A great way to spend your Saturday morning in Charleston is visiting the Farmers Market in Marion Square (on Calhoun Street between Meeting & King). Marion Square is a pretty park located in the heart of Charleston’s Historic Downtown where you can experience a lot of history in the many museums and gorgeous 18th century homesteads. The Farmers Market has the typical mix of stands: fresh vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, local art and some decent food booths. Despite there being a bunch of top notch dining establishments for lunch and dinner meals in Charleston, we didn’t discover a happening breakfast joint. The Farmers Market compensates for this oversight (at least on Saturday mornings) by offering a great selection of quality local breakfast food. There is plenty of seating available, so a great place to start your day! There were a few interesting art booths, though much was your standard trinkets and trash venues. That said, we still enjoyed brisk conversations with the locals working the booths and they embodied the southern graciousness you come to expect in the South. A relaxed way to kick off your weekend in Charleston and the Square affords a lot of lawn space if you need to stretch your legs a bit.

The family dropped in on Charleston last weekend, and our welcome to this fun destination was crossing the Cooper River on the splendid Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge. The bridge is beautiful, visually dominated by two immense diamond towers which support North America's longest cable stay span (1,546 feet). The twin diamond towers not only support a great span, the span itself is quite broad – consisting of an eight lane highway with an ample, 12-foot wide pedestrian pathway on the southern side. We weren’t anticipating this masterpiece as we approached Charleston at night, and were blown away by the grandeur of the illuminated diamond towers in the dusk. It looked pretty new, and we learned the following day that it had only opened in July, 2005 to replace a pair of bridges that were proving incapable of servicing traffic loads into the town (each of the towers are named after these bridges). The predecessor’s problems included metal deterioration and insufficient height to accommodate water traffic. Not to worry with Ravenel – the structure towers 186 feet above the river and was constructed to withstand wind gusts of 300 MPH and earthquakes reaching 7.4 on the Richter Scale! Since one of the former bridges was heavily damaged when rammed by a freighter, this modern marvel insulates both towers with one acre rock islands that guarantee any ship will be stopped short of the critical supports. If you approach Charleston along 17-South, the last two miles to your destination will be compliments of a fantastic span, the Ravenel Bridge!

I am finally here one of my main aims with my trip. The legendary city of Charleston. Ok maybe Charleston is not the sole home of the true south - given Gone with the Wind actually takes place in Georgia. But Atlanta got burned during the war hence Charleston is the best preserved city in the south. And this city too has been a centre piece of the history of the south.

Charleston is one of the oldest and biggest cities in the entire south. And the city is full of historic houses - most of the USA got little history but Charleston got nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to history - it got more historic houses than most European cities. When I walk around my own hometown of Copenhagen I will rarely see houses older than 200 years because the city has been burned and bombed repeatedly during its history and there is simply not a lot left from before 1807 when the British bombed the city. In Charleston a house from 1807 would be considered a new house compared with the rest in the historic district. And a house from 1750s is nothing you will take special notice of - no they need to be from 1600 if they shall attract attention because of their age.

Charleston has also had a significant role in the history of the USA as a big port it was a natural point attracting a lot of trade and people from early stage and it used to be the big port of the south and the capital of South Carolina before the capital were moved to Columbia as a compromise. During the Civil War South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union just after Lincoln won the election. Just in the harbor outside Charleston is Fort Sumter where the first shoot of the Civil War were fired against the Union troops holding the fort. After a short battle the Union troops surrendered given they could not get supplies they had no other choice. You can get out and visit the fort but you need to be at the ferry at a certain time - and guess what I wasn’t.

Well it doesn’t really matter because Charleston is by far the most interesting of all the southern cities to go round and explore. The next house always seems to be just a bit nicer than the one you have just seen. And down at the battery at the sea front you will find some of the best houses in the entire south.

As I walk along the streets suddenly I see a house with a very unusual fence - it is made of all iron but the top of it looks more like something you would use in a war than put on a fence around your house. The reason for the strange fence can be found in the history of the demographics of Charleston. During the early 1800 the slaves made up the majority of the populations in and around Charleston. Hence the whites feared the slaves might join an uprising against slavery and raid the houses in Charleston - therefore some house fence were build like a defense against slaves attacking. There was never any major slave uprising in the south but the fear was ever present.

