that is still mostly in its original condition.  Since its construction in 1738, seven generations of Draytons lived in Drayton Hall.  In 1974, the family sold the plantation to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  The Trust decided to preserve, rather than restore, Drayton Hall and thus have worked to preserve items such as original paint, plasterwork, and flooring.  The house itself is in really good shape, especially considering it's steady use for nearly 250 years.  

The original owner/builder, John Drayton, built the plantation into a prosperous rice plantation.  As the second son, he inherited only money and slaves and not land.  Thus, he bought this property only a short distance from his family home.  He was so successful as a businessman that he owned approximately 70 plantations by the time of his death. 

Here's a picture of the back:    

Originally, there were huge and elaborate gardens behind the house.  However, during the Revolution, both Generals Cornwallis and Clinton of the British Army camped there.  Later, American armies also camped there.  Actually, both armies used it as as staging ground.  Unfortunately, these armies camped on the gardens, thereby destroying the gardens.  Later owners of the house did replant gardens in this area, but did not plant as elaborate of ones. 

This house is also one of three plantation homes on the Ashley River that survived the Civil War.  It is the only of these three that survived fully intact.  The exact reason is not known, but it is rumored that the owners spread rumors that residents had smallpox.  The homeowner at the time, Charles Drayton, was a medical doctor, so he likely treated people on the plantation.  Whether they actually had smallpox is unknown, but historians speculate that the fact that he treated disease on the plantation and that this was well known was enough to keep Union troops from venturing onto possibly "diseased" land.  

You can also see in this picture that the house has a full above ground basement.  There's also a doorway through the basement that allows you to travel from the front to the back of the house easily.  I believe the reasons for this full breezeway is both for the breeze and for symmetry.  Symmetry is extremely important in this type of architecture, and a doorway in the basement keeps the symmetry of the three floors in line.

If you turn around from where I took this picture, you can see the Ashley River.  It's not very far from the house, though is far enough to protect from flooding.  Here are some views from closer to the river:

You can see grasses growing on the banks of the opposite side of the river.  I believe those are sweet grass.  The slaves used sweet grass to weave baskets for everything from serving foods to carrying laundry (or items they picked in the fields).  Today, you can find baskets made of sweet grass for sale in stores all over Savannah and Charleston. 

And lastly, the view of the front of the house:

The pond she is standing in front of was added on by later generations in 1905.  It is also currently home to several alligators.  We didn't see them, but we did see several turtles and a frog.  Apparently, more recent generations of the Drayton family used to boat in this pond. 

The mound you see in front of the house is a remnant of a Victorian garden.  They used the dirt from excavating the pond to build the mount.  In Victorian times, it was grassy with a finial on top.  It also helped to create a circular drive in front of the house. 

To the sides of the front of the house used to stand two identical rectangular buildings.  Historians are not sure what these buildings were used for and are planning additional archaeological digs to determine their use.  There was also a fence of sorts from the sides of these buildings to the sides of the house.  A later drawing of the house show this fence made of iron.  However, the Trust recently received a digital picture of a watercolor of the house during the 1700's.  In that picture, the wall is made of brick.  So, the Trust plans to perform further excavation of the grounds once hurricane season ends. 

Here is a view from the second story porch looking out towards the road leading up to the front of the house:

You can see the mound much more clearly in this picture.  You can also see a well (dating from the 1800's) in the far right portion of the lawn.  The most recent family member to live there (Charlotta, who died in 1969) did run a pipe from the well into the basement.  This is the only sort of "running" water in the house.  The kitchen, at that time, was actually in the basement.  If you're looking at the front of the house, the kitchen was in the front lefthand corner of the basement.  The house has also never had electricity or true running water.  The privy is located about a 100 yards away from the house (on the same side as the new kitchen).  

And if you're wondering just how big the trees are now, here's a tree that's not far from the well:

Me thinks it gets plenty of water!  And remember, this tree likely survived the earthquake in the early 1800's (the epicenter was near Charleston and scientists estimate that it was at least a 7.0 on the Richter scale), countless hurricanes, and several hundred years of life.

This was such a neat plantation to visit.  Although the house is not furnished, it does have so many original pieces.  It was also really quite cool to see the transformation of the house over time as various family members lived there.  I only wish we'd had more time (we closed the place down) so we could have taken some of the walking tours around the grounds.  It is a truly amazing place!

 

Scottish Highland Games

Say what?  You read that right.  Yesterday we went out to Boone Hall, a plantation just outside of Charleston, and attended the 38th Annual Scottish Highland Games.  We saw things like this:

His didn't flip end over end, which is apparently what you're shooting for.

