Savannah #2: Beautiful Buildings Everywhere

---

Another day to explore Savannah. We headed into the downtown area and decided to get one of the trolley sightseeing buses, as it would give us a chance to see more of the city and decided which places of interest we would like to visit. I think there are a couple of companies in operation. We headed to the depot where the trolley bus starts from, I think it was near the Savannah History Museum that we had visited the day before. We bought our tickets and hopped on the bus that was about to leave soon. It was a hot day and I couldn't wait for the trolley bus to get moving so that we could get some breeze. We had decided to ride the trolley the whole way round, so that we could listen to all the commentary and get a good overview of the city. I think that took about an hour and it was interesting. We got to briefly see all the points of note in the city and narrow down which places we wanted to visit. Savannah really is a beautiful city. The historic district is just immaculate and so well cared for and preserved, if only every city was like this.

We got off in the downtown area and decided to take a wander around some of the shops. The streets and storefronts here are really gorgeous. There are lots of cute stores and galleries, but most stuff was fairly pricey. It was a case of window shopping for me. We stopped to get some food and found a restaurant. We decided just to get some snacky things to share as there was another place we wanted to head to. The food was fine, nothing to write home about, but it was nice to take advantage of the restaurant's air-conditioning by sitting inside rather than their outside terrace. We had also found a British style bakery online, called Pie Society. We headed over there to try some of their stuff. They had a pretty good selection of pies and some sausage roll. However, after tasting the stuff, I have to say I was a little disappointed. It didn't taste as good as the stuff at home. It definitely wasn't up to Gregg's standards.

We had decided to visit the Telfair Mansion, which is now the Telfair Academy. It was pretty near where we were and was only a short walk. The building is an example of Regency architecture and was designed by William Jay. Outside of the main entrance, there are some very grand statues. It made the place feel grander, but also a bit intimidating. The mansion is now internally divided into two parts. The lower floors; the ground floor and the basement as maintained as they would have been originally to show how the house would have looked back when the Telfair family live there. I liked walking around the house seeing how it would be set up back in the day. I have visited quite a few old houses so far on this trip and I haven't tired of them yet. One of the rooms was really cool, it is called the Octagon or Oak Room and is octagon shaped. The room was used as a receiving room and study. This room was part of Alexander Telfair's vision for the mansion. After touring around the lower floors, we headed upstairs. The upper part of the house has been transformed into an art gallery. I really liked the exhibits that were on display there. There was a collection called 'Face to Face', which displayed portraits chronicling 150 years. I liked the portraits because a lot of them were just ordinary people, not well to-do society folk.

We headed over to the cemetery next. Although we had been there yesterday, we didn't have much time to explore as they were closing up for the day. Today, we got there earlier so that we could spend longer looking around. The cemetery was the second one established in Colonial Savannah and was the burying ground for the city from about 1750 until it closed for burial in 1853. The cemetery houses some notable locals including Archibald Bulloch, the first president of Georgia; and James Habersham, who had been acting royal governor of the province. The cemetery was later turned into a park in 1896. I really enjoyed wandering around, I liked seeing all the old gravestones that were lined up against the cemetery's wall. The trees there were gorgeous, too. They had long drooping greenery. Some of the other trees were also covered with beautiful red and pink flowers. We came across the Duellist's Grave. In 1815, James Wilde was shot in the heart by Captain Roswell P. Johnson. The cause of their quarrel is unknown and Wilde is buried in the cemetery. This serves as a reminder of how duelling was used and its tragic consequences. Also, at the back of the cemetery, just beyond the railings, there was a duelling ground. Another notable person buried in the cemetery is James Johnston. He was Georgia's first newspaper publisher and printer.

We thought that we would be able to catch the last trolley bus back to the depot to get our car. We waited at the pick-up point by the cemetery, and waited, and waited some more. The trolleys are meant to be pretty frequent, but since it was nearing the end of the day, there seemed to be less services. I think we just gave up and in the end walked back to the car. Since we had an early start the next morning, we headed straight home and decided to stay put even though it wasn't too late. We were hungry but not really in the mood for venturing out, so we decided to order some pizzas for delivery. However, the delivery was going to take forever and we were too hungry to wait. If we went and collected the pizzas, it would save a lot time and we would have our pizzas sooner. Luckily, one of my friends volunteered to drive over and pick up the pizzas. We got two pizzas, I think, and they were delicious. It was a nice chilled evening with TV and postcard writing, so that we could keep our friends and family up to date on our travels. Postcards might be a bit old-fashioned but it makes a nice surprise in the post and more personal that a social media posting.

---