From Charleston

(My apologies: two attempts to download my pictures have proved unsuccessful. I don't know whether it's Blogger to blame, or a poor WiFi connection here in Charleston. I'll try again later. Meantime, just to get posted...) (Correction, pictures now beginning to come through--a few, anyway.)

A nine-thirty pickup by Enterprise got delayed thanks to a miscommunication, and we were on the road for Charleston later than we had hoped. Armed with an old tour guide, we drove through the South Carolina Low Country and spent a while searching Lady's Island for the Whitehall Plantation for a recommended lunch and plantation visit, only to find a deserted area of tumbledown houses overgrown with weeds. Disappointed, we drove on to Beaufort, where we found the main street very tourist-y and the restaurants all crowded--except for one on a side street, where we enjoyed a good sandwich quietly, away from the crowds. Not liking much of what we had seen of Beaufort thus far, we started wandering the back streets, and were rewarded with some wonderful old homes and lush gardens. Here's a sampling:





On from Beaufort for the hour-long drive to Charleston, where we arrived mid-afternoon in comfortable time to check in to our rather fancy inn






and take a long walk along the raised sea-walk and through some of the residential streets at the south end of the city. Very beautiful, many lovely, manicured gardens and renovated houses gleaming in the late afternoon sun.





An excellent dinner at FIG, a good brisk walk from the hotel--and a slow, delightful walk home through the dimly lit back streets. Ellie loves to peer into windows from the street, and Church Street provided fertile ground for her perversion. No pictures, please...