Day 20 Walking around Charleston- Lots of churches and graveyards

Day 20 Walking around Charleston- Lots of churches and graveyards

I have a two dip bed- one dip on each side of the middle. So my dip was slightly uncomfortable at times. I’ll try the other dip tonight.

This time I had to climb out of bed at 7 to get to breakfast and I took my own bread – just in case. And it was just as well because this is a menu breakfast restaurant, without one item that is GF! Given that I was the only customer, I gave the waitress my bread and asked if the chef could toast it and give me two eggs on top. I got warm bread back with two eggs on the side of the plate. At least the tea was hot. Tea was free and the eggs only cost $5.

I went to mass at St Mary’s nearby after breakfast. Another Pre-Vatican experience. The altar was facing the people, they did the sign of peace, a great sermon by the priest who had children. There was more Latin than English, which was a bit of a stretch for my memory. The same issue for communion- host only which is dipped into the chalice for special ministers? And the recipients knelt at the altar rail. Beautiful choir. Very little participation by the congregation. St Mary’s also has some beautiful stain glass windows. However two of them have pictures that I have never seen before, so I asked four people including the deacon and priest and no one knew what the pictures were about. These two windows are the oldest in the church. The message must have been lost over time?

I stopped after mass to chat to the man over the road at the Jewish Synagogue, who was married to a Jewess but was a Christian. Two of his children have remained Jews and four are Christians. Must make for interesting celebrations? It was lovely chatting to him and his friend.  The police block off all entrances to King St twice a month and they create a pedestrian mall. While I might have been concerned about public safety given the latest atrocities on pedestrians, in this town the police meant business. Their cars blocked all entrances. You could only squeeze a pram through and there were two police staff at each blockade.

I went on yet another walk, trying to find churches that might be open on a Sunday. It was interesting to see how many of the old ones had their own graveyards. Then there was the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church where 9 had been shot dead in 2015. All of them were huge in size and generally built in a classic colonial style. Some needing a bit of maintenance.

At 12o'clock, I was at the Museum when it opened. Not a soul to be seen, unlike yesterday. I went up to the Textile exhibition area which had a display of pieced quilts and tops. The rest of the Museum was amazing. So many great exhibits. I enjoyed walking through the history of Charleston, which had lots of information on the American Revolution and the Civil War. What did surprise me was the number of times Charleston has been decimated by war/ fire/ hurricane/ earthquake. I also didn’t realise that this area was famous for rice growing and indigo production prior to emancipation. A great museum for kids too.

Then it was over the road to the Manigault House. Only issue was that they open the doors every half hour, so I had to wait for 20 minutes. Promptly at 2 the doors opened and we were allowed in. The docent was very knowledgeable. This house is in the process of restoration and while it was impressive, it wasn’t as ostentatious as some of the homes in Savannah. It had a very tumultuous past: rich > loss of wealth> rescued> turned into tenement housing> USO/ Red Cross usage during WW2> Restoration.

Back to King Street to find some yoghurt and a cuppa. The street was filled with people and their dogs all walking and shopping. I got my supplies and came back to the hotel to charge up batteries and put my yoghurt in the fridge. I downloaded photos and by then it was time to go to the Lebanese restaurant for dinner. Delicious lamb cutlets and vegetables, followed by rice pudding with a strawberry and apricot drizzle. All GF. Today on my walking I found a pizza place that had GF crusts.