Down in the Deep Ole' South

Tried my hand at being arty with some of these photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111341&id=510568119&l=1c3fa93574

Spent a long weekend in the deep south of Georgia and South Carolina over Labor Day. First stop Savannah, SC. I fell in love with this place - the whole town has a sleepy Old South air to it, described perfectly in the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" which I reread as soon as I got back to Winston. The historic district is built around lots of squares shaded by huge trees dripping with Spanish moss and flanked by grand old houses with impressive verandas and sweeping staircases. Slightly out of town and on the edge of the river is the gorgeous Bonaventure cemetery where Johnny Mercer (he wrote the lyrics to "Moon River" among other songs)is buried. The main attractions however are the long tree lined avenues and gothic angels and monuments that fill the spaces between them - I think I spent most of an afternoon taking photos there while Rich patiently followed me around, bless 'im.

Charleston is also a beautiful city, but in a much more ostentatious way. As soon as you arrive downtown you're surrounded by upmarket shops, art galleries and restaurants, and the grandest old houses I've ever seen, some of which overlook the harbour which hosts amazing sunsets. As night fell I forgave all of its pretensions when real gas powered lamps flickered into life along the cobbled streets and we took a tram ride through the center of the city. It felt a bit like how I imagine the nicer parts of Victorian London would have been, but with the added Southern grandeur of Gone With The Wind. It was pretty magical. The photos don't do it justice, but I took a fair few anyway, just in case...

To top off our Old South weekend we also took in a Bluegrass and BBQ festival at an big ole' plantation. Cue lots of banjo pickin,' foot stompin' hoe-down stylee frolics and plenty of tasty chargrilled fare smothered in Carolina style BBQ sauce. Nice :)