Bermuda Shorts #2

This was sent on 5-16-08:


This is not Doreen and our transportation!!

Hi Guys -

Our tour director Doreen picked us up at the hotel this morning at 9:30. The first thing that she said was that the place where we ate dinner last night - The Wreck - was where she and Jerry had planned to take us for dinner tonight!!! We're so bad!




The Wreck




The View From The Wreck


Well, we headed straight downtown, parked and headed out on King Street. Love all those antique stores, but we didn't stay on King long. We headed down Broad, then Meeting, Tradd and Church. We ended up at the First Baptist Church. A beautiful old place with a small cemetery just outside the front door.



The pews had raised panel doors on them and I saw one old, old book out on display in the Narthex that was open to a page where someone in the 1700's had paid $12.00 as their half-yearly dues for their pew. That seems awfully expensive for way back then!! And, I have a feeling that the pads that were on the pews today weren't there in the 1700's. Expensive and hard!!





First Baptist Church of Charleston

Then we headed to Catfish Row, made famous in Porgy and Bess. And, not far away was the Dubose Heyward house - he's the guy who wrote Porgy and Bess. (And, later, after lunch, we saw the cemetery where the real life Porgy is buried.) We headed to Carolina Galleries, one of Doreen's favorite art galleries and saw some beautiful artwork. Then up Elliot to Bedon's Alley, across E. Bay St. to S. Adger's Wharf to Waterfront Park where we sat on a park bench, had some ice water that Doreen snitched from a lawyer's office nearby (she works with these folks) and watched the birds looking for food in the rush land. We walked back up to E. Bay where Ben and Doreen dropped me off - I had had enough walking by then. I sat on a bench outside a lovely gallery and watched an artist painting a picture. I took pictures of his dog and we struck up a conversation.



A Friendly Artist and His Dog

I had a very nice time while Ben and Doreen had a small adventure. On the way to get the car, they stopped at St. Michael's Episcopal Church and then had some trouble with security guards at a government building they were trying to look at. Something about not taking a camera inside. Of course, knowing the two of them, the security guards were probably right!!! They're such trouble makers!!
We left downtown and went out to the Old Village which is in Mt. Pleasant. There are some really cute shops there! Then we went to the Fat Hen for lunch. Wonderful she-crab soup, corn salad, crab cakes and a fish (new to us) called escolar. Delicious!! With a chocolate pate for dessert. Sinful!!! After lunch, we went to see the house that Jerry is rehabbing to sell. He's doing a wonderful job and the house is really coming along. Then we went to Doreen and Jerry's house. The back yard is a dream - beautiful plantings, a fabulous pond with a waterfall, another smaller water feature, lots of pots of bloomiong flowers, lots of hydrangeas and other shrubs. It is just a totally pleasant place to sit and listen to the water and the birds. There's also a tremendous old live oak tree with a wisteria vine growing up in it. The wisteria is gigantic and twists and turns all around the tree. It's really fantastic! There are also little patios for sitting and a graduated set of wooden platforms that are actually stairs without seeming like stairs and an archway covered with greenery. It's the kind of backyard that most of us can only dream about, but Jerry and Doreen have made a reality. I want them to come work on my house next!!!



Doreen and Jerry's pond and yard



But, then you go into the house which has been totally redone, rebuilt, re-everything. Jerry did a wonderful job of fixing up the house and Doreen has done a marvelous job of decorating it. Again, so relaxing and the kind of place that we would all like to live in.
We got back to the hotel and had to nap and shower after such a long, muggy day of sightseeing. They picked us up again for dinner and we went to Santi's. Wonderful Mexican food. Ben said that he'll be spoiled going back home to the Mexican restaurants we have.
Now, it's bedtime and time to rest up for the cruise. We set sail tomorrow. Oh, I did forget to tell you - the big news here in Charleston is about a lady who fell / jumped / was pushed off a Norwegian Cruise Line ship on a cruise to Bermuda. It's the same cruise line we're going on and the same itenerary, but not the same ship. We didn't listen to any news today, so I'm not sure what they've found out, but the boyfriend is looking somewhat suspicious.