Charleston (Part 2)

Sunday

We had left our walking tour of Charleston until our last full day.  I downloaded a free Charleston walking tour app to my iPhone which helped us determine what sites we wanted to see and charted our course.  But here is how our day started:

Mr. was showering and getting the large bathroom all steamy.  

Because we were in a rush, I decided to bust in and start beautifying.  However, the mirror was foggy so I left the door open to unfog it.   Bad idea.

It set the smoke alarm off.

When it didn’t stop, we called the front desk.  I was praying the sprinklers wouldn’t go off.

After we got off the phone:

Mr.: WHAT IS CAUSING IT????

Me: It’s from the steam.
Mr.: No, it isn’t.

Me: Yes it is.  We had this happen all the time when we were kids because the smoke alarm was right outside the bathroom door. 
Mr.: Our smoke alarm was outside the bathroom and never went off.

Me:  I don’t know what to tell you.


The alarm caused the fire department to be dispatched which resulted in a fireman coming and inspecting our room.  Embarrassing.

The fireman and the concierge agreed with me about the steam so for once I was right.

Unfortunately, we were heretofore known as the Smoke Alarm Room by the workers at the hotel.


Sigh.  Never ever a dull moment.

Post le petit dejeuner (aka breakfast), Mr. and I headed on our walking tour which included various old houses and some parks.  We had planned to tour the Aiken-Rhett House after lunch, but alas, due to my ability to always have a stomach ache, we ended up going to our hotel and lounging until dinner.  Mr. didn’t seem to mind so I was OK with that.

Here are some mansions at the Battery.  Dare to Dream....

And the famous "Rainbow Row"

Monday

We had thought we might tour the Aiken-Rhett House on Monday because our flight wasn’t until late.  Alas, we were tired and kind of done with touring around so we lounged in our room until check out time and then went to lunch.  After that, we took off home. 

Final Thoughts:

Hotel

We (I) chose the Wentworth Mansion because the rooms looked like they had a ton of character and, if I haven’t mentioned it before, I like old houses.

Mr. and I did not shell out for one of the more expensive suites because this was supposed to be our “cheaper” vacation and once I saw our room, even though it was impressive, I told Mr. we must be in the old servant’s wing (ha ha) because it was slightly less opulent than the really expensive suites.

We loved our room.

It had a fireplace in the bedroom AND one in the bathroom!   This fact induced me to take my first bath in about 10 years in front of said fireplace.  Unfortunately, baths gross me out so it didn’t last long because I just kept thinking about germs once I got in.

Our room also had a small porch off it.  Yeah!  I love outdoor seating!  We had some nice sits on that porch, relaxing.

The WM provides a very nice complimentary breakfast (love when hotels have this) and they offer various refreshments (like the sweet tea) throughout the day.  Parking was also free.  The staff was incredibly helpful and nice.  In fact the only drawback was that it was a slightly off the beaten path but Mr. and I are both city folk and big walkers so we didn’t really mind.  

Taxis

For the most part, Mr. and I walked everywhere but two different nights for dinner we called a cab because it was raining and I was in heels.  We didn’t have exact change for either taxi and they looked at us like we had three heads when we asked for it.  Who are these people?  We were not trying to pay with $100 bill.  It was a reasonable amount we were asking for back.  I have a mind to complain to the taxi company because it was ridiculous.  Too bad for the driver that got a 45 cent tip because that was all the 1s we had.  Maybe he should have some change next time.


Talkers

Now, I like to think we are friendly enough, at least Mr. is, and we (he) don’t mind the occasional small talk with strangers.  But this trip was filled with people who would not stop talking to us. 

On the plane to Charleston I took the middle seat.  An old lady with a flowered sweatshirt sat beside me.  Ladies who are over 45 ALWAYS want to chat with you.  I do not want to chat so I immediately pull out my book and start reading hoping they will take the hint.  This lady did until we got closer to landing when she started chatting about how we haven’t had a bad winter and stuff about gardening and mums and what have you.  I just said “Yeah” and nodded and moved on.  

We escaped from her and got our first taxi driver in Charleston.  Mr. is our appropriated spokesperson so he got subjected to talking to this guy and all of our other subsequent taxi drivers for the duration of the trip.  They were ALL talkers.   Ugg.  

I already covered our car rental guy.

On our Fort Sumter boat return trip, an older lady started talking to me about my camera and where we were from etc. etc. etc. for almost the whole trip.  We were tired and hungry but suffered through. 

On our return flight home, I made Mr. sit in the middle and lo and behold another older lady made her way next to him.  Chatty McChatterson.  It only got worse after she ordered a beer.  Poor Mr.  He really took one for our team on that flight.  She didn’t get the hint from our book reading. 

So finally, we arrived back home and I said to Mr., “I am glad to be back, at least the taxi driver won’t talk to us here.”  I jinxed us.  :(