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| River Street taken from the water |
For our last full day, we headed to the Savannah River for a sedate jaunt along the riverfront. Savannah sits on a bluff about forty feet above sea level, so we snuck into the Hyatt Hotel to use their elevator to get down. River Street feels like a different, rowdier world from the stately one above it. True to its name, the street runs along the river's edge and is lined with curio shops, restaurants, museums, and even a couple of paddleboats.
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| Riding the ferry |
We took a free ferry ride on the Juliette Gordon Low (named for the founder of the Girls Scouts who was born here) to get a different perspective from the water.
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| The Waving Girl statue |
The short hop took us to the lower end of the street where we paid our respects to the Waving Girl statue. This statue honors Florence Martus who faithfully greeted every ship that entered the harbor for 44 years and became a well-known figure to sailors around the globe.
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| Two-headed animal |
Next, we decided to take a walk on the "odd side" with a visit to the Graveface Museum. This museum of curiosities had one whole room filled with freakish things like a five-legged calf, a two-headed animal, shrunken heads, a voodoo skull, and much more. Roman, the young curator, told us the building once belonged to a famous voodoo priestess, and he further showed us a hidden panel with a voodoo altar behind it (which he said he had discovered when he moved in).
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| The old pinball wizard in action |
Another room was devoted to a dozen or so pinball machines, and Anne, pinball wizard that she is, was thrilled to dive into the fast-paced action of these paddle-flippin' attractions of the past!
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| Jim Jones' sunglasses |
Other rooms displayed memorabilia on infamous serial killers. These included treasures like Charles Manson’s sweatpants and Jim Jones’ sunglasses.
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| John Wayne Gacy clown painting |
One of the weirdest rooms of all had actual artwork of John Wayne Gacy -- i.e., dozens of creepy clowns and some very disturbing paintings of Disney characters, especially the Seven Dwarves (but never Snow White).
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| Disney dwarves by John Wayne Gacy |
Gacy supposedly earned over $400,000 selling his art and used the money to pay his defense lawyers.
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| The Boar's Head Tavern |
Needing a palate-cleanser after all that, we hit a local bar along River Street called the Boar's Head Tavern for a beer and a red peach sangria.
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| Tabby sidewalk with a prominent display of crushed oyster shell aggregate. |
Everywhere in Savannah you see the unique construction material called "tabby." Tabby is an ancient colonial concoction similar to concrete made from sand, charred lime from oyster shells, and an aggregate made of oyster shells. It is not as strong as concrete; however, it was the best building material of the time.
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| City Hall overlooking the river at the top of the bluff |
Now, we just needed to figure out how to get back up the bluff. By the way, a public elevator usually solves this problem, but it was out of commission. We retraced our steps and tried to get back into the Hyatt, but the door we used before required a hotel card to access. We started to hike up the bluff, but Frank spotted the Hyatt car parking garage a short distance away, and we were able to access the elevator from there. Haaaa!! Even the fancy schmancy Hyatt couldn't keep the riff-raff out!
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| The elegant entrance to the Olde Pink House |
To celebrate our last night in style, we ate dinner at the Olde Pink House. This is one of Savannah’s most iconic restaurants, and we had to make our reservation several months in advance. The house was gorgeous and the service impeccable.
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| Drinking rose in the Olde Pink House |
We ate in a room that looked like a Louis XIV ballroom with lots of mirrors and chandeliers and the soft strains of Mozart playing in the background. Very posh.
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| A most unusual flounder presentation |
The food was memorable too with the best biscuits ever, and "scored flounder" covered with fruit sauce that looked like no fish dish we have ever seen. For dessert, we indulged in a praline basket filled with the creamiest ice cream (Leopold’s maybe?) topped with fresh fruit.
And that brings us to the end of our sojourn to Savannah. It felt so good to be on the road again, and Savannah was a fun place to explore.
As always, thanks for traveling with us!
More pics:
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| Charles Manson's sweatpants |
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| Tanya Harding's ice skate |
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| Football jersey signed by O. J. SImpson |
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| John Wayne Gacy painting of Charles Manson |
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| Praline dessert basket at the Olde Pink House |
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| Time to go home (sigh) |
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