I walk on and meet a nice elder lady who is taking care of the leafs on the street in front of her house. She is a really nice person and tells a bit about her life and her family’s life in Charleston they had been there for ages and her family included former generals and they used to have 10 plantations before the war but they had to sell of 9 to cover the taxes on the last - the war did hit the old families in the south very hard in the end - many losing everything. But fortunately Charleston was not burned down during the war hence it is a real gem this day giving a perfect impression of the old south.

When I awoke this morning, I was groggy as could be.  Tylenol PM knocked me out last night.  I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  All that walking yesterday helped that, too.  I stumbled into the shower and felt the water sting my ankles.  When I looked to see what was causing the problem, I was shocked to see both my legs, just above the ankles, and part of my right foot were covered by red splotches.  Now where could I have picked up poison oak (or ivy .. I think that is what they have on the East Coast)?  I didn't walk through any wild areas and a food allergy would have covered my whole body.  Ditto mosquito bites - there would be raised bumps from that!  Bed bugs?  No way - I checked the bed.  This itches!!!!!

After a hearty breakfast we went over to Patriot's Point to take a boat tour out to Fort Sumpter.  The boat ride was very pleasant.  The weather is cool enough that I needed a light jacket.  There are dolphins in Charleston harbor and we could see them jumping through the water a short way from the boat.  I assume they have learned that fish move out of the way of boats which would make them easier to catch.  Please don't quote me on that - it is pure conjecture on my part.  They were not, as far as I could tell, playing in the bow waves.

Fort Sumpter was very interesting.  It's history is so much a part of the American psyche and some of the feelings of mistrust between North and South that to some extent still exist to this day.  The fort once stood 50 feet high.  Today, with the uppermost two stories destroyed, it is only half that.  We were only allowed to stay at the fort for one hour and the time really flew by.  It is a very powerful place and I needed a bit more time to absorb that power.  When one thinks about the hundreds of thousands of people killed because of the South Carolinians firing on the Fort to begin the Civil War, it can be overwhelming.

After a quick lunch of cheese and fruit, we went to visit the USS Yorktown, a decommissioned aircraft carrier from World War II.  It is perhaps most famous for being the ship that brought back the Apollo 8 astronauts from their mission to circle the moon.  The ship is permanently moored at Patriot's Point.  It is of great interest, but I truly do not enjoy war machines.  The views from the flight deck are beautiful, especially of the gorgeous Ravenal Bridge.

Jag went up on the ship's bridge while I gave my protesting feet a much-needed rest.  Sitting on a bench near me was an equally tired woman.  She turned the conversation to politics, something I'm always happy to discuss.  Her daughter, or perhaps daughter-in-law, joined in and began repeating many of the lies being spread on the internet about Barak Obama: he is a Muslim, he refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance, he won't put his hand over his heart when the American flag passes by and (this is a good one) he removed the American flag from his airplane and replaced it with a personal emblem because he wants people to worship him (daughter says: "I saw the pictures of the plane!").  Oh - one more thing: "how come, if he had such a poor childhood, he could afford to go to all those fancy schools?"!!!  I told them that his grandparents raised him and that he worked hard to pay for school.  He is so brilliant he probably got full scholarships!  It was very hard to keep from laughing, or throwing both of the harpies overboard!  I suggested they read Snopes.com because that website is apolitical - the mom didn't believe me.  So sad.  So ignorant.  There was more, but I just can't remember all of it.

Enough politics!  After the Yorktown, we went on to visit a submarine, the USS Clamagore.  A submarine is one of those things everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime.  It is so claustrophobic and conditions on board were spartan at best, I don't know how the submariners could stand it.  The noise factor alone would have driven me insane in a matter of minutes.  Sleeping quarters, shower facilities, even eating space was at a premium.  We went on to visit the Coast Guard cutter USS Ingham.  I had never been on a cutter before and I had no idea they could be so big.  This one is still being refurbished by volunteers.  By this time I had enough of war stuff.  Jag went on to visit the destroyer, USS Laffey. 

I went back to the car to write my journal and relax.  It was a cool day,  but the car was warm inside.  Too warm.  I opened the doors but was bombarded by pairs of mating insects.  I closed the door.  Got warm.  Open the door.  Was bombarded.  Closed the door.  I could repeat that for the almost one hour Jag took to tour the destroyer.  Jag told me they were swarming all over the ship as well.

Dinner tonight was at a fun barbecue restaurant called Sticky Fingers.  It is franchised in a few places, but the food was quite good.  The problem with barbecue is the amount of sugar and carbohydrates in the sauces.  This restaurant offers several different sauces and sells bottles of the sauces as well.  This gave us an opportunity to check the ingredients: just not good for diabetics.  The taste buds may be delighted by barbecue, but one's blood sugar takes a big hit.

