Visiting Fort Sumter

This morning we boarded a boat to visit Fort Sumter - an island fort at the entrance to Charleston harbour built in the late 19th century where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired.

It was a pleasant trip - the sea breeze was very welcome on a warm and humid day and the views of Charleston from the water and historical narration from a National Parks ranger brought the story of the fort and the harbour alive.

In the distance we had views of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island at the entrance to the harbour.  Probably less visited than Fort Sumter as no sea voyage required!

The Fort itself remained in service until after the Second World War and is now in quite a ruined state.  Much of the damage was originally caused by bombardment by Confederate troops when it was held by Union forces and then by Union bombardment trying to re-take it.   At that time as an army garrison it was home to army families, including children.

This is a model of how it originally looked.  Two storeys with a third, open gallery on the top.  Now just the bottom storey remains to be visited.   

That in itself is of historic significance - all the bricks were made locally by enslaved labor in Charleston brickworks.

The fort is built on a sandbar and hence it was quite a feat to build there at all.  Thousands of tons of stone had to be brought across from Charleston to create a solid platform on the sand for the brick foundations.

As the tide receded the Brown Pelicans joined the small gulls to trawl for rich pickings on the sandbar.

On the way back, David captured this shot of a pelican taking off  after diving for a fish.  They look ungainly but are effective divers!

Do you think David looks the part?

Some fairly ugly additions to the fort have been made in recent years but there is a small museum housed in the black buildings.

Just as an aside, all the time we have been in Charleston and particularly around the water we have seen many orange butterflies fluttering around.  We had thought that they were Monarchs as they should now be on their final Southern migration stage to Mexico for winter - they must be there for the end of October.

However, when we finally managed to see one of these butterflies up close in a Charleston park, it didn't look quite like a monarch, though similar.   The butterflies flying over the water therefore remain a mystery..

Exploring Charleston

Thirty-three years on and after a very warm day exploring Charleston, we may be looking a little worse for wear in this quick selfie taken at the iconic 'pineapple' fountain in Waterfront Park.

Thank you for all your kind anniversary wishes - we sobered up rapidly over dinner this evening when we realised that we are two thirds of the way to 50!!

Anyway, back to Charleston which is an amazing and exhausting city.  Here are just a few of our first impressions from today's exploration...

We started the day with a walk to Patriot's Point, where there is a museum of military ships, including the aircraft carrier Yorktown.  We are staying at Mount Pleasant, across the Cooper river from Charleston and so our first trip was on a water taxi.

The pelicans (and one cormorant) lined up sunning themselves kept us amused as we waited.  Also the dolphins in the bay - but they were too quick for us.

Our first glimpses of downtown historic Charleston were across the water.

Docking on the other side we first visited the South Carolina Aquarium and did a behind the scenes tour as well as feeding some Sting-Rays - photos another day.

From the aquarium we walked down East Bay Street to the town centre and started to see some beautiful historic houses..

Many of the homes have large side 'porches' (covered balconies)..

So many elegant details to capture..

Our next stopping point was the Palmetto Carriage Company where we took a ride on a horse drawn carriage like this one - although I seem to have missed the full picture here!

In fact ours was pulled by two handsome mules..

Quite an experience but a bit of a squash and rather warm!  Great way of seeing even more beautiful houses and the spires of the churches for which Charleston is famous..

Many of the houses were undergoing renovations - a process governed by many rules and regulations on style, materials and of course colour.

After our carriage ride we walked on to the Battery via Waterfront Park and the lovely fountain..

Then a look at Rainbow Row..

The Colhoun Mansion and St Philips Episcopal Church we hope to visit in more detail over the weekend..

Our evening was spent having dinner at Pougan's Porch, a traditional Southern restaurant inside a mansion..

And finally, a quick after dinner walk around the night market - local crafts..

By 8pm we had to head back to the hotel and sleep..

Heading South

At the end of this afternoon we left Dulles airport for Charleston, where we are spending the weekend.  Looking out of the window the cloudy sky was very dramatic.

In flight, over the clouds, a cool blue horizon and more cloud above.

We are staying outside Charleston, across the river.  This evening we walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

The cuisine was very Southern - but first a Mint Julep (Bourbon, Mint, Sugar Syrup, Ice) in a frosted copper 'glass'.

The restaurant specialized in 'Grits' - chipped white corn cooked in milk, butter and - above in the 'grits flight'  which we shared as a starter - Pimento cheese, peaches and cream, coconut and smoked Gouda.  Rather filling.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to visiting the historic downtown areas of Charleston.

Flaming Food

Yesterday we had dinner at a local Japanese Hibachi restaurant.  We thought that it was just a different type of grill, but in fact we were seated around a Teppenyaki cooking table and our food was cooked on a (very hot) hot plate in front of us.

I didn't take any photos, unfortunately (next time, maybe) and so this photo is from the web.  

The cooking was very theatrical, beginning with juggling and clanking together the knives and spatula and continuing with juggling eggs.

Oil is then squirted onto the cooking surface, set alight, and then the meat and vegetables are cooked on the hot plate.

It was delicious and very spectacular - another time it would be great to go as a group - with just the two of us sitting there we felt a little self conscious!!

The Flavour of 'Fall'

There is no doubting that the season of Autumn has arrived in the shops here - everything has sprouted a 'pumpkin' variety.. including coffee and, as above, ice cream..

And if you don't want to eat it or drink it, then how about a scented candle...

Planning for Charleston

This weekend we are traveling to Charleston to explore and celebrate our wedding anniversary.

We are looking forward to this first visit to the state of South Carolina - it will be warm but hopefully not too humid at this time of year.  

Unfortunately we won't have time to visit Savannah too but anticipate that there will be plenty to see and discover in Charleston.

Christmas at Tyson's Corner

We set off on the metro today with the intention of visiting Arlington Cemetery and then hopping off the train at Tyson's Corner shopping mall on the way back. 

Disruptions to the service convinced us that we should focus only on visiting Tyson's and so we explored both halves of the shopping centre.  Our last visit was in March 2013 when we stayed close by on our 'look see' visit to Washington before moving here.  At that time there was no metro stop but otherwise the shopping malls had changed only a little. (Photo of Tyson's Galleria from the web).

In the exclusive Neimann Marcus department store, the Christmas displays of decorations were already in place.

Featuring bears, life size Father Christmas figures and even a reindeer, the display was a sumptuous one..

There were some beautiful individual hand-blown glass decorations..

...at a price!  There were also some impressive larger ornaments..

For the truly stylish home, some very different decorations..

We didn't buy anything today..