A car-free day in Charleston

What’s this?  Aren’t we supposed to be on a road trip?  So far, we’ve only driven from the airport to the hotel and the car has remained stationary in the car park ever since!

With the free trolley stop right outside the hotel, though, why bother with the car?  We stepped outside and onto the trolley downtown, unsure at first where we’d get off but making a snap decision to leave at the same time as everyone else: at the market.

I was unsure what to expect at the market but imagined it to be mostly produce and in particular, looked forward to some juicy South Carolina peaches.

Except it wasn’t that kind of market at all!  Full of souvenir-type shops, this was clearly targeted at the visitor and not the local population and though it was interesting to walk through, it didn’t keep us for long.

We chatted to a few of the sweetgrass basketmakers who were creating this Charleston speciality.  The first maker we spoke to, Kathleen, had made some really fabulous baskets, beautifully shaped and exquisitely finished.  Other baskets we saw, like those in the picture above, paled in comparison and we agreed that if we wanted a basket to take home, then we’d return to Kathleen and choose some of her work.  Except that we didn’t really want to spend $200+ on a basket, however beautiful it happened to be…

A large heap of dried okra caught our eye and as we wondered why, my hero snagged a sample.  I can report that I am none too keen on okra in any form, thank you!

Done with the market and ready to move on, we decided to continue into the old town.  It was a beautiful day and Charleston was looking lovely, though by now the heat was beginning to build.

Walking along Meeting Street, we came upon this sign, commemorating a rather significant event.  It’s fun to stumble upon such things and Charleston is full of them!

 

The buildings here are grand and there are the most beautiful examples of wrought ironwork here and there..

It’s not the easiest of things to photograph sadly and there wasn’t long enough to get my sketchbook out.  Never mind.

Just after I’d recorded my presence with the very decorative watermeter cover, an elderly gentleman stopped to chat with us.  Originally from Hamburg, Germany, he was in search of his jacket, he told us, having left it behind at a hospital appointment earlier.  We seized his recommendation to spend some time in the building to our left, the air-conditioned headquarters and store of the Historic Charleston Foundation, where my eye was caught by a rather smart quilt in the corner.

Thinking it was an Hawaiian style applique design, I went to take a closer look.

It was printed and not appliqued at all – and sometimes, things do look better from a distance!

Feeling a little cooler, we continued on our progress towards The Battery, admiring the beautifully preserved homes on both sides of the street and thinking that owning such a treasure must be quite a responsibility.

I posted pictures of the wonderful window boxes previously, because there really were some beauties along the way.  Planted to colour coordinate with the soft historic colours of the buildings themselves, these were my favourites.

I enjoyed noticing small architectural details, elegant entrances and historic markers too.

Not all of the homes were grand and some were small and simpler in style.  I’ll bet that, just like London Mews houses, they still cost an arm and a leg, though!

I’ve no idea what this little feature is for, but I liked the shape!

I could imagine sitting on the verandah of this huge home, admiring the colours of the small maple tree in the sunshine.

Though my patience might be tried by the neighbours who appear to be renovating an identical home next door. My goodness, that’s a huge project, isn’t it?

Actually, there are homes tucked in small spaces all over the place, which results in some cute addresses.

Oooo, wrought iron alert – look at those gates!

Gorgeous, aren’t they?  (Actually, when I first qualified as a Craft Judge, one of the first exhibits I was given to judge was a pair of wrought iron gates – though they were not in the same league as these!)

Another small detail we spotted, though by the time you’d worked it out, I think that you might have missed the point?

We decided to make a stop at this next home, the Calhoun Mansion, one of Charleston’s finest houses.  Reading in our guide, we couldn’t resist joining a guided tour and taking a look inside, though sadly, there are no photographs beyond the lobby.

Nathan, our guide, referred to the house as the “ooooh” house, or the “OMG” Mansion.  We began uttering those words as soon as we walked through the garden, wondering if we could recreate those beautifully manicured box bushes?!

There were other clever details – eight jets of water which met perfectly in the centre of the pool to create a fantastic effect.  Love it.

The doorbell was interesting, with what looked like a glass marble as the push button.

And as we stood listening to Nathan tell us a little about the background of the house, I couldn’t resist a picture of the door hinge!  Looking around the house, every door hinge was similarly decorative – wow.

The porch was tiled with stunning encaustic tiles with a dogwood blossom design.

