Savannah Buildings

This morning we ventured down Bull St., a main north/south street in historic savannah, with lots of lovely old buildings. These pictures are from our walk.

This is the Savannah National Guards building. There have been Savannah guards units since the revolutionary war, and on the front of the building two old cannon barrels are mounted vertically (sorry, they're not very visible in my picture).

This Scottish Rite Temple building housed Solomon's Pharmacy on the corner, which is now the home of the Gryphon Tea Room (more about that in the next post). A lovely building with beautiful detail around the coving trim. 

Further south on Bull Street is one of Savannah's most famous squares, Forsyth Park. Here I am by the fountain in the park.

There are hundreds of large, lovely, beautifully kept homes along and around Bull St and 

Forsyth Park. Here are three of them on the edge of the park.

Arrival in Savannah

We finally got away this morning about 11 am and drove up to Savannah through several rainstorms with slow traffic along the way. We arrived about 5pm and settled into our vintage 60's motel. Fortunately the rooms have been nicely updated, and its location is on the due of the historic district, so we can walk to everywhere we want to see. We had a nice dinner of local shrimp at a well known restaurant above the river, Vic's on the River. On the way back we walked through several of Savannah's famous downtown squares. Downtown is a mix of lovely well kept old buildings and rather run down old buildings. Should be fun to explore.

Below is are pictures of the Thunderbird Inn, Shana at dinner, and one of the squares. Tomorrow we continue our exploring....slowly! At 8 pm it was 83 degrees with 75% humidity--HOT! Tomorrows high is supposed to be in the high 80's, with thunder showers. We will take our time and plan plenty of rest stops.

Moving Shana Out

This week I flew to Tampa to help Shana pack up her apartment. We got everything packed and wrapped in miles of plastic and she hired two guys from the Gentle Giant moving company to move the boxes, couch, bed and mattress, etc. down two stories to the trailer she hired. Despite intermittent rainstorms they finished in under three hours. Here are pictures of the trailer being packed, the staging area at the bottom of the stairs, and the emptied bedroom with our air mattress that we used for the last two nights in the apartment.

Last Nights in Casablanca and Paris

We had two enjoyable "last nights" on our way home. In Casablanca we went to Ricks Cafe and celebrated Nancy Taylor's birthday. The restaurant featured in the movie Casablanca (and which nev existed, except on a Hollywood movie set) was recreated by an American woman a little over 10 years ago. Hard going at first but it's now a success. She restored a Riad, so the atmosphere isn't exactly the same as the movie set, but similar, with furnishings that tried to emulate the movie. The food was delicious and the evening very nice.

In Paris, Phil and I had an overnight because of our flight connections, so decided to go into Paris for the afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, we landed during a strike by metro employees and it took us  nearly two hours on slowed and stopped trains to make what would usually take a max of a half hour. We nearly gave up, but kept going and were rewarded with a lovely hour and a half in the Musee d'Orsee enjoying impressionist paintings by Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, Sisley and Pissaro and others. We then found the Mucha Cafe, a cozy restaurant on the Blvd St. Germaine, and had a much needed great dinner with nice wine and a good dessert. Fortified, we were ready for a miserable trip back to our hotel, but were surprised to make good connections and get home in a half hour. On top of that, the metro was not charging fares because of the strike (the ride one way costs about $12), so we rode home free.

Here are pictures of our last two dinner evenings, the first with Nancy Taylor and Fritz Levy, the second Phil and me in Mucha Cafe.

Happy Birthday Nancy!

Bon voyage Phil and Kae

Essaouira - Day 2 - The Fishing Fleet is Active

I got up early yesterday morning (7am) to walk out to the docks and see what was happening with the fishing fleet. The big trawler boats go out early, around 4 am, to do their fishing and then return to the docks later in the morning. The streets are as empty as the docks at that hour. But a few hours later, the village is bustling again and the harbor is chock full of boats.

I include a picture of the empty streets, and of the emptied docks (many of the smaller blue boats stay), followed by a picture several hours later when the boats have returned and the harbor is jammed. I also watched one boat offloading its fishing net, with the help of about 10 men. quite a chore. These boats appeared to go to sea with a crew of around 15-20 people.

This morning we head up the coast to Casablanca for our last night in Portugal--we hope. there is an air traffic controller strike going on in France, which could impact our flight. We just have to wait til this evening to see.

Early morning empty street. there are shops behind each of the blue doors.

An emptied harbor with all the big boats out to sea

Same spot a few hours later with all the boats back

Offloading a fishing net takes a lot of manpower, with plenty of observers to help out too.

Essaouira Day 1 - A Fishing Village

Essaouira is a fishing village, though its main industry now is likely tourists. It has a large harbor, and is surrounded by a city wall that is well fortified on the seaward side. Inside the wall the streets are lined with shops selling all the kinds of things we have seen elsewhere (rugs, jewelry, wood products, metal ware, Arab style clothing), plus some interesting art, because this h been a spot where hippies and artists like to come. Here are a few pictures from my first day of exploring the village within the wall.

The fortified wall with old Spanish cannons aimed out to sea

The traditional industry...fishing boats large and small

The new industry...tourists shopping

A view of the city as we approached it, spread out against the sea

Essaouira Day 1 - A charming Riad

In Essaouira, we are housed in a Riad that is charming but a little more funky in its furnishings than the elegant one we had in Fes. Our room makes interesting use of a narrow space by having a three level room....an entry way at the middle level, with a table and couch to one side, a balcony bedroom up four curved stairs, and the bathroom tucked underneath the balcony, down another six curved stairs. That means you get to walk down a whole story from the bedroom to the bathroom, an entertaining proposition in the middle of the night. We have taken to calling the bathroom "the basement" because that's what it feels like. The whole arrangement is kind of cute now that I'm getting used to it. the strangest part, dictated by space I'm sure, is that the closet for hanging your clothes is in the bathroom, not in the bedroom where you would get dressed. 

The Riad has its own restaurant and our morning breakfast is served in the courtyard. the colors are white and the bright blue that is the norm in this part of the country, making it feel a lot like Portugal, which occupied it at one time. Here are some pictures of the Riad courtyard and of our room.

the courtyard--seen from the first floor, where our room is

The entry seen from our bedroom loft.

Descent to the bathroom 

A quite unique towel rack--that's a heavy iron weight holding the rope down