It was really great to put more faces to names this evening at the "Pre-Gathering Gathering" at the Washington Square House and to meet again those of you I first met at Brevard a year ago. What a perfectly lovely and beautifully decorated house! And thank you, Planning Committee, for your hospitality! What can the rest of us to show our appreciation for all you've done?
I've been meaning to do this since mid-afternoon, but this is the first opportunity I've had. This is really a sort of mini-blog, but I wanted to share our experiences, especially for those of you staying on in Savannah for a few additional days.
Day 1: We arrived in Savannah, at the Staybridge Suites, about 5:30 pm on Tuesday evening, having driven south through the Carolinas. It really wasn't too bad a trip (I can say so since Doyle did the driving) - about five hours on the road and a few stops along the way, for a total of about six hours. Even the traffic through Charlotte was bearable.
I found the staff at Staybridge to be very pleasant and accommodating. This is a rather new facility, and our room appeared clean and attractive, if a bit overcrowded. I would have preferred a desk to a full kitchen, though the big refrigerator does come in handy.
After unloading our things and organizing a bit, we set out to find a place where we could get a light meal since we had eaten en route. The nice woman at the desk suggested either B. Matthew's next door or the Skyler in the East Bay Inn across the street. We chose the Skyler but found that it wasn't open for dinner on Tuesdays. So, despite being advised not to, we headed for River St., mostly to see what was going on there. Our first impression: sort of a combination of Bourbon, Decatur, & Royal Sts. (NOLA), but without the music. I was surprised to see that Savannah is still (again?) a major shipping port, as several container vessels passed by.
After checking out a couple of establishments, we decided on the Shrimp Factory, though it wasn't one of the places on my list. We were just too tired to look for anything else.
Our choices and our opinions: I just had an appetizer, what they called a spinach/shrimp streudel, though I thought "spanakopita" would have been a more appropriate description, especially since they were triangular in shape. But why quibble? Regardless of the name, I thought they were very tasty. Doyle was hungrier and had sausage & shrimp creole. Now, he prides himself on his gumbos and creoles, but he acknowledged that theirs was quite good. However, in agreement with what I later read on TripAdvisor, I thought their dishes were over-priced.
To bed - and none too soon.
Day 2: As an alternative to the architectural walking tour (planned by kaydee), which I had originally planned to take but opted out of due to my back problems, we arranged to take one of the on-and-off "trolley" tours (really buses) of the Historic District. I'm glad we did. It gave us a way to get acquainted with the area (sitting down!), but also to get off where we chose to and resume the tour later on.
I had wanted to try the famed Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room for lunch, so planned to start in time to do so and get off at the closest stop. (It's #1 on TA and has 5 stars on Fodor's.) That we did. We had read to expect a wait on line of about a half-hour, but ours turned out to be a full hour because of a rather large special tour group which had reserved part of the facility (and got right in!). However, the day was lovely, there were several benches where I could sit while waiting, and many pleasant people to talk to.
The experience: Mrs. Wilkes features Southern home-cooked style food, served family style at large tables. What it does, it does very well, but if you're used to Southern home cooking, it is not exceptional. One of my first reactions was that it was like the food Doyle's mother cooked, only two weeks' worth served all at once. He liked it but wasn't that impressed. (After all, this is what he grew up with). Only SOME of the dishes: creamed corn, green beans, stewed applies, mac & cheese, meatloaf, beef stew, fried chicken, ham, creamed sweet potatoes with raisins, collard greens, pickled cucumber, etc., etc., plus dessert. All this and more for $16. each, plus you take your own dishes to the back room.
From Mrs. Wilkes, we walked to Congregation Mickve Israel, near Forsyth Park, the only Gothic style synagogue in America and the third oldest in the US. It was closed for lunch when we first went there, but we reboarded a tour bus and returned later. It is a highly unusual and lovely building, both in its shape and its interior decoration. Our "tour guide" was a very gracious and knowledgeable woman, a member of the congregation. They have a museum on their second level, which has several remarkable items, including the only Torahs on deerskin that I've ever seen or even heard about.
Back to the tour, a return to our hotel, and a brief rest.
We had tickets for a jazz concert that was part of the Savannah Music Festival for that evening at 6:30, and we didn't want much for dinner (surprised?), so we decided to take advantage of the complimentary food (salad +) served at the Staybridge mid-week. We had salad, but had to leave before the barbecued chicken pieces on buns were ready (probably no loss).
The concert was held at the newly restored Charles H. Morris Center at the Trustees' Garden, at the corner of E. Bay and E. Broad Sts. It was called "Piano Showdown" and featured four amazing jazz pianists. Originally, I was disappointed that we would miss by a week some of the bluegrass, country, or Cajun artists that were appearing before we arrived in town. I shouldn't have been. The featured pianists were the near 90-year-old Hank Jones, perhaps the greatest living jazz pianist, whom I might have first seen about 45 years ago in New York; the incomparable Marcus Roberts; a young, gospel-reared pianist with a very smooth touch - Eric Reed; and Carl "Sonny" Leyland, a boogie-woogie stylist, originally from Britain. What an astoundingly talented group! They were so good, and it was such fun!
After that, Doyle would have returned directly to our room, but I wanted a small repast, so we headed next door to the Staybridge, to B. Matthew's Eatery, where we should have gone the previous evening. This establishment is known for its unique lunches, which include such things as blackeye pea cake sandwiches! I wasn't prepared for their dinner menu, however. B. Matthew's is more my kind of place - funky and innovative, both in atmosphere and food. Again, I just had an appetizer - langostino dumplings, with "cucumber mint dipping sauce," and Doyle had "Spicy Rocket Greens," which included arugala, "tossed bosc pear, gorgonzola, roasted walnuts and charred tomato." Both were very good. We'll have to return some day or year for a full meal. The entrees looked extremely appetizing. They appear to make very inventive use of fresh vegetables.
Day 3: I convinced Doyle to climb back in the car and drive to Fort Pulaski, especially since the day was rather raw and windy - not good for walking. I had read about it and written about it in my Countdown on the Civil War. I wasn't sure how interesting it would be, but since it isn't far from Savannah (about 15 minutes from E. Bay St.) I guess you could say we were pleasantly surprised. Fort Pulaski is a National Park Service facility, and the park rangers there were very helpful and knowledgeable. Ranger Calhoun, who told the background of soldiers at the fort during the Civil War, concluding with a demonstration of musket firing, is an excellent storyteller (and we've known several of them). We're not at all sorry that we spent a few hours there.
Since we were then only a few miles from Tybee Island, we decided to drive over the bridge and take a look around. We stopped at one point to take advantage of an ocean view, even though we plan to be at the N.C. coast next week. Despite what we were led to believe by a neighbor, what we saw was a pleasant resort community minus much of the obscene development we witnessed at places like Kitty Hawk and Nags Head in N.C.
We had seen the sign for Uncle Bubba's Oyster House on our way to Fort Pulaski and decided we'd stop there for lunch in order to give one of the members of the Deen family some of our business. It is a large, casual place, that was quite busy, even though it was then close to 2 o'clock. We both shared some char-grilled, parmesan crusted oysters in the half-shell - delicious! Then I had crab cakes over Spanish rice with black-eyed peas (gave most to Doyle). Very good. Doyle had a crab bisque, which looked very fattening, but which he thoroughly enjoyed. In sum: A good place to take the family for a well prepared seafood meal.
Well, that's all for now, folks. One more little adventure tomorrow before we join our comrades for all the weekend events. We'll tell you about it when we see y'all. (Or ask Sandra.)
Ann
Slow Travel Talk 
I look forward to reading about the rest of your time in Savannah.