Laundry tonight, then off to bed.  We leave beautiful Charleston tomorrow for equally-beautiful (so I have been told) Savannah, Georgia.

Forgive me this entry as I was exhausted when I wrote it. I'll revamp it once I get back to LA but Charleston was simply a lot more wonderful
but a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. I would say I might be overthinking things, but for someone without a great context of what happened in South Carolina, I am only left with what could be misunderstandings and wonderment.

What a fab city!!

So I woke up super late today because I couldn't sleep until 2am as I'm still struggling with the time difference. I also got my hands on a computer last night so .. hehehee =) I promised Nhi I would stay offline and not blog but its therapeutic for me and helps me sort out my thoughts - so too bad! ;) We left the resort at around 10am and went to the Original Pancake House - I was really excited as I thought it would be like the one that Mel took us to in LV the morning (excuse me, 2 hours) after the Vegas meet! It was such a yummy and wonderful experience in LV that I was hoping to share it with Andi and Marc. This place was good, but not as good as I remember in LV as it was probably a different establishment with the same name.

After brekkie we prayed to the rain gods that it wouldn't start pouring on us despite the ominous clouds. We were REALLY lucky with the weather during this trip as it was supposed to rain Saturday, Sunday AND Monday! It hasn't rained yet, fingers crossed!

Charleston really blew me away - it's probably one of the more interesting cities in the South, save probably Atlanta which I've never seen before. Andi really outdid herself today in terms of showing us around. We drove about 3 hours out of Hilton Head into Charleston and proceeded to stop by a few of her college haunts, a few historic sights and then drove to Isle of Palms - a really posh island about 30 min outside of Charleston that had a lovely beach and some multi-million dollar homes. After collecting some shells, walking along the beach and having lunch at the coolest caribbean food place, we headed into Charleston. And Charleston is just a gorgeous Southern City!!

The main pic for this blog was taken in Charleston. It's such an interesting place of contradictions - the pic is of a gaggle of 17/18 year old navy boys sitting at a cafe in front of an old holding depot for slaves while sharing a hookah and drinking coffee. This is one of those cities that is rife with historical context being a major port for slave ships and now a major military area though I'm not sure which branches of the military. Some very nice universities are also in just around the corner so you have a progressive young population living side by side with the conservative, republican population. Just to give you an idea of what you can NOT do in South Carolina.. I'm sure there's a whole list but among that list are - getting tattoos, females sunbathing near the famous church, etc.

It's crazy how within 1 square block you can see remnants of how strong the Confederacy was, as well as the misery of slavery, and then they have all the benefits of globalization - the hookahs, the tapas bars and the pubs! And then you witness what elements persist.. the strong culture of military, the old world charm yards away from dilapidated squats and the stark divide between the haves and have-nots. One always vacationing, the other always working. Every city that I went to in the south had poor African Americans making roses out of palm fronds and sold them for $2 on the street. The last place that I saw this particular brand of peddling.. was in Africa. It was unbelievable.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing I saw here was the "marketplace" which is the converted slave holdings. In a sense I wonder why the hell the city didn't just smash the shit out of this building as it's a reminder of a grave evil in our country. And likewise I am very proud of them for letting it stand so that nobody ever forgets, so that this corpse of wrong can serve as a reminder instead of just wiping history under the rug. But it was pretty awful.. this marketplace was very wide - like a barn and stretched for blocks and blocks - and there is not a doubt in my mind that this place was packed shoulder to shoulder with slaves. The demand must have been INSANE if this was simply where they were being held! And now it's a weekend market.. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at that..

I'd love to visit again and see the other side. I'm sure I couldn't get the whole story from Andi as she's one of the kindest, sweetest young women I've met in my life. I think an extraordinary amount of my brain focuses on things having to do with poverty, inequality and strife. And the prevention thereof. I'd love to hear thoughts from those on the other end of the spectrum - what the challenges were and how those have evolved.

But at the same time it seemed to be a fairly safe and interesting place to go to college. There's exposure to a lot of different aspects of American life - not the practically elite kind you get in huge cities like Los Angeles or New York, but what can be described as "the real America". Racism and the fight against racism, and classes living side by side and perhaps not even interacting. And hearing "yes sir's" instead of "sure thing" and people just trying to eke out a living rather than people deciding which new watch or sunglasses to get next or what real estate is the most superior. I'm just as guilty of this, I realize. I have such love and respect for the middle, the ones who face some pretty intense problems on a daily basis.