And with the advice to look for the nautical “rope” design throughout the house, the front door opened and our tour of the mansion began.

To get a flavour of what lies behind that door, have a look here and here.  Suffice to say that we too oooohed and aaaaahed over every room.  What a treasure!

Next stop was The Battery which was exactly as we remembered from our previous visit.  Super hot hot hot by now: a high of 94F we read, so we didn’t linger but returned to shady streets and a cool deli for some lunch.

 

The wrought iron spotting continued and look what was next door:

A new build in this area of historic Charleston must be a rarity.  I’d love to have details of this one.

Before too long, we were back in the commercial district.  We pottered a little in the Charleston Makers store, the Brackish Feather Bow Ties catching my hero’s eye (until he saw the price, that is)  and finally, caught the trolley back to the hotel.

This evening, we enjoyed yet more Low Country seafood at Coast and crawled back to the hotel feeling full, weary and ready for a couple of hours in front of the TV in an air conditioned room.  Outside, it’s still 86F, even though it’s gone 9pm and the forecast tomorrow is for a max 97F.

That’s warm.  Isn’t it?

Windowboxes

I’ll be back later with stories from Charleston, but right now, just let me show you how beautiful the windowboxes are.

I saved my favourite till last.

Gorgeous, aren’t they?

Creatures of habit

Well, we all have our little routines, don’t we?

We really love to step out along Fifth Avenue at this time of the day, to gaze up at the skyscrapers and to wonder what it must be like to live here and to deal with this constant hustle the whole time.

Of course, we are heading for our favourite breakfast venue.  We found the Red Flame on our first visit to the city quite a few years ago now and it never changes, thank goodness.  When they refurbished a few years ago, they replaced like for like – the same layout with the same formica tops, the same leatherette banquettes and the same brisk service.

We had the same as we always have: corned beef hash for he who loves corned beef hash.

French Toast for me who likes French Toast.

Simple.

Suitably fortified and ready to start the day for real, we walked up onto 6th and snapped the traditional National Debt photograph.  That number keeps increasing and I must refer back to previous photographs to compare the figures.  One such photograph can be found in this blog post from 2011 when that number began with a 14 not a 19.

Anyway, rather than ponder the US National Debt, we continued down 6th Avenue, stopping by M&J Trimmings, another favourite haunt.  No, I didn’t need anything.

Yes, of course I bought something!  I blame it on my hero for encouraging me to go inside in the first place!

Anyway, the obligatory shot of the Empire State Building followed.

Followed by a quick visit to Rickys where the buttons amused us.

But I was after hair product – no better place to buy Redken!

And sadly, that was it for New York this time around.  It was time to pack up, to check out and to hail a cab back to JFK and fly to the start of our real Road Trip.  We’ve loved the few hours we spent here and are delighted we decided to stay over and not simply change planes here.

We booked Jet Blue to Charleston and made our way to Terminal 5 at JFK, a bright modern building with bright, modern systems in place.  We’d checked in already, had chosen our seats ages ago and had only a couple of things to do before boarding.

So we printed our bag tags and our boarding passes, dropped off our bags at the carousel and made our way through security.  The staff here seem to be all as bright and modern as the decor too – perhaps a pleasant, clean working environment makes for cheerful and efficient workers as well?

The flight was scheduled as two hours or thereabouts, but no sooner had we boarded than the Captain announced it’d be just an hour and a half.  He went on to draw our attention to the free onboard wifi – or should I say “Fly-fi” – which Jet Blue proudly offer on board their aircraft.  This was a new one for us.

As we taxied to the runway however, he returned to the microphone with apologies.  Not only had we been re-routed on a more westerly route which would take longer, we’d been restricted to 8000ft for the whole journey and there’d be no Fly-fi as a result – it only kicks in at 14 000 ft it seems.  Boo.

All was not lost though.  We’d been flying for five or ten minutes and he was back.  Wait for the “ping” he said – we’d been given permission to ascend to the magic altitude and could get those computers buzzing.  Of course, the flight passed by in no time!

We landed just five minutes late in Charleston, noting immediately that Mary’s flight had been delayed for more than an hour.  Poor Mary started early in LA, had to change planes in Charlotte and now was experiencing further delays.  What a day she was having.

Whilst we waited, my Hero sorted the rental car and I sat on one of the comfiest loungers in the baggage reclaim area and chatted to my friend Dorothy via Messenger.  That hour passed quickly too, for just as my battery was beginning to fade, a familiar face was spotted in the arrivals hall.