My sister and I were really excited to go and see the tables for our "clans" (we're from the Burns and McKee clans), but alas, they weren't represented here.  They did have about fifty clans represented though, and it was pretty cool to see all of the different tartans and talk to the participants.  

And, to top it off, I met a celebrity!  Look, it's Brooke Shields!

Actually, that's my sister.  Betcha didn't know that my sister is Brooke Shields, eh?  She's laughing at me in this picture as she knows I'm full of it.

Back to the tartan shots:

One of the guys in the back row of the last band shouted something at me after taking this picture.  I have no idea what, but I smiled and then he smiled.  Hope it was something good!

It was really cool.  And a bit weird.  After all, we toured the slaves houses with Scottish bands playing the background.  So it wasn't really all that authentic.  Well, unless you had a full on Scottish band playing on your plantation whilst you worked.  And speaking of authentic, take a look at this:

Only that house wasn't around during the Civil War.  Heck, it wasn't even around until nearly a 100 years later.  See, it was built to *look* like an antebellum plantation house.  Granted, there was a house there during the antebellum period, but it was much smaller and much less dramatic.  There have been several buildings on that property in the past three hundred or so years, most of which have burned or been taken out by hurricanes.  

And, it does have a really neat long line of live oaks lining either side of the drive up to house (ala "Twelve Oaks").  Prior owners (in the 1700's) planted the live oaks over the course of 100 years.  They started closest to the house and worked down, so the ones closest to the house (and in the foreground of this picture) are the oldest. 

The drive up is really neat and incredibly long.  The big below gives you sort of an idea.  Just imagine that all of the women are wearing dresses with hoop skirts and all of the men are dressed in their Sunday best circa 1865.  Oh yeah, and the trees would be quite a bit smaller then as well.  You can also see the slave houses off to the right.

Also, I have to note a funny detail about the house.  Look at the porch.  On either side there are stairwells from the ground to the porch itself.  The reason for this is to keep the dirt out.  Literally.  Raised entryways were common to reduce the overall dirt in the house.  But that's not the funny part.  Look at the front middle of the porch.  Notice the stairs.  Notice how they don't fully descend to the ground.  That's because this stairwell is designed to replicate one for a carriage.  Which wouldn't be ironic in a true antebellum home but is (at least to me) in a replicate one. 

Despite the lack of authenticity, the interior is quite nice.  The house is fully furnished and the family does still use it as a residence.  They also still grow crops on the plantation and sell many at local farmer's markets.  At one time they did grow (and sell) mostly pecans.  However, the pecan trees did not survive the regular hurricanes so they are mostly gone now. 

The loggia on the left is about fifteen feet tall.  This is the biggest pecan tree I've ever seen in my life and it was loaded with pecans.  My mom would be salivating at that sight.  Heck, I bet she'll be planning a trip here when she reads this just so she can come and camp out under the tree and "pick" all of the freshly dropped pecans once they're ready.  Okay, maybe not as she's really quite partial to Texas pecans, but you never know!  The tree has also clearly been battered by rough weather over the years as it's missing quite a few limbs and is kind of mangled looking.  However, the trunk is nearly the width of my car. 

Bonaventure Cemetery

I haven't been to many cemeteries just for touring.  It's not that they aren't nice places to learn some history and remember our past, it's just that they're creepy.  It doesn't seem to matter if they're really stinking old or if they're brand spanking new, they're still creepy.  However, I think it's really hard to truly see Savannah without seeing a cemetery (or apparently two). 

This afternoon we ventured to Bonaventure Cemetery.  Yes, that's the famous one you always hear about.  The one where the statue made famous by Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil used to stand (it's now in a museum).  And Bonaventure is something.  Just take a look:

(Twilight Zone music playing...)

You know what's even creepier?  I have a cousin with the last name of Morgan and grew up just down the street from the Bells.  I don't know a Theus though.  There were a lot of Morgans spread throughout the cemetery though.  My cousin's family is from Georgia, so that's no big surprise.

Spanish Moss is all over the cemetery.  Most of the trees are very, very old oaks and are covered with the moss.  Spanish Moss is spread via air, so it needs a bit of a breeze to multiply.  Since the cemetery is right next to the river, it gets enough breeze to move the moss from tree to tree, hence the thick coverage.