There are plenty of those still fighting the good fight on both sides. The one against closed-mindedness and ignorance and entitlement, and for hard work and creating opportunity and not leaving anyone behind. But coming to the South it was pretty clear that no matter how many pretty store fronts boasting multi-cultural elements there were, the gap is bigger here than in most parts of the country.

The alarm clock failed to go off this morning.  I guess we did not set it correctly.  No matter.  The hotel served breakfast until 10 AM - and it was very good!

We drove to downtown Charleston over the ravishing Ravenal Bridge.  The bridge's cable support towers reach for the sky and it is so graceful.  It makes our San Francisco Golden Gate or Bay Bridge look very old-fashioned.  The road led us into the narrow streets of Charleston, but Roada got us to the parking lot at the Visitor Center (yes, I know - yet another one!) very smoothly.  We had to wait for a car to leave before we could go into the fairly small lot - it was full.  Happily the wait was not long and we started on our way to explore this marvelous place.  

We had some time before our tour was to leave, so we walked around for a short while.  Across from the Visitor Center's parking lot is the historic Joseph Manigault House.  It was built in 1803, mainly of brick.  There is a lovely little sculpture at the top of the doorway and I have included a photograph of that.

We made arrangements to take the Gullah Tour and it left from an art gallery across the street from the Visitor Center.  Our guide was a delightful man by the name of Alphonso Brown.  He is also the owner of the company.  Gullah is a language spoken by slaves and is a mixture of English and some of the African dialects - actually one might call it Creole.  Mr. Brown spoke it fluently and tried to teach his passengers a few words.  He was great fun, a former school teacher who is rightly proud of his heritage.  The Gullah people were farmers and those who are left are trying to keep their language alive and healthy.  Mr. Brown took us to many places associated with African-American history and we all learned many things we were not taught in school.  This applied to many of the black tourists on the bus as well as the whites.  He pointed out many of the historic churches and homes in the area.  He was especially proud to point out the gorgeous wrought-iron gates and fences made by a gentleman named Philip Simmons.  The workmanship is astounding.  Mr Simmons is now in his late 90's and no longer does the physical work of creating these gates.  His sons and grandsons carry on his work.  He is living in a nursing home.  Simmons was declared a "National Treasure" during the Reagan administration.  Well deserved!  We visited his home and workshop.  They are in poor condition, but they are still being used by the Simmons family.

After our tour ended, Jag and I ate a very light lunch on the tailgate of the car, then walked down Meeting Street to the Charleston City Market, about 3/4 of a mile at least.  Our next tour was going to leave from across the street.  The City Market is very remindful of Portland, OR, and its Saturday Market.  There are craftsmen of all kinds and many beautiful items for sale.  We saw some pen-and-ink drawings of the local area for very, very low prices.  Hopefully we will be back in that area tomorrow so that we can purchase one or two.  As a matter of fact, the art gallery from which the Gullah Tour left had prints that were in frames for $39.50!  Heck, the frame was worth more than that!  

Our next tour was a walking tour and would cover some of the areas the Gullah Tour went.  However this was a more intimate way of learning about the city.  We chose a companycalled Original Charleston Walks.  Their advertising says they have been featured on The Discovery Channel, National Geographic Traveler magazine and many others of that sort.  That was a good enough endorsement for me.   There was only one other couple, Tom and Adele Page, from Summerville, about 20 miles outside of Charleston.  This made the tour very intimate and we all had the opportunity to ask questions and receive direct answers.  Our tour guide, Mike, has been doing this type of work for 12 years and is extremely knowledgeable about the history of this wonderful city.  He took us to some of the gorgeous old homes, most built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Even more beautiful than the houses, with their wrought-iron gates and fences, are the gardens attached to them.  The lots are quite deep and this gives the landscape designers room to create something truly incredible.  We visited an area called Rainbow Row, a street filled with houses painted in lovely pastel colors.  They reminded me of San Francisco's famous Painted Ladies, although the architecture is quite different.  He also took us to The Battery to see some of the very large homes alongside the harbor.  Many of these homes were used by naval officers during World War II, including President John F. Kennedy.  He lived a very fast life in Charleston and, as a result, was sent off to the Pacific Theater to captain his famed PT Boat 109.