Let the Road Trip begin! Bumps and scratches checked, mileage noted, Sat-Nav fired up, off we went.

Back in the old routine and the Hampton Inn “clean sheets” post it notes.

We were all tired and hungry, so we took the easy option for dinner and went straight to the highly recommended Hyman’s (thanks, Wes!) 

I don’t think the spelling is quite right (there are 4 ys in the name), but whether it was the real deal or the impostor, I hope he/they enjoyed their dinner as much as we did.

And although there’s a mug of discussion cards on each table, unsurprisingly we didn’t have any need of those tonight – we had quite a lot of catching up to do!

Feeling very full and weary, we staggered back to our hotel in the sultry South Carolina heat.  Better get used to that, I suppose.

Treasure

We have the best friends.  No argument, no question of that. There are some we see fairly frequently and others we see only occasionally.  We’d not seen Jordi for several years though we keep in touch and when we do get together, we take over where we left off, wherever that might have been.

We share a joy in so many similar things.  I know what will float her boat (which is why we carried an enormous bag of Cadbury’s chocolate and Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts all afternoon) and she knows what hits the spot with me.

We had shared our planning of this year’s Road Trip with her, because we knew that she had a great deal of first hand experience of some of the places we’ll visit.  She made recommendations, spoke to her friends and gathered information for us which she shared in a long email conversation.

She also made us a little gem of a book with details of three cities inside.  Our own, hand made guidebook, tailor made for our trip and jam-packed with personal recommendations.

Each listing comes with a few special details, gathered from those who know about these things.

And the whole thing is an absolute joy to read!

She even left some pages “intentionally blank” for us to add a photo, perhaps, or our own observations.  I can hear my Mum saying “Ooooh, I don’t want to spoil it!”

No guidebook or online forum can possibly offer this kind of detail – what a treasure!

The thing is, our friends know us rather well.  When it came to choosing where to have dinner last night, Jordi suggested Cabana, a “nuevo latino” style restaurant she thought would suit us well.  She was right, too.  Not only did we enjoy the best Margaritas (!) the food was great too – not that we could manage it all.  The starter in the picture above – Baccalaitos (Crispy-golden salt codfish cakes, served with an avocado salsa) was enough for the three of us really and main courses were equally enormous.  But fresh, tasty and served with great spirit – loved it!

It was only when we returned to the hotel later and I was blogging that a little bell rang in my head.  Hadn’t we been here before?

My hero and I racked our brains to think…we didn’t think so and yet…I searched my blog for details but found none.

Then it came to me.  I spotted the three locations of Cabana: Midtown Manhattan, a couple of other NY listings I wouldn’t have been and Del Ray Beach in Florida…of course.  Our friends Jane and Allan took us to the Cabana in Del Ray Beach when we were with them and sure enough, the restaurant we recalled (and have frequently referred to because of the amazing cocktails and fabulous food) is one and the same Cabana.

Good grief.

Did I say we have great friends who know us well?

(See you in Charleston later, Mary!)

The 2016 Road Trip begins

Sort of.

Well, we have to start somewhere and this time it was at Heathrow on Monday night.  We need no persuasion to stay over when we have an early check in and on this occasion, it gave us chance to catch up with Amy and Edward over dinner at Bibendum.  They’re excited at the prospect of moving into their new apartment next week and it was lovely as always to share their company.

Our flight was at 8.30am, so it was a really early start this morning. 

I split my stuff into two cases, which meant record lows when it came to the scales!

Heathrow was as bustling as ever though, in spite of the early hour.

Our 7 hour flight was trouble free and uneventful I’m glad to say and we were super comfortable upstairs in a newly refurbished 747.  I’d already looked at the entertainment schedule and decided what I was going to watch: Brooklyn which I’ve been wanting to see since I read the book and Room, about which I was less certain but rather curious.  I enjoyed both, though Brooklyn got my favourite vote.  I caught up with a few journal notes, listened to a couple of Desert Island Discs and might have had the odd snooze now and again as well

No problems till we got to JFK then, where the queue for passport control was incredibly long.  The arrival of a couple of large plane-loads of people soon overwhelms the system and waiting in an area beyond the sight of the immigration hall itself, we feared it could be hours before we got through.  In the event, once we started to move it all progressed fairly quickly and within the hour we were jumping in a yellow taxi and heading for Manhattan.

