Charleston Part 2: 29th September

Our second day in Charleston, SC began with a lovely fresh coffee but a hilarious breakfast that made it hard to repress the inner-English snob. Most of the hotel residence had come down to eat their eggs and grits (a weird porridge like concoction that tastes like gone off couscous and milk) in their pajamas and one girl had a tractor tattooed on her leg. I’m all for originality and all but, a little bit weird? After breakfast we stepped out into the sunshine and walked into town, eager to explore it in the day light. When we got there we heard the distant beating of drums which we excitedly followed to a farmers market which had the feel of a festival to it with all the stores, music and dancing. The market was the biggest I've ever seen and stretched on until you reached the water front.

When we tired of all the shopping and began to feel a bit weary in the sun we sought out solace in the form of Bubba-Gump the shrimp restaurant. Now, most of you reading this will raise your eye-brows at this knowing that I have a complete aversion to sea food. It’s kind of ironic considering how much I love the sea and all the wild-life it contains. I just don’t want to eat any of it. Not for animal cruelty reasons, I love a good steak; it’s just fish is a bit slimy. The restaurant was amazing though, situated in an open air veranda, sheltered by vines which had lots of fans within it to keep us cool. The Forest Gump name made me too happy for the menu to matter but I did feel a bit guilty ordering the only chicken option available as I received raised eyebrows from the waiter. I also had the best pudding I have ever eaten-ever. Snicker’s Pie. Yum.

After a good couple of hours relaxing over lunch it was time for a last wander around before heading back to the car. We walked along the water front and noticed the most individual water fountain I had ever seen; a massive pineapple. Amused by this we joined the several children splashing around within in it and dipped our feet in to cool off. On the way back to the car we walked down Rainbow Street which is a row of multi-coloured Georgian houses. Housing this old is really rare here as most of it was destroyed in the civil war and as a result this lovely looking street looked like it would have been for fitting in Bristol than America. Soon we were back at the car and it was time to head back to Wilmington.

On the way home I was listening to my i-pod and absent mindedly staring out the window when the light began to change. Suddenly there was a huge rumble of thunder and above there was an ominous dark cloud hanging in the sky that spiraled off at the bottom like a twister. Within seconds rain was beating down on the car and big lightning bolts flashed through the sky as thunder rolled through the air. It rained so heavily and so suddenly that the roads quickly became water logged and as we drove through the water splashed up making it hard to see out of the windows as it sprayed up and over the car. Then as soon as it began it was over. Hilariously we then drove past several billboards bearing the words “Jesus is coming!”. Good job I’m not religious or that might have been quite worrying! It’s okay though, soon we were passing through the night time mini-las Vegas that is Myrtle Beach and arriving back home in Wilmington.