Charleston
WOW, it was foggy yesterday morning in Charleston, SC! It was Thursday and this was our last port of call before Ft Lauderdale. Once in Ft Lauderdale, we will take a shuttle from the dock straight to the airport and home. And, we are both looking forward to being home, to be in our own bed, to see if the plants survived, all of the end of vacation feelings.
The fog started to lift around 8:30am and a town appeared. The local fire department was waiting to take off a passenger who fell last night and broke her leg. We had heard an announcement over the ship’s speaker system asking for a stretcher detail to go to the 7th floor. The seas were rough last night and it’s really possible that someone fell due to the rolling of the ship and with the average age on the ship, a broken hip is a real possibility. As we exited the ship, we ran into the two nurses, Jema and Vanessa, from the Medical Center onboard. Jema was quite taken by one of the firefighters. “When they smell like smoke they are so manly”. And something about chocolate being second only to firemen and a fireman dipped in chocolate would be even better. Spoken in her strong British accent, it was really quite cute to hear. Maybe she has been on board too long? 
Once in town, we walked along what is called ‘Rainbow Row’, a street of historical homes. They are painted pastel colors and there is a city ordinance that the homeowners can’t change their home’s colors without permission. There are no color duplications. We stopped into an artist’s shop who gave us a much too long history of the houses. Much of his spiel had to do with being the only artist who paints this or that or on this or that medium. Lots of low key selling, but really good history.
Then there were the mansions facing the ocean. These houses are huge, normally three stories tall with pillars, decks, wrought iron fences, flat roofs and are exceptionally close to each other. 
Then we wandered into town and bypassed all of many art shops and found a market that once was slave quarters. So we hear! It was full of vendors with crafty items that were well made. T-shirts (Famous women are rarely well behaved), button pins with everything from Coke ads to either of the presidential candidates. There was a doctored “Dancing with the Stars” poster that had Obama dancing with Sarah. Nice woven baskets, earrings, your normal flea market stuff, but a step or two up. 
Charleston has many, many pelicans, roosting on the piers and dive bombing the bay. Much of the bay is more like a mud flat. We found out today that the highest point in Charleston is 1 foot above sea level! As the ship was preparing to leave, Co spotted a pod of dolphins. Everyone on these ships gets excited about dolphins and the masses rush to the windows to ooh and ah and point and count. It is just about as much fun to watch passengers as it is to watch dolphins!
Friday is a sea day, but there is going to be a space shuttle launch that we should be able to see. We will be in the ocean somewhere near Cape Canaveral at the scheduled launch time of 7:55pm. It will be dark then, but we could see the streak of flame and smoke from the rockets.
The fog started to lift around 8:30am and a town appeared. The local fire department was waiting to take off a passenger who fell last night and broke her leg. We had heard an announcement over the ship’s speaker system asking for a stretcher detail to go to the 7th floor. The seas were rough last night and it’s really possible that someone fell due to the rolling of the ship and with the average age on the ship, a broken hip is a real possibility. As we exited the ship, we ran into the two nurses, Jema and Vanessa, from the Medical Center onboard. Jema was quite taken by one of the firefighters. “When they smell like smoke they are so manly”. And something about chocolate being second only to firemen and a fireman dipped in chocolate would be even better. Spoken in her strong British accent, it was really quite cute to hear. Maybe she has been on board too long?
Once in town, we walked along what is called ‘Rainbow Row’, a street of historical homes. They are painted pastel colors and there is a city ordinance that the homeowners can’t change their home’s colors without permission. There are no color duplications. We stopped into an artist’s shop who gave us a much too long history of the houses. Much of his spiel had to do with being the only artist who paints this or that or on this or that medium. Lots of low key selling, but really good history.
Then there were the mansions facing the ocean. These houses are huge, normally three stories tall with pillars, decks, wrought iron fences, flat roofs and are exceptionally close to each other.
Then we wandered into town and bypassed all of many art shops and found a market that once was slave quarters. So we hear! It was full of vendors with crafty items that were well made. T-shirts (Famous women are rarely well behaved), button pins with everything from Coke ads to either of the presidential candidates. There was a doctored “Dancing with the Stars” poster that had Obama dancing with Sarah. Nice woven baskets, earrings, your normal flea market stuff, but a step or two up.
Charleston has many, many pelicans, roosting on the piers and dive bombing the bay. Much of the bay is more like a mud flat. We found out today that the highest point in Charleston is 1 foot above sea level! As the ship was preparing to leave, Co spotted a pod of dolphins. Everyone on these ships gets excited about dolphins and the masses rush to the windows to ooh and ah and point and count. It is just about as much fun to watch passengers as it is to watch dolphins!
Friday is a sea day, but there is going to be a space shuttle launch that we should be able to see. We will be in the ocean somewhere near Cape Canaveral at the scheduled launch time of 7:55pm. It will be dark then, but we could see the streak of flame and smoke from the rockets.
posted by Colleen and John | 8:19 AM
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