Charleston

The city greeted us with a fine sunny day, warmth and a pod of dolphins. What more could you want? 

We approached Charleston with a little trepidation. Would it be as good as everyone said? One of the top five best cities in America. Well, this is day three and we have to agree that it seems to be a city with something for everyone. We are docked at the Charleston Maritime Centre and though a little rolly at times it is a very friendly and well run spot. Free internet, free laundry and a supermarket close by certainly makes provisioning and boat maintenance a dream. 

The cafes and restaurants are also excellent with a wide range of interesting and varied menus, we had a great lunch at Guallant & Michellant which specialises in French vegetarian food. Freya and I also spend a satisfying few hours examining the shops on King Street in detail and managed to add a couple of small items to our respective wardrobes - "Honestly, Skipper I've had this top for years". To be fair the boat is getting a new semi-flexible solar panel, so the crew is also getting new outer wear. 

The most stunning aspect of Charleston is the architecture. Evidently due to the poor post war economy the city missed out on being developed and having multi story building piled one on top of the other. The result is an architectural feast of styles, tree lined streets and gracious parks. I was expecting the historic area to be small and well preserved like Portsmouth or Ananpolis but you can walk for hours here and still be seeing lovely historic buildings.

We did visit one of the city's historic homes, it was a mixed blessing. The mansion belonged to one of the former governors of Charleston. The family were well educated, spoke five different languages, went on the European Grand Tour and collected a respectable collection of art. Underpinning all this activity was eight hundred slaves. The house has been left in the state it was when it was donated in the 1970's. The rooms had been gradually shut up and the interior had suffered quite a lot of damage in Hurricane Hugo. You could imagine what the life style must have been like but the atmosphere of faded and melancholy grandeur underpinned by human suffering left us all feeling rather subdued. As an Australian I am not in any position to criticise other countries behaviour towards people of non European descent but it does remind me that mankind still has a long way to go before we can consider ourselves truly civilised. The events in Ferguson in recent weeks just reinforce that message. 

So, returning to our First World problems, we are thoroughly enjoying being warm. The unseasonably cold weather really was rather tough. It has been a long time since I went to bed in three layers of clothes, a scarf and a woolly hat and still felt the cold. Hopefully the warmer weather will continue as we head south.