The Coincidental Tourist

 No kidding...one coincidence after another. It started when we checked into the hotel (the gorgeous Planter's Inn on Reynolds Square); Becky and I opened the door to our room, and it had ONE bed. Uh uh. Nope. Not happenin'. So back down to the desk we headed. "I'm sorry, we're full up, so all we can do is bring you a rollaway." Seriously?! For $150 a night, I gotta sleep on a rollaway?! Short story longer, a couple checking in behind us offered to switch rooms, since they were a couple (from Winter Park, FL!) in a twin bed room. Well, sure we will! Although the hotel claimed no responsibility for the mix up, our new best friend Karen the Concierge gave a peace offering of wine and a fruit, cheese and cracker platter...WELL....Ok! On Friday, we ran into our co-worker Jed at the Pirates House (I KNOW! How weird is that?!) Right after we left there, we met a lady named Evelyn on the street outside the Strobhar Chapel (she is caretaker & they minister to sailors on the container ships), who happened to have a sister in Titusville (retired NASA), and she invited us in to see the chapel! On Saturday, Becky, who is all about the "bird girl" (from Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil), sat directly under the stained glass window of the bird girl in Clary's Cafe (from the book!), I found an imported Irish Celtic braid ring (just like the one I bought in Ireland this summer and subsequently lost 3 days after returning), and the responsorial psalm at Mass on that night in the Cathedral (33rd Sunday in Ordinary time) was Psalm 128 (it's tattoo'd on my back in honor of Mom, whose one year anniversary is on Wednesday). Not to mention that I came away with an amazing ghost story of my own! (Jack has his very own from last year)
SO...to summarize...we met some wonderful people this weekend, witnessed a flash zombie walk, saw a gazillion weddings in the squares and churches on Friday (11-11-11), googled "which side do you wear a boutonniere on" to help out some groomsmen in the Cathedral on Saturday, ate some new foods, shopped till we dropped, learned new things, toured houses, and had a fabulous time!

River Street was our first destination on Friday morning, and no visit to the city is complete without a visit to the Waving Girl. It was chilly and windy, but we didn't mind, we had lots to see!

The famous Pirates House on Broad Street, with great food and story telling by a local "pirate" guide. I'm acting the part because I'm pretty sure that's what the young lady pirate taking our picture told us to do. Or not. But I sure felt like a pirate! Aaargghhh!

I've always wanted to see inside the Lucas Theater, but it's only open during shows, which so far were on opposite weekends from when we were visiting. This weekend, however...open for tours! And free popcorn! Yeah, baby! It was beautiful ♥

Sitting in the chair I've always coveted through the window! I was SO excited!

I'm not a huge ice cream fan, but again, Leopold's is the best! There was a 15 minute waiting line to get in, but this PUMPKIN PIE SUNDAE was worth the wait!!! One scoop of pumpkin, one scoop of cinnamon, carmelly swirly stuff, fresh GA pecans & whipped cream! Crazy thing is, I don't even like pumpkin! ; )

Forsythe Park was lovely on Saturday. There were families and dogs and a farmer's market and kinda crazy people and picnickers and tourists everywhere.

Yesterday's stop at Bonaventure Cemetery was the highlight of the trip. We all agreed that it was one of the most peaceful places we had ever been; different from Colonial Park cemetery in downtown, and extremely different from the New Orleans' St. Louis Cemetery #1, where Madame Laveau is encrypted! That place gave Linds & I the creeps! 

Gracie Watson is one of Savannah's most well known ghosts; her life-sized statue is still beautifully haunting after 100 years. The early morning sun kept her face very bright and hard to photograph (for me and my little camera, anyway).

I can never get enough of the moss! Our tour guide on Friday reminded us that the moss is full of chiggers, and not to put any on our heads and pretend it's hair. Thanks for nothin', too late now!

Beautiful. That's all.

We were so excited when we found the Mercer graves! This is Johnny Mercer's mother, Lillian's....don't you LOVE the engraved saying?!

The tribute bench sits right by Johnny Mercer's grave. We stood and marvelled at the many famous songs he had written (engraved on both sides of the bench) that we hadn't even been aware of. Laura even called her Momma right there to tell her she was visiting Mr. Mercer, who penned "Laura", the movie she was named after!

Savannah, as soon as Jack retires, you are MINE! ♥