Columbia and the party we were not invited to

So the final stop was Columbia in South Carolina.
There obviously was some kind of a party Saturday night that we were not invited to as the city was completely dead Sunday morning.
There were only homeless people and squirrels wondering around, rest of them were either in church or curing their hangovers...?
Ohh - nothing opens before 1 PM, so no coffee for me :(

Saw Finlay park that the city is famous for (you get a great view over the city and there are some really nice fountains there as well) a huge fire hydrant, State House and walked on Marion Street :)

Rest of the day spent sitting in the car driving home (and we hit no traffic!), some examples of strange place names: Zebulon, Micro and Matta river...

So that is it for this time!

Charleston and a talking squirrel

Woke up really early today as we had really loud neighbours :(

Started the day with a visit to Tybee Island - a small island outside Savannah that has a nice lighthouse on it. As a morning workout we climbed all 178 steps that equals 15 floors - but we were not honored with a sticker like they do at Cape Hatteras :(
The guide who was guarding the lighthouse today was the grandson of the last lighthouse keeper Mr. Jackson - he answered our endless questions and gave an insight as to how things worked before the electricity came along...

Breakfast was at noon and I made a bet with Marion that she would not be able to eat all the food, to clean her plate... well I was wrong, and now owe her a bottle of wine.

Next stop Charleston - another beautiful city by a river. Houses are more simple than in Savannah and there is no Spanish moss hanging from the trees... And there are a lot more palm trees too... funny as the city is north from Savannah (locals did not know the answer to that question either).
Sat at the waterfront and I actually got a slight sunburn on my face :)

We noticed that there are a lot of acorns around but no squirrels... and a couple of minutes later one showed up and was making a really strange noise - almost like talking :) Still trying to figure out what the little fellow was trying to say.

Some strange place names from today: town called Coosawatchie, Tullifinny river and Caw Caw County...

And now we are at Columbia, South Carolina (the state capital) in the middle of the town 8th floor and close to church that every full hour rings its bells - pretty!

PS. The potential husband from US did not show up today and missed a great day :(

Chill pill

The day started out really cold :( it is sunny but the wind is really strong and cold, effects of the tropical storm Noel perhaps?

I think I have run into those "metro flees" again that I met in May as my hands and arms are itching all over again, and like last time there is no metro around here! So greetings to my doctor!!!!

It seems that people take a chill pill with their morning coffee around here :) People are really calm and happy - take their time with their daily tasks and have time for each other.

The city itself is really nice - old houses (with some incredible detail at the ironwork covering the doors and windows) and almost no people at all :) that is kind of funny as there is supposed to be 100000 people living around here...
But they might be working as it is Friday :)

Walked under the old trees that have that funny Spanish moss hanging from them, saw a wedding at the park, the park where Forrest Gump told his story and to top that off - there were fireworks (in our honor of course).

Some strange local habits/laws: you are not allowed to drink alcohol from the bottle nor can but can drink from a cup.
Since they love seafood here they did not know what else to do with the oyster shells than mix it with pavement and cover the sidewalk with it.
Everything closes really early (at 7PM).

And finally the jet lag caught up with me (I was expecting it at some point but not this late... Marion told me already that I was too hyper compared to my usual self) so I had to take a long nap while Marion explored some more of Savannah.

We had dinner outside today, under a huge magnolia tree - it was quite late but as the wind calmed down at some point the air was still nice and warm (like back home but in July) and the food here is incredible!


PS. I might not be coming home as Marion is trying to arrange my marriage :) one of the potential husbands is from Nepal....

Savannah and death by chocolate

After 8 and half hours in the car (in a really nice car, the kind that thinks and drives itself) we finally arrived to Savannah, Georgia - Marion is a true rally driver :) (and of course acting like a hero, did not let me drive at all)

On our way here we passed by some European destinations like Hanover, Newcastle and Switzerland!

Also it seems that Canadians are for some reason invading USA - every second car on our way here was from Canada, Quebec (old people driving really fast) and of course every second car was a truck...

Went for a dinner in a diner across the street from our hotel and it really seems so that people in the south are really friendly, at least our waitress was :)
For dessert we had a thingy called "death by chocolate" - a huge piece of cake made out of ice cream and chocolate. To make it perfect (more like death) she brought us a huge steak knife and stabbed in the middle of the cake :) so sorry that I did not have my camera with me...

So now we are "dead" - stomach facing the ceiling and drinking wine :)

Over and out for today!

PS. The weather here is really nice :) 25C :)))

Another roadtrip begins :)

So after a long thinking on my behalf (Marion told that it is up to me to decide where to go - like always she lets me to make all the decisions) we decided to skip Boston and go to Savannah Georgia instead - to be more exact, drive there and back :)

I have a thing for road trips in US :) and it is supposed to be 20C in the south versus freezing in the north...

So it is 9 AM 1.November and we are off - first to library to get a book about Georgia (I managed to read 2 books about Boston already) and then 9 hours drive down to southern US...

USA november 2007

To avoid sending several e-mails from different trips I decided to copy my smart colleagues and create a blog of my own :)

This trip started 30.10 first from Tallinn to Amsterdam. Like always ID passengers are not the favourite ones to the check-in personnel :) It took her 15 minutes to understand that she was checking me in for the wrong flight and that was the reason behind all her technical troubles... And of course the bags do not go all the way through...
At Amsterdam I got all the way from check-in to the gate without going through security!? But then at the gate they treat you like a criminal... I was questioned for 10 minutes about who packed my bags and how did I get to the airport and where else my bags had been and did I have any gifts from someone to take with me etc.
I guess I answered all the questions correctly as I got a special sticker on my passport :)

Getting on the flight was another issue... I was already giving up as everyone was on board except me and another obvious ID passenger (I was already deciding where to find a hotel at the airport or at the city) when a guy in a mustache game and asked if I was Miss Tolmats :) and gave me a boarding pass with seat number 9A in Business :))) so sometimes it is worth a while to dress nice...

I was sitting next to this all American guy in baseball cap and curly hair who seemed to have some kind of medical problem (he was twitching all the time) but never the less kept drinking bloody mary's and vodka with tonic.
When he fell asleep I tried to climb over him to go to the restroom and of course the plane had slight turbulence just then and I ended up landing on him... he got a bit of a scare but it was quite funny for everyone else watching :)

So I made it here... weather is nice and sunny, people still with the same fake smile, nothing has changed since May.
The decision on Boston - whether to go or not is still out. There is some kind of congress in town, flights and hotels quite full so we may end up somewhere else in US :)

Lammas