**********************Part I: Savannah**********************
Ah, the good ol' South. Some of you might recognize the words from my title as the keen advice from Mammy to Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (side bar - in preparation for our trip down south, Adam and I watched Gone with the Wind for the first time in years - I can't help but love Scarlett for some strange reason...) And why you might ask were we down in that fine part of the country? Well, my darling Adam was ever so kind and planned a fun-filled southern getaway for my late thirtieth birthday celebration and our one year engagement anniversary. A year ago we got engaged in Charleston, South Carolina - so it was only fitting that we head down there and he added a Savannah stop as a bonus! It was a semi-surprise in that I knew nothing about the arrangements he had made for traveling, lodging, dining, or any of the activities. On Wednesday evening he told me to pack a suitcase and have it ready by the door before I left for work on Thursday morning. I don't know about the rest of you but for me, I love anticipation periods - it's exciting! From the moment I left for work until the time we got to our departure point, I was contemplating all sorts of adventures that we might be taking. Even though I already knew we were going to Savannah and Charleston (which I thought we were leaving for those destinations on Friday), I somehow managed to ask if I need my passport. I know, I know,...I have big expectations - maybe that's why I relate to Scarlett?
As I arrived home from work that evening Adam was already there (which is never the case) and he was ready to go right away and there were no suitcases by the door. I was told to just wear what I had on (business casual) and we started walking towards Union Station (our closest metro stop). Now instead of walking to the end of the building towards the metro entrance, we entered into the main area of Union Station and this is where I started to consider that we might be taking a train trip - I naturally thought it was going to be some sort of dinner train somewhere. As we walked towards the center restaurant I asked Adam where we were going and he said, "I don't know but do you want to go with those people?" Sitting upstairs in the restaurant just happened to be my new mother and father-in-law! I screamed and it was more of the scared scream (I just don't have a cute, girly squeal) because I was so surprised to see them!
And as many of you have already guessed, the four of us eventually got on a train for the evening and made our way to Savannah. This was my first overnight train trip since I was in Thailand in 2003 and I gotta say, it was a very interesting experience. My generation has sort of snubbed the whole train idea unless it's in Europe or Japan where the trains go really fast. If you haven't taken a train before I highly recommend it. Now, sleeping on the train is nearly impossible (unless you're doped up-Marms was lucky here) but the rest of the experiences one has on a train are really really unique. For example, there is a very diverse group of folks who take the train. My Marms asked one of the staffers on the train what type of people usually take the train and she said, "Greyhound People." Not really sure what that means but, there was definitely an assortment of eye candy (and I don't mean attractive guys). Also, I am still a very private person - it's early in our marriage but I hope that we continue to use the restroom in private when possible...that's just polite :) However, it was not possible in our sleeper car which had a tiny little toilet located right in our room for us to use. I held it in all night until I couldn't any more - then I made Adam flip over on his stomach and put a coat over his head while I hummed and made other noises to keep him from hearing the tinkle.
We arrived in Savannah around 0600 after a night of zero sleep (except for Marms) and called in a taxi. We left around 8:00pm so it was approximately a 10 hour train ride. We stayed at a really cute boutique hotel downtown Savannah called the Marshall House. I loved this place - Adam knows me so well and he picked out the perfect hotel - smallish (but not so small that you feel uncomfortable), beautiful old architecture coupled with brand new decor (and linens!!) that's a tad more contemporary, and minimal on the decor - I can't handle some of the old inns that have to put each and every antique on display and it's so overwhelming you feel claustrophobic. There was none of that - this place is gorgeous! One of the interesting little details is that all of the rooms facing the street have extra large windows that you use to access the porch. Apparently when the house was built there was a tax on all doors and so in an effort to avoid the additional taxes and still provide access to the porch, the builders added extra wide and extra low windows to make it easy for someone to crawl out of the room and onto the porch!
As you can probably imagine, it was a little too early for us to check into our rooms so we dropped off our bags and decided to head to...Starbucks of course. It's like 7:00am at this point and we need a little pick-me-up! After perking up a bit, we headed out for our first walk around the city. Savannah has 21 squares that are all designed to be miniature parks and gardens. Everywhere you look in Savannah you are surrounded by tall Oaks, Magnolias, and Crape Myrtles all draped with the wispy remnants of Spanish moss. All of the squares are full of park benches and little nooks for spending the afternoon day dreaming or reading books. There is a real magical appeal to these quaint little gardens - almost like there is something mysterious about each and every one. I'm not sure if that just comes from the quirky history of Savannah or what...but there is a certain allure, a je ne sais quoi.
After a morning of walking around the town, our hotel called notifying us that we were able to check into our rooms. At that point a few of us were a little zombie like (lack of sleep) so we decided to check in, shower and take a quick nap. We woke up feeling hungry and well rested. One of the goals of this trip was to get some real southern cooking and Adam and Marms had read a spectacular review in both Southern Living and the NY Times about a small, off the beaten path kind of place called Masada Cafe. The taxi driver had never heard of this place and kept checking in with the dispatcher to try and find out where it was at. Luckily we had the iPhone to guide us to our destination. Masada Cafe is located in a small church just outside of the historic downtown area. The lady who runs the church is the pastors wife and all proceeds go towards service work around the community. The food...unreal. Marms, Mark and I had fried chicken (duh), macaroni and cheese, green beans, a biscuit, and a diet coke to wash it down. Adam was a little more adventurous and went with ox tail, fried okra, rice, mac and cheese...and we all had a little red velvet cake to help that heaping of food digest properly :) We didn't plan to walk back to town, but we did...3 miles. Basically, we were stranded after the taxi dropped us off and had no other choice, it was slightly annoying at the time - but definitely funny now. Anyhow, the whole experience gets two thumbs up, best fried chicken ever and definitely a bonus to get outside of the more touristy area for some authenticity.
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around town. We tried to take a tour of the Mercer Williams house - this is the home where the main character from the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil lived. I bought the book at the house gift store (open until 5:00pm) since we missed the actual tour hours for the house (open until 4:10pm). Does anyone else think 4:10pm is a strange quitting time?
I started reading my book right away - for those of you who haven't read it yet, it's quite good!
From there we browsed stores and wandered around, had a spot of tea in small French home goods store (our favorite). We eventually wandered back to the hotel to freshen up and dress for our fancy dinner at Elizabeth on 37th. We all got fancified, took another taxi ride from a proud Savannian, and showed up at the most beautifully haunting, older building for dinner.
The food was spectacular, we had a little rose champagne to wash things down, we sat next to a cozy fireplace, and of course, we had delightful conversation. I loved it there. That and the place that I ate at the night Adam proposed to me are the nicest restaurants I've been to in my life. Truly a special evening!!
We ended the evening sitting out on the big porch, rocking away, feeling extremely full, and entirely too exhausted to stay out on the porch as long we'd like. I'll definitely be back to Savannah someday - hopefully someday soon! The town is artistic (with nearly 100 buildings for the hub of Savannah College of Art and Design campus), eclectic, and full of delicious places to eat - why wouldn't you visit? Have you been before? How was your experience? Drop me a line!
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