Charleston, part one

Well, thank heavens for unencrypted wireless connections! LOL Unbelievable how many people have their wireless routers set up without and excryptions key (or for those uninitiated between you, without a password!) - this basically allows me to use their internet connection without having to do anything (or pay for it!!!). Said routers are somewhere in the vicinity of the house I'm a guest in at the moment so I thought I'd give you an update of my visit here so far.

Wednesday was a VERY long day... got up way too early (at 5am) because I was nervous about missing the bus and the flight. Got to the Boston Express (the new link between Nashua and Boston South Station or Boston Logan!) for the 7.30am ride and got to the airport for about 9am. My flight was due to leave at 11 so I spent some time browsing the shops, buying a magazine (which I've yet to read) and having a McDonald's breakfast (at 11am!). The plane to Charlotte was delayed by about 20 minutes which caused a lot of problems for pretty much everyone, including me. Everyone on the plane had connecting flights to catch in Charlotte and they all missed them due to the delay. I just managed to make my flight because I ran like there was no tomorrow. With 10 minutes to spare I boarded the plane to Myrtle Beach. Once in MB I picked up my rental car (a red Chevy Aveo 2007) and started driving towards Charleston. I came across a few rainy moments but all in all the drive wasn't all that bad. Two hours later I arrived at Apryll's house and was SOOOO unbearably glad to finally rest for s while. I met David, her soon-to-be husband, who is wonderful and really good for her. I went to bed fairly early (9.30pm) because I was dead tired.

Thursday I woke up around 8am and went ice skating. Yes, you heard me right. I had checked out the nearest ice rink and it wasn't too far from Apryll so I took my skates with me and on Thursday morning went for one and a half hours of public skating. It wasn't all that great because the ice wasn't in such great condition. Mainly due to the fact that they seem to be using the rink for figure skating most of the time and from what I have seen there, there's some serious figure skating going on. I'm talking about double jumps and such. So lots of deep holes in the ice. Anyway... after that I took the car and drove to downtown Charleston.

I can't tell you what a wonderful city this is... the architecture, the parks, the ocean, the rivers, the bridges, the plantations - all of it is stunning. It took me a good hour of cruising around Charleston to find a parking garage that wasn't full but I finally made it. Once I was done with the whole parking situation, I went straight to the water. Waterfront Park is beautiful and very peaceful, with a stunning view of Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter and all other things around it. I sat down for a while and just enjoyed the peace and quiet, ate some ice cream and read a book. I meant to take the Fort Sumter tour at 2.30pm but when I got to the ticket office at 2pm, the boat was already full so I gave up on that. Instead I went walking around downtown some more, taking pictures and shooting video as I went. At about 4pm I got in the car and went back home where I spent a nice and quiet evening with Apryll and David.

On Friday, Apryll and I were supposed to go to see BOONE HALL PLANTATION (for an explanation about this, see last entry in my blog). Unfortunately, Apryll had had a job interview that morning and hadn't slept the whole night so we cancelled that and just stayed in doing nothing much but reading, watching TV and chatting. At about 5pm I took off with all my stuff as I was moving to stay with Apryll's friend Keran (pronounced like Karen). I got there and she was a wonderful, really sweet older lady who showed me her whole house and told me to pick a room (she had three standing free). Once she had shown me her jewelry making stuff, I started squeaking and squealing with joy - I LOVE jewelry making, even though I've never done it myself. Suffice it to say, if I wasn't already doing so much expensive stuff, I would definitely start on jewelry next! Anyway, she showed me all kinds of stuff she'd done and I came across this beautiful Swarovski stone bracelet in silver and blue that was just stunning!!! I told her I'd like to try it on if she didn't mind and she helped me put it on and it just looked so cool, I couldn't stop admiring it! And with that she then said "Well then, it's yours. It's a welcome to Charleston present!" Isn't that wonderful??? She is absolutely awesome! I felt guilty because that really hadn't been my intention but she was so sure she wanted me to have it that I gladly said THANK YOU and gave her a big hug :-) Oh and she has two lovely dogs that are adorable!!! We spent the rest of the evening watching TV, me trying to figure out what kind of sightseeing I could do for Saturday and Sunday and she just relaxing on her Friday night. She did drink quite a bit of alcohol and smoked, which I really didn't like (the smoking bit anyway) but I didn't feel like I could tell her to not smoke in her own home!!! LOL So I just sat it out but it was REALLY hard not to just up and go, I've become SO incredibly intolerant to smoke, my throat was hurting all night.

Anyway... today I set off for Boone Hall Plantation early in the morning. I got there at about 10am, bought my ticket and got ready for some major goosebumps and waterfalls. Luckily, whilst the tears were in my eyes most of the time that I spent there, I managed not to cry.
I can't tell you what it was like to finally stand in front of that house that for me, represents so many different emotions. I realize that "North and South" is just a movie but it's the movie that's brought the Civil War to my attention. And it's made one particular side of it so vivid and painful that it will always be more of a reality for me than just a movie. The idea of two great friends being torn apart by a war, in a time where values and morals and honor were such major parts of people's lives is just too painful to contemplate.
I spent a good two hours at the Plantation, taking the House Tour, finding out about its history and the fact that the current owners actually LIVE there a few months out of the year. Out of those two hours, one was spent purely on taking pictures, setting up the tripod so I could do panoramic videos of the house and the wonderful, stunningly breathtaking Avenue of Oaks, which lines the street coming towards Boone Hall. All the while, hearing bits and pieces of dialogue from the movie in my head, seeing particular shots of particular places... it was an almost religious experience. On my way out I made the mistake of calling Ally to tell her about it and that's when the floodgates opened and I started to cry. Thankfully I was driving the car so I knew I had to get it together before I caused an accident. I then proceeded down US Highway 17 towards Patriot's Point where I boarded a boat for the Fort Sumter tour.
For the uninitiated, Fort Sumter is the place where the Civil War began. On April 12th 1861 the first shot was fired on the Union garrison at Fort Sumter and that shot started the Civil War between the North and the South. It lasted almost 5 years, in which over 500,000 men were killed. I didn't even know that the Secession of the Southern states happened not because the Northerners wanted to abolish slavery, but because they didn't want it to spread to any of the new states!!! The Southerners however, felt that their way of life was in jeopardy and after years of turmoil, South Carolina was the first state to seceed, followed by 5 others (can't think which now...).
So anyway... visiting Ft. Sumter was wonderful, the boat ride was great too, even though I somehow always end up sitting in front of some bad behaved kid that either kicks my seat or screams or whatever. I even saw dolphins and I think I managed to get them on film too. Once on Ft. Sumter, we had an hour to look around, visit the museum and we were even privy to the reenactment of a drill, which apparently only happens a few times a year! Basically, there's these societies of people who dress up in the old Southern/Northern uniforms and reenact certain things from those times. Unfortunately my camera's battery died since I had used it extensively at Boone Hall but I managed to get a few shots of the drill. Very impressive.

After Ft. Sumter, I jumped in my car and drove to Apryll's where she and David were having some of the wedding guests over for pizza. I stayed for a few hours and then left as thunderstorms were predicted in the area and I didn't want to be caught in one.
It's time for me to go to bed now and dream of wonderful Boone Hall and my next "when I am rich..." installment. Cause you know what that's gonna be... right? ;-)