Old habits die hard. As I sit here in our lovely room on E Bay Street over looking the cruise port, I realize that we do have a pattern when traveling. Eddie has been here, done that, so I let him select the hotel. When we travel within the US, he prefers smaller boutique hotels, bed and breakfast homes or historically significant properties...road trip, anything that Priceline has when we get ready to stop is fine by him. He had previously stayed at several of these type places in the past here in Charleston but most were booked for the weekend, which would have meant a change of location mid stay-nope, nope, nope...Eddie tends to nest when he settles in...cruise style, unpack bags...no living out of suitcases. He selected a smallish hotel, centrally located with a 5 star rating..old habits die hard...he still likes his powder puffing. Since I did not look at an overall map, I was surprised when the GPS led us down the road marked “cruises”. It is right across the street. However, 5 star comes at a hefty prices, even with Expedia discount points, I am doubtful that the cruise folks that may board in Charleston are staying here pre or post cruise. However, the adjacent Charleston Market has cruiser bait written all over it. The Charleston Market is converted warehouse buildings that stretch from E Bay Street to Meeting Place Street (main drag through town). You can get your shop on as each stall/area has something to look at and buy, clean, well lit, out of the weather, fairly cool and not too crowded. Figure Friday to Sunday are the big days...or when the ships come in...so we decided that now rather than later was good. As we are in small suitcases, our purchases were smallish...to include Christmas ornaments that are flat.
As Eddie is our restaurant snob, his job is to plan for dinner each night. We tend to eat a late breakfast and early dinner and skip lunch...cruise/old habit. I select breakfast place, based on what and where we are going, he selects the dinner location based on the top rated restaurants. He had done zero preplanning prior to our arrival Tuesday afternoon. So,to light the fire under him, I exclaimed “there is an IHOP next door and Burger King just across the street” when we arrived at 4:15....not the tacky freestanding, but understated in old renovated buildings. Guessed it work because by 4:45 he had reservations at the top three restaurants in Charleston. Speaking of food snobs, according to “they” Charleston has replaced New York as the food capital of the US. Hmm, with New York, New Orleans, San Francisco always in that conversation...”they” maybe just making that up...could this be the Fake News we hear so much about? After two nights of #2 and #3, pretty sure they are making that up. Crab cakes are good, not much filler, honest fresh lump crab meat, no sauce...have been to several places in Houston-with sauce that could better these in a blind taste test. Fish-flounder and grouper...dry enough for Eddie to say something.😐Beef dishes too much sauce. Vegetables too much garlic. The meals start strong with good soups (she crab with sherry) or salads Fried Green tomatoes with greens but only manage to get a “B” rating on the Pickle scale. The one thing Charleston has managed to do is match prices with New York. Talk about eating your money...BK and IHOP are looking better all the time...would you like fries with that?
The original 13 colonies have a rich history that has a true European feel to it. Older buildings or sections, tales of the Revolutionary or Civil Wars-people, places and things which does not really extend westward. Yeah, the rest of the states have totally different histories with unique favors, but for history wonks like us, Charleston has it all and has kept it intact. Not sure whether it was the plantations (rice and indigo), the people who settled here (Charleston College is one of the oldest in the country) or something else, but the entire peninsula that is Charleston does not have a bad side of town. Preservation is still alive and well. It is a well run money making machine. As Eddie is keen on saying Charleston is what New Orleans aspires to be. Carriage rides, you betcha, (yeah, we did that) with 5 different companies and a bingo machine to determine each of the carriages route. Random, controlled, city provided poop patrol with GPS location technology for the horse waste. Yeah, New Orleans could learn a few lessons here. The Holy City aka Charleston has 1 church for every 250 people, the skyline is more about steeples than tall buildings so you can see everything from a roof top bars (yeah, we did that, too). Yesterday was overview and museums, today is touring homes here in Charleston and the Oyster Roast. Hope it is as good as Eddie remembers it...being it is Throwback Thursday and all.
Oh yeah, Eddie decided to get a haircut yesterday while wandering around since between the College Campus and the Citadel there are plenty of old fashioned barber shops—-well, can you say Baptist Preacher? Eddie fits right in here in the Holy City—-maybe today we will pick up that seersucker suit and straw hat.
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