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[chezp]

Thursday 9 November – part one: the drive that nearly never was! :grin:

I really didn’t want to know when the wake up call came at 6.50, but hey, at least it was Stitch and the call we’re used to at Disney World, although it didn’t have the new addition of the Pirates of the Caribbean that we had had over the past few weeks.

We quickly got going and were out the door before 8.00, stopping at IHOP for breakfast. This was what we needed, good food and quick service, although we did have fun with our order for hot water. Let’s just say that I think our server could pretty much only deal with requests from the menu. Her grasp of English wasn’t the best, therefore I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised when she came back with ice water. She then thought we meant Coke and at that point, she fortunately went to get another server, who immediately understood what we wanted and why. Problem solved!

I had the pancakes with cinnamon apples on and Mark had the full English breakfast. Just like last night, there was way too much food for me, although I made a valiant attempt at it.

IHOP:

Food 7½ 7½
Service 5 4½
Atmosphere 6 5
Value for money 8½ 8

Average score: 6.50

Then we were on the road and heading for Charleston. This was the trip that nearly didn’t happen, after the Cast Member at the lobby last night told me that to get there would take four hours. I was shocked, but fortunately I checked it on MapQuest and it came up with a few more reasonable two hours. Had I listened to that Cast Member, then we might never have tried this journey.

Not long after we set off, my dad called, as I’d emailed him to see if he could get me an opticians appointment when we got home, as I wanted them to check my eyes out and tell me when I could go back to wearing my contact lenses again. He had got an optician’s appointment, just not with my regular opticians, so that was something at least.

Not long afterwards, Marnie called as well, so we chatted for a little bit and it broke the journey up a bit.

In all, it took us two and a quarter hours to get to Charleston and it wasn’t too bad, although there is a pretty painful stretch, where you can only do 50 miles an hour and can only pass at certain points. If you don’t get past in those areas, then you’ve got two or three miles to wait for the next one again. We saw some beautiful fall colours on the way. Boston may be famous for its fall colours, but this part of America does pretty good too.


Crossing the bridge into Charleston


One of Charleston’s many churches

The city’s main library

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We found our way to the parking lot by the Aquarium, which was well sign posted and pretty easy to find.


The view as we came out of the parking lot

And a boat being repaired

We headed for the Fort Sumter National Monument as soon as we arrived. I knew we had a problem with our plans for the day as soon as we got there. The next boat was due out at 12.00 and the whole thing would take two and a quarter hours in total. The problem? Lunch was booked at Magnolia’s at 1.00. Oh well, we’d have to miss that, which was a shame, but couldn’t be helped.

We got our tickets, $14 each and had a look around the visitor centre an got some more stamps for our National Parks Service passport ( for that Terri! ) and then headed off to catch the boat. I couldn’t believe how warm it was outside! Talk about a total change from the day before! As we stood there and admired the view, I was having to apply the suntan lotion and I already had the feeling that Charleston was more my type of city than Savannah and that feeling continued as we boarded the boat.

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[b]Looking over to the Aquarium



The visitors’ centre

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The view outside

The Aquarium

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

The USS Yorktown

Our boat

Next: what am I going to eat?

[mattnkatsmum]

Charleston looks lovely. I'm glad it warmed up for you .

[WDWfan]

Great update, Cheryl! That bridge is beautiful!

[lindawdw]

I spent the last few hours reading your updates since you left WDW and have really enjoyed all your pics. My DH and I went to Charleston in September for our 25th anniversary and spent a couple hours in Savannah. We thought it would be a day trip but after doing a trolley tour which took 90 minutes I have to say we weren't all that impressed with Savannah. We got back in the car and drove back to Charleston which we absolutely fell in love with. We spent four days and did so much sightseeing. We're both history buffs and couldn't get enough of the ambiance of this beautiful city! Hilton Head looks lovely and the Disney Resort is beautiful.

[simbarel]

How odd that the CM wouldn't know how far away a major city was. Glad you re-checked the math and got your trip in! Great pics!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update and pictures Cheryl! It's been so long since I've been to Charleston More please

[lauren-roxy]

Great update Cheryl!!!

[chezp]

Thursday 9 November – part two: what am I going to eat?

The only problem was that on board, they didn’t have much for vegetarians, just chicken, chips and hot dogs, so Mark got in the very long line and got me a couple of bags of chips to keep me going, as there’s food available at the Fort.

So we were underway and I was busy snapping away. I’m glad I did, as we followed a different route on the way back, further away from the shore and there was no way I’d have been able to get such good close up shots of the Historic District. Those views only confirmed my initial thoughts that Charleston was a beautiful place and well worth spending more time in.

Charleston’s a popular cruise ship stop off

Waterfront Park

The spire you can see is that of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church

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The US Customs House

The Circular Congregational Church is the one you can see here

Some of the area’s beautiful homes

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The Battery, heart of the historic area

The boat ride over to Fort Sumter takes 30 minutes and on the way there, they narrated the journey and explained what you’re seeing as well as giving you some good background information about the Fort.

This was the place where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861. At that time, the fort was occupied by Union soldiers, but in the initial attack, it took the Confederates just 34 hours to gain control of it. Perhaps that wasn’t the best move for the Union, as they then spent the next four years trying to get their hands on it again. In that time, something like 34,000 shots were fired at the Fort, which had never really been completed before the outbreak of the war. After the war ended in 1865, the fort sadly fell into disrepair and was used again in the Spanish American war, before finally being decommissioned in 1947, after which time, it was passed to the National Park Service, who preserved it.

As you get closer to the island, you get a feeling of how those troops must’ve felt either attacking or defending this place. It’s very desolate and in the middle of the harbour, making it harder to attack. And that feeling continues when you get off the boat.


Getting closer to the Fort

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The boat departing back to Charleston

We walked down the pier and through an archway into the main part of the fort…



… and that’s where you could listen to a 20 minute talk about the history of the fort. I felt that I had learnt everything that I needed to on the way over on the boat, so decided that we should miss it and explore the fort and the museum inside and I think that was the right decision. We first got a few silly photos:

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Then we went for a look around the museum and this is a great way to learn everything you could ever want to know about the fort and its history. My favourite was the display of artillery that bombarded the fort. The size of some of those things – oh my goodness!


This is the flag that was on the fort during the Civil War

Next: stepping back into history