Our tour ended much too quickly for our interest, but our feet were really hurting after 2 hours.  We mentioned that we were planning to have dinner at Hyman's Seafood Restaurant, but were told that it is very touristy, although pretty good.  Both the guide and Tom and Adele Page recommended a restaurant called Hank's Seafood, very much preferred by the locals.  He gave us directions and we set off to search for the place.  Somehow we got ourselves lost (probably my fault - I am very good at getting lost in strange cities).  We wandered around for quite some time and Jag finally got us reoriented by actually reading the map correctly.  We found the restaurant, but were told that other than the "community table", they would not be able to seat us until 9:30 PM.  It was only 6 PM and so we elected for the long shared table.  It turned out to be a really nice way to have dinner.  Lo and behold - who should be at that table but our tour partners, Tom and Adele Page.  They, too, had gotten lost and had only reached the restaurant about 5 minutes before we did!  Dinner for us was kept simple: we both had salads.  Jag had mussels in a white wine sauce and I had crab cakes, both off the appetizer menu.  That not only saved us money, but the portions were just right.  The crab cakes were a little bit of heaven - just wonderful.  Jag's mussels were very tasty. 

After dinner it was time to return to the Visitor Center parking lot.  My feet said: "No more, no more, no more!  Pleeeease!!!"  We hailed a pedicab for the long ride back to our car.  It was a blessing, that's for sure.  It cost us $10 with the tip, but there really was no way I could have walked all that way.  The young man powering the pedicab worked so hard.  In that humidity, it must be torture.

We returned to our hotel and, other than posting to this blog, I am planning to soak my feet for a good long time.  My friend Tylenol should also help.  I hope all the pain will be gone tomorrow.  We are planning to visit historic Fort Sumpter and then tour Patriots Point Naval Museum.  That means more walking.  But please don't tell my feet.

As we left Wilmington, our route took us through part of the historical section of the city.  We passed one church with a very tall steeple, then came to the First Baptist Churchwith the tallest steeple I have ever seen.  Talk about majestic!  Wowsers!  It took two photos to get it all in.  I will have to merge them in order to get the full view.  Apparently, during Hurricane Fran in 1996, the tallest steeple was blown down.  It has been completely rebuilt to its historic proportions and tiling.  See the internet link for more history of this breathtaking building.  This church is located at Kenan Plaza, really just an intersection with a beautiful fountain in the middle.  This historic area has many antebellum and Victorian homes.  There was also a small but fine monument to the soldiers of the Civil War (Confederates, of course).  I had no idea this little city was so beautiful.

Our drive took us to the last "Welcome Center" in North Carolina, just about sitting on the border with South Carolina.  The volunteer inside was as friendly as could be with gorgeous silvery-blue eyes.  We both joked about getting older.  She was a delight. 

As soon as we entered South Carolina there was a Welcome Center.  Of course we stopped - so what else is new!  The motto of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce is "Smiling Faces & Beautiful Places".  Unfortunately the woman helping me seemed puzzled and pissed that I would ask about Gullah tours in Charleston (in other words, she was NOT smiling!).  These tours are about African-American history.  Our dear neighbors, John and Betty Newton, recommended these tours highly.   I guess we are in The South!  One good thing - gasoline seems to be less expensive than in North Carolina.

Our route south took us through Myrtle Beach.  Originally, we were going to spend a couple of hours there.  However, as soon as we saw the commercialism that has raised its ugly head, we decided to continue on to Charleston.  We were not even in the main tourist area: along the beach or the business route.  I have no desire whatsoever to visit this place.  My gosh - if it is this bad here, what are we going to find in Lake Buena Vista/Kissimmee, Florida, near Walt Disney World?

We arrived in the Charleston area in the late afternoon.  Our hotel, Quality Inn Patriots Point, is very nice.  It is comfortable and not far from the downtown area of Charleston.  Our room is large enough for us to put our junk away.  As usual, we brought too many clothes.  The area where we are located is called Mount Pleasant and is just across the famous Ravenal Bridgefrom downtown Charleston.  It is a very pretty town, new and modern in parts and with some gorgeous older homes nearby. It is expensive, because of the weekend, but not nearly as costly as in Charleston itself.  The area we are in is Mount Pleasant. 

