October 27 - Part 3 of tour and Village of Harleston

 We are on our last day in Charleston.  Tomorrow is all about getting back to Albuquerque.

The first thing on our last bits of the general Charleston tour was the Circular Congregational Church.  It was established in 1681.  It burnt down in a fire in 1861 and was replaced with the structure below - not circular anymore.

                                        

View from the cemetery.

The historic Charleston Market.  It goes on for block after block.  It sells all the usual crafts, clothes, etc as usual.

United States Custom House

The former John Rutledge home - a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Now a popular bed and breakfast.

Across the street is his younger brother's home -  Edward Rutledge - also a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The Roman Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist.  So weird how the wires frame the church.

The Unitarian Church in Charleston.

These are very famous windows.  The pattern is repeated all around the church except at the front.

The ornamental plaster ceiling.  It is called fan tracery.

Stained glass window in the nave.

Old Charleston Jail.

United States Marine Hospital.

Episcopal  Church

It is between 1 and 2 pm.  We are not having lunch because we are planning a big early dinner.  So we finally find a cafe/coffee house close to the college.  I want a cold drink with caffine - This is a "heathly place".  Michael ended up with coconut water and I ended up with this.  I note the ingrediant of 10 mg of cbd.  I am ok with that.  The clerk asks me, " Are you Ok with the D9.  I say yes I am fine.  I just want something cold to drink and this is pretty much all they have.  I get back to the apartment and look it up.  D9 is the most common grade of thc in Marijuana.  I can't believe 5mg is going to be even perceptible to the person who drinks this beverage.  Indeed I felt nothing.  

Back at our apartment we snack on leftovers and take naps.  We are going to Chubby Fish which is a 1/2 mile walk away.   The name came up many times when we asked where the best place was to go for fish.  They open at 5pm and do not take reservations.  We left at 4:30pm to walk there.  We got there a little after 4:15 and there was a long line.  We did make the first seating - at a communal table, but at least we had chairs with backs.  Michael ordered fried oysters as an appetizer and grilled oyster sandwich as his main.  I got a grouper fish with cabbage, turnips and potatoes.  It turns out the restaurant was not so much about the fresh taste of fish as it was about the flavors that were put on the dishes.  Both of our dishes had a very Asian flair.  It was not at all what we were looking for.  Not to say that the flavors were not very interesting and very flavorful - but not what we were looking for.  I must say I was disappointed.  After not drinking for many weeks - I splurged on a couple of glasses of white wine.  So that made me happy anyway.

We have discussed so many possibilities of what we could do on Saturday as our pane does not leave until 5pm.  But we have to leave the apt at 11am - they will not hold the luggage, So we have decided we will have a very lite breakfast and then take a cab from here to Rodney Scotts Southern Bar-b-que with all our luggage.  From there we will head to the airport and then back to ABQ.  I think we have seen as much as we need to of Charleston.

October 26 - Charleston, SC

 This is our 2nd full day here and we are continuing's our tour of Charleston historic old town.  We started off at Rainbow Row on East Bay Street.  These Georgian townhouses are painted very subtle pastel colors.  I've been in several countries where the "painted houses" are bright and striking colors.  Subtle fits in with the history here.  But I didn't find them particularly photographic.

This is a side street leading to the river.  

The street of Rainbow painted houses.

The house lanterns are designed to look like they are flickering gas lamps.

Home entrance on a side street.

A view across the marsh of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

From the river back to the painted houses.

Next stop was the Old Exchange and the Provost Dungeon.  Built from 1767 to 1771.

The first and second floors showcase the Old Exchange.  

The old post office was located in this building.  Note the customer window on the left side.

Down in the basement was the Provost Dungeon.

The Post master had built steps to the basement area where his supplies were kept.  When the dungeon was excavated and they dug deep down - the steps were literally left hanging!

A diorama of prisoners in the dungeon.  The prisoners were not kept in separate cells, instead all were thrown together in the main room.  Guards kept their watch from outside the doors.

Another diorama.

The colonists hid a lot of gun powder in the basement and built a false wall to hide it.  When the British retook the Old exchange they never realized that the gun powder was hidden there.  When the British were finally kicked out the colonists discovered the 1/3 of the gun powder was ruined because it was below the water table.  The rest was OK and useable.

Later, the area behind the false wall was used as the area to hang prisoners.

View out the window of the Old Exchange.  That is St. Michaels Church off in the distance.

Much later, the Old Exchange 2nd floor was used as the area to debate and then sign the U.S. Constitution.

Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street.

The presentation given on the second floor was very informative.  Unfortunately it was open to the first floor on two sides - so with new people arriving constantly it was hard to hear the presenter.  He did a great job giving us information.

The complex used to be a lot larger.  The displays on the first floor also was well done.

Next stop - the French Huguenot Church.

All around the sides of the church were these placards giving the names of the congregants with their location at birth and at death.  

Just down the street - St. Phillips Church.  We stopped here and went looking for lunch.  Turns out we were very close to Poogan's Porch - so we had our lunch there again.  Then took an uber back to our apartment for a rest.  We have a sunset cruise scheduled for 5 - 7PM.  

U.S.S. Yorktown - It hasn't moved from this spot in decades.  It is an aircraft carrier used in World War II.  You can now tour it for $25 each.

Fort Sumter National Monument.  Another place you can visit.

The beginning of the sunset - this was a sunset cruise afterall!

Views from our pilot's glasses!

It was right about here that the host - Victor - offered to take everyone's sunset photo.  The people all lined up right where we had been sitting, so we had to (wanted to) make our way around the boot to take photos.  We usually don't go for these hooky photos - but decided to join in the fun.  So at the very end Michael gave him his phone and we got these shots.

I like this one the best.

I was really trying to get the sun in focus.  I deleted twice as many pictures - as the boat was going pretty fast at first and was rocking and rolling.  I almost sat down in a couple of people's laps in the process.  Everyone was very nice about it.  It was very hard to frame a photo.  I was just lucky to get what I got.

Boats after sunset.

One shot of the moon as we headed back to the dock.