vacation from our vacation

The stay in Savannah is turning out to be a much-needed vacation from our vacation. We have no itinerary except to relax and enjoy ourselves.

The hotel, the Marshall House, is gorgeous. The room looks not at all like a hotel room, but like a bedroom in an old Southern estate. Bead board in the bathroom, crown molding and a fireplace (non-functional by the look of it, but still), a pretty wardrobe instead of a closet, and a big frame bed.

They serve wine and cheese in the lobby every evening, and when we checked in yesterday there was a group of British people hanging out there who totally dug the car. One of the women literally screamed with delight when she saw it! One of the men came over to ask us why we did it, and said that we were "incredibly brave" to drive a car like that. (That's me, bravely gluing crap to my car! Not just crap, Fishies of Courage!) Coincidentally, Dave Major (Aerocar) had just been telling us that decorated cars are illegal in Europe, so most Europeans have never seen one. I asked this fellow about that. He said that he didn't know if it was illegal, but he had certainly never seen anything like it before.

Today we didn't "do" anything, just walked around the area near our hotel. Which includes River Street, lots of beautiful old houses, and that cemetary Shayne mentioned. We got drenched by a sudden rainstorm while we were in the cemetary, but luckily the storm didn't last long. We had lunch at a really nice little cafe across the street from the hotel, and dinner at the Pirates' House. Which has the reputation of being a tourist trap, but we had to check it out for the historical value. It was originally an inn that opened for business in the mid 1700s, and was mentioned several times in Treasure Island.

The food was very good, although Georg didn't much enjoy his dessert. But other than that, everything was good. My only criticism was of the rude hostess. She seated us at a tiny table in the middle of the dining room, right next to the only other occupied table in the room. (I should mention that the Pirates' House comprises 15 small dining rooms.) I asked if we could sit by a window instead, and she curtly refused, saying they couldn't seat two people at a table for four. Well, I understand that a thriving tourist restaurant has to conserve seats, but for criminy's sake, it's Monday night and they clearly were not going to fill up. They have fifteen half-empty rooms and they have to seat us at a cramped little table next to a bunch of noisy people?

When the waitress came, I asked her again if we could move. I think I was polite about it, although her eyes kind of bugged out when I asked, which makes me fear that I might have been more curt than I intended. I told her that I wasn't familiar with all their rooms, but I wanted to sit someplace out of the way, in a corner maybe. She conferred with a different hostess and they moved us to a nice corner table in the Captain's Room. Which is one of the historical rooms (the original front entrance is there) so that was nice.

The funny thing is, right before we left an older couple were seated near us. The same hostess seated them right next to us, and when they asked to sit by a window instead, she refused just as rudely! At least she's consistent.

Lest I give a bad impression, I must say that only that one hostess was rude. Otherwise the service was very good.

On the way out we saw the coolest thing: a guided tour in a hearse! They had cut the top off the hearse and covered it with an awning, so that a bunch of people (8 I think) could sit inside and see out. We're going to check on the hearse tours and maybe do one tomorrow night. Once upon a time I had grand fantasies of using a hearse for my next art car. But that was in the days when gas could be gotten for less than a dollar a gallon.