Savannah

I have made mention of my aversion to people in the past.  It's not that I don't like people; it turns out that I'm pretty happy with only one or two that I spend any real time with, outside my family, of course.  I think it's pretty easy to see why I wouldn't be a fan of larger cities.  I have heard over and over again how beautiful Savannah is, but I have never had any desire to visit.  Usually my closed minded ways are proven wrong.  In this case, they were not.  I don't care to ever return to Savannah.

It's about a four hour drive from Myrtle Beach to Savannah, and it's a relatively nice drive.  There were no complications, and our GPS kindly kept us on track.  We experienced some rain, but I can't hold that against Savannah.  As far as I know, they have no control over the weather.

My first negative impression came when I actually drove into Savannah's historic district, looking for my sister-in-law's place of employment.*  While looking for a place to park, I realized it was all parallel parking.  Any of you who read my earlier review about the driving exam know how I feel about parallel parking.**  After Mark and I switched places at a stop sign, we continued our search for parking.

When we finally found a space, we were ecstatic.  We had been driving around for at least fifteen minutes when we see an easy to get into parallel parking spot.  Mark easily slid the car into place, and we hopped out.  We were just a short walk from Corleone's.  As Mark locks the car, we realize that this part of town doesn't look so good.  There are some boarded up windows, but we decide it's okay.  There are quite a few nice cars*** parked on the same street as us, so we figure it's okay.

Whenever you have a historic district, there are certain negatives you should expect.  When in a good mood, the uneven sidewalk is cute.  When tired and hot, it is annoying and a hazard.  When feeling quaint, you love those little one way streets; when trying to find a place, one way streets are impractical.  Now, most of these traits have arisen because streets were laid out differently then.  They didn't need to be as wide either.  Now, somebody's Hummer barely fits down the one way streets.  I'm not going to hold these things against Savannah, as they are by-products of maintaining a historical area.

After a pleasant dinner at Corleone's, we decided to mill about a bit.  Enter too many people.  There were quite a few people in the area we were walking through, as there were quite a few pubs.****  This also meant some of the people were a bit drunk.  After hearing some "gentlemen" yelling at a heavier girl who was walking in front of us, I unfairly judged a great deal of the people living in Savannah.  Once again, a few rowdy guys are not the fault of Savannah; it happens anywhere there is alcohol.  Based on our experiences the next day, most people in Savannah are art students.*****

As most of the shops were closed, we decided to return to our car and then find our hotel.  It was pretty full dark when we found our vehicle, so I didn't notice anything awry.  We drove off into the night.  It wasn't until Mark stopped at a gas station that I noticed that someone had messed with our car, on the passenger side.  There were full hand prints, as if they were trying to pop the door open.  Needless to say, it freaked me out, and much like the country mouse, I wanted to immediately return home, to flee the big, bad city.

My first experience with Savannah was a relatively negative one.  That being said, parts of the city are absolutely gorgeous.  There is classic architecture, and people watching there is a lot of fun.  I found myself much calmer the next day******, as we walked around checking out the town.  We saw where the bench scene in Forest Gump was filmed.  There are a bunch of small parks scattered about and a myriad of unusual shops.  For the classier among us, there are also fancy shops.

There is actually a lot to like about Savannah, and if I hadn't been scared the first night there, I probably would have had a pretty good time.  I suppose I may go back someday.  I'll just make sure I don't park in scary places, and I'll do most of my touring during the day.

*It's a place called Corleone's, and they have amazing food.  The restaurant has a nice atmosphere, as well.

**I hate it.

***These cars were much fancier than our little Ford Focus...and much snootier.

****I like that word better than bars.  Bars are seedy.  These places were unique.

*****I won't say anything about what I think about art students.  I was one for a while.  These ones looked like they walked off of some tv show.

******Aside from the heat, of course.  It was so hot, and we happened to be wearing jeans because I didn't think we would be walking around downtown Savannah.