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant recommended by our hotel: Vickery's Bar & Grill.  It was good, but not great.  I ordered jerk chicken, but it was not spicy hot as it should have been.  What was absolutely delicious were the black beans: cooked for many hours and seasoned with cumin, amongst other things.  Jag had grouper, but the accompanying vegetable, broccoli, had been frozen and it was not hot when the dish was served.  The place did not compare, however, to the Turquoise Room of the Hotel La Posada in Winslow, or Colington Cafe in Kill Devil Hills or Cafe Atlantic in Ocracoke.  The situation on Shem Creek, a tributary of the Cooper River, is delightful.  There is a marina with many sailboats at the docks.  Pelicans and gulls like to rest on the top-most parts of the masts.  They provide a relaxing ambience to dinner outside.  The weather is perfect: the humidity is way down.  This has been a lovely day.

This former "golden rice" plantation was a treat on our trip to Charleston. We spent 2 days there (the all-inclusive pass allows you to enjoy every tour they offer and to return free of charge one time within the next 7 days) enjoying all that this plantation had to offer. The house tour is a nice introduction to the family and showcases some of the memorabilia from their time there (currently the 12th generation owns but does not occupy the house on the plantation). There are also replicas of authentic slave houses and a "slave talk" at 1 pm daily. The gardens are lovely and the swamp was used as the canvas for much of Audubon's work over the years. The family owns 4 of the (is it 150 books?) books from his collection. The swamp tour is one of the smoothest boat rides I've ever taken and most visitors are treated to a number of birds, alligators, and insects while on this ride. The tour operators are friendly, knowledgeable, and generous with their time before and after the tour should visitors have questions. While there we toured the gardens on our own and played in the live garden maze. IT is a beautiful setting for pictures of both the wildlife and family and friends in beautiful surroundings. We're sure to treasure our pictures there for years to come. The gift shop is extremely expensive and it's my opinion that there are significant markups on many items that can be found elsewhere in Charleston for a lot less money. We did purchase a print because my husband enjoyed it so much to place in our home. At roughly $35 per person for the all-inclusive pass it's an expensive one day trip or a very affordable 2 day tour considering all that is offered there! A 1 hour walking tour in Charleston is generally $20. So, for 3 guided tours (house, plantation, and jitney ride) as well as 2 days access to the gardens, audubon swamp, and trails it's a great value!

Tucked inside the very luxe Charleston Place Hotel is a little piece of the orient express. We visited on separate days for breakfast and lunch. The waitstaff was delightful, the food was fresh and prompt, and the service was excellent. Our bill for 3 was roughly $100 for breakfast and $120 for lunch. We often suffered from stomach aches afterwards but I believe it was because we were not used to the richness and decadence of a 3 course meal that early in the day! The presentation was just wonderful. Ordering the she-crab soup here is a treat for the eyes and the mouth! I won't giveaway the surprise- just know that it is some of the best she-crab soup around. My eating companion thoroughly enjoyed lamb on both occasions. I enjoyed the huevos rancheros (don't forget to at least try the tortilla bowl- it's the best part and I'm told it's rarely eaten by customers who don't want to pick it apart) and the lunch sampler. It's a treat to see the presentation of plates and enjoy the fine service by the staff with a beautiful courtyard view outside. The desserts were not very satisfying and we opted to finish our meal by visiting the Godiva Store down the hall in the shopping area. The bonus of this restaurant is the multitude of fine stores and chocolatiers nearby which you can enjoy after your meal!

This was one of the better breakfast restaurants we enjoyed on our recent trip to Charleston. While the homemade sausage did not live up to the reviews we had read online, the shrimp and grits was AWESOME. The buttery grits had bits of scallion and bacon in them and made for a filling first meal that kept us satisfied for more than 5 hours on our tours! There are lots of traditional southern breakfast items to choose from (including shrimp and grits and smothered biscuits and gravy which our group agreed were terrific). They also served us buttermilk pie which was rich but tasty and very unique. The bill for 3 meals with water, 1 appetizer, and 3 desserts came to roughly $25/per person. While not the cheapest restaurant in town for breakfast, it was certainly one of the tastiest. Parking can easily be found all along the sidestreets around the restaurant. The waitstaff was courteous and very friendly. Overall, a great experience!

These row homes are just off Waterfront Park in Charleston Harbor and used to be the location of merchants who ran shops and lived above them. Built in the 1700's, these homes have that hard to replicate look to them that instantly makes you imagine what it was like back during that time period. Why is it called Rainbow Row? Well it's fairly obvious when you see the bright yellow, pink, green, blue homes. Whether a house was actually pink back then, I am not so sure. But they have maintained there historical value even though people still live in them today. They must maintain there colors and original external and for the most part internal structure.