Savannah’s Christmas Glitter

100_6586Savannah is one of my favorite cities, so last December when LCB had brief business there, the small people and I decided to tag along and spend an afternoon and evening touring the city and enjoying its Christmas adornments. Upon our return, I fully intended to post on the experience, but as we all know, intention and implementation are two different things.

And now here we are, a year later, with Savannah Christmas pictures burning a hole in my hard drive. I present two caveats, however, before I proceed. First, it’s been awhile, so forgive my sketchy memory. Additionally, half my pictures didn’t turn out due to my stunningly inept photographer, for reasons that are unknown because my photographer is stunningly inept.

You’ve been warned.

100_6597So anyway, when we arrived late that afternoon in the historic district, we decided the best way to see it all would be to take a trolley tour. In truth, this was our second time taking the trolley; years ago, shortly after we first moved to the Carolinas, we took a trip to Savannah that included a similar trolley tour. That tour was a little different; at the time, we had a toddler, so I was far more focused on the longevity of my son’s diaper and on his proximity to the open windows than I was on what the tour guide was saying.

The diaper served us well, I’m happy to report, and the toddler was the very same boy who recently thought we were climbing Hunting Island Lighthouse from the outside, so while he demonstrated his proclivity for climbing early on, he clearly survived the tour.

On a now entirely off-topic note, last weekend LCB asked this same son if he wanted to climb the Statue of Liberty some day and, I do not fabricate here, he asked if we’d do it via ropes from the outside.

And we’re back.

100_6540The city is organized around twenty-two squares, each with green space as well as different names and features. If you like historic homes with stories behind them, you’ll love Savannah.

If you like crazy when it’s classy, you’ll love Savannah. It’s my kind of town.

Several famous people have made Savannah their home, including Johnny Mercer (four-time Academy Award-winning songwriter), Juliette Gordon Lowe (Girl Scouts founder), and one of my favorite writers of all time, Flannery O’Connor.

100_6571The tour took us by the Johnny Mercer house, once owned by Jim Williams of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame. I My photographer worked hard to get a shot with the palm tree smack dab in the middle of the picture, because that, my friends, is highbrow art in its most primitive form. That shot has only been slightly upstaged by my my photographer’s rendering of Forsyth Park.

100_6579Yes, I had to go there.

 

100_6526And since I’m already there, here my photographer unintentionally took one of several selfies.

100_6541We also were able to see Juliette Gordon Lowe’s birthplace, although it was currently under renovation. I’m sure it’s spectacular without the scaffolding.

100_6543So many homes were beautiful, houses whose inhabitants could easily observe a daily tea time without appearing to be “climbers,”

100_6595like this one,

 

100_6580and these. I really don’t remember if any of them have any significance, which means they’re probably all homes of former presidents and people like Albert Einstein.

100_6550And of course there are the quaint little shops that someday I’ll be able to browse, after all fears of the small people inadvertently breaking my salary’s worth in china and trinkets are gone.

100_6532City Hall’s not too shabby.

 

100_6596There are any number of churches to explore,

100_6551as well as various food and beverage establishments.

100_6558Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has several locations and is thus a large presence within the city.

100_6598A section of sidewalk includes the names of famous people, fictitious or otherwise. Kevin Spacey left his mark when he filmed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, as did Forest Gump, who once sagaciously compared life to a box of chocolates in one of Savannah’s squares.

100_6607The trolley tour also took us down by the Savannah River and past the Waving Girl Statue. Reportedly, a local woman took it upon herself, for many years, to wave her handkerchief at ships as they passed by. I see her as the predecessor to the Walmart greeters.

After the tour, we ate dinner at The Pirates’ House, which was a hit with the small people. I don’t remember much about the food, but the restaurant itself is housed in a fascinating building that’s reportedly the oldest building in Savannah.

100_6620pirate picIn fact, what made the evening was the “pirate” who was gracious enough to take the small people on a tour of the restaurant, both delighting and terrifying them with tales of pirates, ghosts, and children who’ve inhabited the building since its mid-1700s inception.

100_6621100_6619It was, quite frankly, one of the most informative and best delivered tours I’ve ever taken.

Savannah’s just beyond the Carolina borders, but I don’t hold it against them. J Next time you find yourself traveling the Carolina coast, consider journeying just a few steps further. Tolkien wrote that “all that is gold does not glitter,” and he’s correct. But in Savannah’s case, the gold glitters.

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