Places to Stay and Things to Do

Savannah, Georgia

This is the ultimate walking town. The historic district is separated into a series of squares with plush foliage and beautiful houses. I have a suggestion. Before you go get the book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt. Matter of fact, after you read the book, you will absolutely be compelled to go. And, when you get there, you must stay at the Magnolia Place Inn. For more information about the place go to their website. But, although this may seem long winded, I'll give a brief summary of our impressions. I could say both the outside and inside is beautiful but look for yourself by going to their website and looking at their numerous pictures.  Oh, by the way, this is the house in which Conrad Aiken was born.  It is not where he grew up nor is it where his father murdered his mother and then killed himself.  He supposedly did this because Mrs. Aiken was spending too much money on parties.

1. There is a little reception and business office to the left of the main building in a separate small building. 
2. So you enter the main building you can see the wonderful entrance with the dark wood and the imposing staircase to the left.  The high ceilings are great.  To the right is a combination living room and dining room, depending on the time of day.  Being a bed a breakfast you get breakfast.  Each day we had a combination of either an omelet, or pancakes, or waffles or a melange of grits and eggs and cheese.  Along with this came bacon and ham and fruit and pastries of all sorts.  And of course coffee or tea.  As you can guess, we didn't eat much of a lunch each day.  So, you can go down to this dining room and have breakfast.  The dining room metamorphosizes into a living room in the afternoon where at about 3:00 you can have coffee and tea and then at 5:00 hor doerves and wine.  But, we didn't eat breakfast in that room.
3. As you exit the room you look straight ahead at the staircase and as you ascend the staircase and go to the right you get to our room, the James Madison room.  Quite the room with a four poster bed, high ceilings, a working fireplace and, best of all, the balcony .  We ate our meals out on the balcony as we overlooked Whitaker Street, Forsyth park and the rest of Savannah.  The worst thing about the balcony was that it made it quite difficult to get on with the rest of the day.  After all, as you sit on the balcony, reading a paper, eating a breakfast served on a silver tray, drinking your coffee, why leave?
4. Before I conclude it would not be complete if I didn't speak about the staff.  Jane, the owner, knows Savannah like the back of her hand.  As an example, she knew all of the restaurants which have been recommended in various culinary magazines and took personal offense when we had a bad experience in one and left.  She, of course, knew the owner and was going to call him to express her dismay.  The staff, such as Patrick, Mollie and others were to a person great.  They were there when you needed them and absolutely invisible when you wanted to be on your own.  Jane and I traded stories and Patrick, Jane and the rest of the staff provided us with wonderful information about Savannah. 

I would not be honest if I said this was an inexpensive place to stay. But, for a special occasion, when you want to be pampered and forget about your troubles and the world for awhile, I can think of no other place I would want to be.

Charleston, South Carolina
Like Savannah, Charleston is a great walking city with a beautiful historic district. It has large sumptuous homes with hidden gems of gardens, and alleys and small bits of surprising pieces of architecture. It also has numerous restaurants and places in which to stay and we chose, of all places, the Holiday Inn in the Historic District. And why you ask did we? We did so because we had been told of the service at the Holiday Inn and we now pass that on to all who read this page. The people at the Holiday Inn are some of the nicest, most helpful, and most knowledgeable I have ever met. The bartender, Joe Smith (no lie, he is actually Joe Smith) was a wonderful person with whom to speak and he wants to be a teacher. He will make a great teacher. I came down to the lobby one night and spent ten minutes (maybe fifteen) at the front desk speaking to a wonderful young lady, Nicole Rowett. Mary Margaret Aiken was very helpful as our conceirge during the week. But, foremost amongst the staff, and a veritable force of nature, was the concierge on Thursday - Sunday, Kevin McQuade. When you go you just put yourself in Kevins's hands and he does the rest. Every restaurant to which we went knew Kevin. When we went to the reataurants special tables had been set aside for us because of Kevin. Every tour guide knew Kevin. Kevin drew us maps, directed us verbally, and then checked when we returned so we could tell him what we thought of his suggestions. He listened intently and guided us carefully. His enthusiasm is infectious.