With my usual New York soundtrack of Simon and Garfunkel playing in my head, we were soon within sight of our mid-town destination.

Our super-trendy hotel (with a glass wardrobe) is well situated, so after a quick wash and brush up, we wasted no time at all in getting out and getting on.

A sunny afternoon on Fifth Avenue awaited us!

We were heading for the Metropolitan Museum, where we’d arranged to meet Jordi on the steps at 3pm.  On such a beautiful afternoon with a few minutes to spare, however, we couldn’t simply walk past an ice cream kiosk, especially since it’s Grom, one of my favourites!

Of course, the museum was busy, but in spite of that it was fairly cool and we wasted no time in heading straight for the exhibition we’d come to see:  Manus x Machina – Fashion in the Age of Technology.

From the first exhibit we saw, we were enchanted.  This was a large and very well staged exhibition and even though there were lots of visitors, there was still room to get a good look at every single item.

I couldn’t begin to say which was my favourite at this stage, though a few will certainly percolate to the top of my list before long.  Here’s a couple of rather intriguing dresses, though.

These particular designs were created from polyurethane gel and iron filings.  Yes, I know – or rather, no, I don’t!  I have no idea, in fact.

Most designs were very wearable if one had a 14 inch waist (or thereabouts) but this one by Hussein Chalayan took the biscuit for being totally impractical.  It was described as a “remote control” dress with Swarovski crystals and rear entry panels with motorised hinges.  Sure enough, a short video alongside showed how the dress was accessed and remotely controlled and how the little spring loaded “pollen” could be activated at the touch of a button.

The centrepiece was this wedding gown, designed by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel.  Made in scuba nylon, the dress itself was pretty solid, but it was the train which caught the eye.

This was the image on the posters, the one which many had come to see.  From a distance, it appeared as a kind of brocade, but a closer look revealed a clearer digital design.

Lagerfeld himself drew the brocade design which was then digitised and subsequently completed using a mix of hand and machine techniques.  The rhinestones were applied using a heat technique, the gold painting done by hand and the pearls and gemstones sewn by hand. There was no record of how many hours/days/weeks this took, but it must have been phenomenal.

The lower level of the exhibition was focused on the different “metiers”.  Here, it’s the leatherworkers whose skills were to the fore.

This laser cut and exquisitely free machine stitched jacket was one of my favourite pieces for a short time.  I think it’s by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.

But this dress and coat by John Galliano for Dior was shown opposite and for me, at least, it pipped the jacket to the top of the list for a while.  Again, it’s laser cut leather, machine stitched.

Well, I didn’t say everything was wearable, did I?  I think we’re talking about the pleaters here whose skills were displayed in a rather more familiar format with Issy Miyake’s work.

Just around the corner stood four Chanel suits.  Taking a closer look, the cream boucle wool design looked pretty familiar, styled in the traditional manner.

A closer look at the others revealed something interesting, though.

Layers of fabric trapped behind this mesh-type surface which had been 3D printed.  who’d have thought it?  Even the “quilted” surface had been engineered to be formed by means of a digital design and 3D printer.  So clever.  Again, Karl Lagerfeld had a hand in the concept which was completely hand finished and as he stated “the perfect marriage of hand and machine”.

There were rather more obvious examples of 3D printed “garments” too.

But what I liked most about the show was the juxtaposition of contemporary, machine made dresses such as the two McQueen designs above, alongside the 1920’s “presentation gown”.  What a fascinating show!  I hope it travels and finds its way to London, where I would be there again to take another look, for sure.

Before we left the museum, we took a quick look at four of Turner’s masterpieces; in this case his whaling pictures.  Three normally reside in Tate Britain, the fourth being at home here in the Met.  But for a short time, the four are being shown together, alongside some sketches and other related work which inspired Herman Melville’s writing.  But by now we were flagging a little and the thought of finding somewhere for a sit down and a drink suddenly became very appealing indeed.

So we left the crowds in the museum and followed Jordi’s lead to one of her favourite Upper East Side watering holes: Demarchelier .  Here we found entertaining company, interesting conversation and some excellent cocktails which set us up nicely for dinner at Cabana a bit later.

But by the time we’d finished dinner, we knew we simply had to give in.  We’d tried really hard not to work out how long we’d been going today but right now it felt long enough.  We said our goodbyes to our sweet friend, promised not to leave it so long before we return and came back to our super-cool room, where I’ve kept myself going an extra hour or so by blogging.

I’m giving in now!