This cemetery is huge too.  It may not be the size of Arlington National Cemetery (and I'm too lazy to look that up to find out) but it's definitely quite large.  We parked in the back corner by the river and walked for quite some time and never even saw the front of the cemetery.  We couldn't even see the entrance in the distance.  The cemetery goes on forever.  Here's a picture of the "eternal" road -

That looks down towards the river.  And the view from the other direction -

The cemetery is filled with all sorts of neat finds and stories.  Like the stones and monuments in honor of this proud family of Scottish heritage that quickly embraced the South:

Each grave/memorial spot in this family plot is marked with stones like this:

Look at that cool Celtic cross.  It rained on us during our visit, which just added to the ambiance.

And many of the graves were marked with this marker:

"CSA" stands for the Confederate States of America.  This is the Deep South, y'all. 

This cemetery is truly beautiful and worth touring.  It's so neat too to see how families memorialized their loved ones and how the language on the headstones changed through time.  I discovered that in the 1800's, it wasn't uncommon to list out the age of the person, down to the month and day, regardless of age.  

And, in Savannah, they have a very different view of cemeteries than most.  The cemeteries here are considered parks.  People often picnic here.  They don't view these places as creepy, but rather just another piece of important history to be learned about and enjoyed.  And, I have to admit that Bonaventure was more serene than creepy today. 

Oh, Sweet Mystery of Life Thank God I Found You....

Where to begin, where to begin...

Well, we're still in Savannah for a few more days.  Today took a walking tour this morning with Savannah Dan (www.savannahdan.com), and yes, he does wear a seersucker suit.  We had a blast!  If you want a walking tour, his is a great one to take.

We learned lots about Savannah's history and were reminded that it's "The War of Northern Aggression" here, rather than "The Civil War."  That pretty much sums up the Deep South's opinion of the war, though I think it's more due to someone else invading their space and telling them what to do than anything else.  

We learned about haunted places and most importantly, fantastic restaurants (we'll come back to that in a minute).  We also learned about how the city was founded, built and how it grew.  It was really a fascinating tour.  And, we got a bit of exercise in there as well. 

Oh, and we also got to sit on a bench near the Forrest Gump bench.  That bench, by the way, doesn't exist in Savannah.  They made one for the movie and also changed the traffic on the street to the opposite direction.  There's a large flower bed where the bench was in the movie. 

Here's a picture of one of the many monuments in one of the many squares:

 

I have to admit, I love the squares.  There are so many in the city center and they're really a nice break from the rest of things.  Originally, the squares were designed with trust lots surrounding them.  The idea was to allow a set number of houses and a set number of businesses on the lots.  Although "progress" has changed the face of the city since it was founded in the 1700's, many of the trust lots (and their original purposes) have remained.  That's why you often see a bank, a church, and some houses on the main squares even today. 

The original reason for having so many squares was not for looks.  Rather it was for fire breaks.  See, the city, like so many cities back then, was built of wood.  So, the city planners purposely added in squares to help break up the fire (that was sure to come) and to help save other parts of the city. 

Speaking of churches:

This is one of my favorite churches here, mostly because they gave General Sherman the big "screw you."  What can I say?  I like it when people stand up for their beliefs!  When Sherman occupied the house next door during "The War of Northern Aggression," he demanded that they remove the bells from this church as the hourly ringing was annoying him.  Well, the women of Savannah banded together and physically blocked his troops from taking the bells.  Legend says that Sherman said that the women of Savannah had such tenacity and vigor that if they had fought the War, the South would have won.  

And, this church, is without question one of my absolute favorite churches.  It's Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and is unlike any other that I've seen in the States.  It rivals many of the churches I've seen in Europe, and I've seen many across Europe.  Check out this detail work:

That's the main altar.  Just like the churches in Europe, they had side chapels.  They also told Bible stories in stained glass down the sides of the church. 

Here's a picture of the stained glass window from one of the side chapels:

 

And some close ups of the stained glass along the sides of the church:

Check out the detail in the robes in this even closer shot:

How cool is that?!  Yes, I have a thing for stained glass, especially really, really good stained glass like this.  They used glassmakers from Innsbruck, Austria for the stained glass.  Not that Americans can't do something like this, but they knew they needed someone with mad skilz and these guys fit the bill. 

This church was also restored recently.  They started the restoration process in 1998.  The church borrowed $12M for the restoration and has paid back all but the last $500K.  That's something!

Also, the church, like most European Catholic churches, has murals painted on most of the walls.  Like these above one of the side chapels:

 

And I have to admit, I have a thing for painted ceilings in churches.

 

Even though it's really hard to get a good picture of them.

