The Deep South

After our 600 mile drive from Pennsylvania we ended up in Charleston, SC, Gone With the Wind country! What else could we do but visit a plantation? Boone Hall plantation is open to visitors, and although it is typically touristy it is also one of the best examples of antebellum homes in the south.  The house itself was quite impressive, and it's billed as the Souths' oldest plantation but

the house was totally rebuilt in 1936 so is hardly historical. Of more interest is the slave quarters built in about 1800 (which I actually thought were quite nice!)

They had people acting out roles from the civil war, which was OK, but the lady who was a one woman Gullah Theatre was fantastic. Gullah is a language that developed from slaves from Africa and incorporates several African languages, many hundreds of dialects, Elizabethan English and even Welsh - it was the only way people could communicate with each other and the Gullah culture and language survives today. She told a story in Gullah and although no-one could understand a word it was beautiful to listen to - the audience was spellbound. When it was translated into English it turned
out to be very funny! Then we had to sing a Gullah song, with volunteers from the audience - hold me back!

The story of Been There, Come Here, and Pain in My Knees, Ranky Tanky (you had to be there)

We only had a day in Charleston to look round, then it was off to Savannah, Georgia, for some more southern culture. Savannah is a lovely place, very sociable and unfortunately my camera didn't make many outings. The evening of the duelling pianos, lots of shopping, and lots of delicious southern cuisine (and beer) was memorable for us, but we were gagging to get on to the next leg of out trip - Florida.

For those who think Florida is just Disney and theme parks, think again, it's beautiful state with so much more to offer, and we were off to find it!

Ooh me piles!

Well we were newly weds!