Charleston

Friday January 22nd was a much better day weather wise and consequently much better all round. I went into town early but as I hadn't made a reservation the tour I wanted to take wasn't running. I reserved for a later tour and went for a wander around town. I stumbled across an "Apple" store and went into use the internet. Apple stores are my next favourite place to public libraries for accessing the internet. I do begrudge having to pay internet access. I then went to "Jack's Cafe" for breakfast and had my first taste of Grits. I guess everyone else mixes stuff with theirs, I had my plain and didn't think much of them. They don't taste horrible, they don't taste of anything at all. And the texture is a little odd, it is gritty. In the afternoon I joined a tour out to one of the old plantation houses, Magnolia Plantation. Normally I don't like tours, but this was the easiest way to get to the house and since there were only the three of us on the tour I figured it shouldn't be too bad. The driver was nice and the other two women o.k..
At the entrance of the plantation we drove up this long drive lined on either side by live Oaks. They are called live Oaks as the trees always have leaves on year round, they lose them but continue to put forth new ones. And all of the trees are covered in Spanish Moss, it looks exactly as I would expect from the movies! The house is not what I expected, I think I've seen "Gone with the Wind" one too many times. The house that is there now isn't original, the first two were burnt down, the first by lightening the second in the Civil War. The owner didn't have too much money after the war ended so instead of rebuilding he moved an old hunting lodge into the original house's place. As they were still short of money the owners were forced to open the grounds to the public and so started an amazing garden. Part of the tour was a twee ride on a trolley around the estate. I have to confess I enjoyed it, it was a cold day and further than I cared to walk in the weather. We got to see a few birds but more importantly we saw an alligator. The plantation never grew tobacco, but grew rice. It was staffed by slaves and there was someone living in the slave quarters into the '90's. Some of the old slave families remained on the plantation even after they were emancipated and continued to work for the family as paid staff. The furniture in the house had been brought over from England and so some of it was Chippendale. The pottery was all Meissen, Spode or Wedgewood. There were also a few original quilts made in the 19th century. No bathrooms of course.
As it was Friday it was party night. Casey,Jaime and I headed to another of their friend's house a few blocks away. I picked up a bottle of wine, started with a Bourbon shot and took it from there. After getting warmed up we went to a local art gallery for a show that some of Landon and Casey's friends were exhibiting in. It was modern art and again I am not a big fan, although this time I think that I may have understood some of it. Then it was back to Landon's for a little more wine before going on to the main party of the night. it was a house party and there was a keg in the back garden, I grabbed a beer. Before I knew what was going on some police officers appeared and we were all dumped out on the street and told to go home. Jaime and I walked back to the apartment and carried on drinking while watching a movie.
I didn't do a lot the next day, which was exactly how I had planned it. I missed my bus, again because I was unorganised and hadn't looked into how I was going to get to the bus station. I should have checked where the bus station was, but didn't. The Charleston bus and train station aren't anywhere near where I was. They are in North Charleston, another city entirely and according to Casey the 7th most dangerous city in the U.S. Oh joy! I checked the internet and found that I could take a train to Savannah but getting to the train station would be interesting, not only because it is not on a bus route but also the train left after dark. I caught the local bus to the Greyhound station and then called a cab to take me to the train station. As I was waiting a guy asked me if I wanted a lift to the train station, as I could see his wife in the car I said yes. Little did I realise that he would charge me for the lift, I should have realised that he wasn't just trying to be kind. He dropped me off at the train station, both stations are in really dark,dingy parts of town and I caught my train.