Savannah

For the record, Lee and I have decided to return to Titusville for the launch of the Endeavour Space Shuttle on Monday.  Hopefully it will happen this time.  For the moment, all looks good, including the weather.

Now for Savannah.  We took a ferry from Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island to Savannah, going up the Savannah River.  Here's the boat:

 

We then took a trolley tour of historical Savannah, had lunch, walked around a bit, and headed back.  Savannah does have its charm, but it is smaller than I expected.  In some ways it reminded me of Philadelphia.  It has many tree-lined cobble-stoned streets with three-story homes on either side.  Sound familiar?  Of course, in some ways it is different, because of its southern culture and history.  I have to admit, perhaps because we had only four hours in Savannah, that I like Charleston better.  Lee and I visited Charleston several years ago, and I found it delightful.  But this blog post is about Savannah, which does have its own charm and beauty, so here we go:

Savannah, as many people know, has several parks, or squares, spread symmetrically around the city.  They are similar to Philadelphia's four squares - Washington, Logan, Rittenhouse, and Franklin, but there are far more than four.  Each is named after someone important to Savannah's history.  What I especially loved about Savannah was the huge "live oak" trees that filled the parks and streets (called "live oak" because they are green year round):

Savannah is known for its architecture as well, and we saw many beautiful homes from various periods:

Savannah's oldest home is loaded with character.  It is amazing that it still stands:

Added to it at a later date is the "Pirate House", where it is said Robert Louis Stevenson got his inspiration for Treasure Island.

At one point, Forest Gump boarded our trolley:

Savannah's city hall stands out because of its gold-gilded dome:

I am going to continue the trip back to Hilton Head Island in a second post.