And, even though I could talk about this church for hours, want to get to why I titled the post the way I did, so I'll share just one more thing about this church.  Savannah was very big into iron (both cast and wrought) at the time this church was rebuilt (the rebuilding began in 1898 and finished a few years later).  The columns are not marble.  They're cast iron painted to look like marble.  Check it two of the three pictures just above this paragraph for samples of the columns.  Cool, eh?

And now, I finally get to the point. 

When we asked Savannah Dan where we *must* eat, he told us about Mrs. Wilke's Dining Room.  It's only open from 11-2 on weekdays.  It's cash only.  You also wait in line (we waited for close to an hour and got there around one) to get a table, which you share with 8-10 of your closest strangers.  Say what? 

And then you sit and food is literally waiting for you.  Good true Southern food.  Food like I expected to have at Paula Deen's restaurant, but didn't get.  And then you take your first bite and close your eyes as you hear Madeline Kahn singing "Oh Sweet Mystery of Life Thank God I Found You..." in your head.  And then you stuff your face as well, you'd be insane not to.  You make really tough decisions like, "Should I have another piece of this piping hot fresh out of the fryer fried chicken or should I have some greens?" or "Which of the 15 side dishes should I stuff into my mouth with this bite?"  And you pass the serving platters and bowls around to your ten new best friends and pretend to talk while you gorge yourself on tasty deliciousness.  You laugh about the calories until you realize that: (a) they don't count, and (b) they actually didn't use that much butter or fat in most of the recipes (or at least a lot less than you'd expect) so they're actually fairly healthy.  You debate whether to eat the butter beans (good luck finding those in the North) or having another bite of sweet Savannah barbeque.  And then at some point your stomach is about to explode and they bring dessert.  Our choices today were either (this is the only time they said "either" and not "all") blueberry cobbler or banana pudding.  I got the latter and my sister got the former.  We stole bites of each other's selections and our eyes rolled back into our heads again.  That was by far the best banana pudding (which had some sort of light bready crust in there) I have ever eaten.  I seriously considered licking the bowl or bribing the waitress for more.  And then you realize the true downfall of this meal - you're not at grandma's so you don't have a couch you can go and lay on while you moan.  And moan you will.  From the fact that you're frighteningly full and from the fact that you just ate one of the best meals ever.  If only I had space in my stomach (and it was open), I'd go back right now!

Unfortunately, I took the food pictures on my sister's camera, and she forgot her cables to hook into her laptop, so I'll have to update later with food pics. 

Hey Y'all!

I'm traveling this week (and part of next) with my sister on a "sisters trip" into the deep South.  We got to Savannah this afternoon and are here for a few days.  We're staying in the carriage house (renovated so there are no carriages anymore) of a large Victorian just off of Forsyth Park.  If you're a fan of the book or movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and boy are we, we're just a few blocks from all of the action. 

While we were strolling along the city streets this afternoon, we discovered "The Lady and Sons" restaurant.  If you're true Paula Deen fans, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  If you're not, you're weird.  And since I believe in education, I'll edumicate you - it's Paula Deen's restaurant.  There's also a lovely store on the side where you can procure all of your Paula Deen goodness.  And I did procure a certain t-shirt for myself.  I was so tempted to grab some of my girlfriends things, but then I remembered that American Airlines charges me to check bags and that just pisses me off so I'll be holding down my purchases to what will fit in my carry on. 

As for the sights, my first impression of Savannah is that it's a lot like New Orleans, which makes sense.  They're both Southern port towns.  They have similar beliefs on drinking, and they even have their own version of a go cup here.  And, thankfully, Savannah is a lot cleaner than New Orleans, not that that's hard.  I also like the pralines a lot better here.  To be honest, I hate New Orleans pralines.  They're just weird.  And being from Texas, you don't mess with my pecans and sugar products!  We grow both and are darn proud of our production and creations!  So far, the pralines here are more what I am used to.

And then there's this...

 

I don't know if you heard the Hallelujah chorus when you saw this, but I did when I bit into it.  Oh dear God this was the best, and I do mean BEST, caramel apple I have ever eaten.  So good in fact that I forgot to take a photo until halfway through.  So good that I literally almost just sat down on the sidewalk just so I could savor its deliciousness.  Oh God this was good.  Like a cross between caramel and toffee and almost, but not quite a burnt caramel.  And since I know you'll immediately want to hop onto a plane in order to get one, I got this delectable goodie at River Street Sweets Candy Shop.  It's worth the plane ticket.  Seriously.  They probably ship too, but it's better here.