Southern Hospitality

My mom and I enjoyed a lovely trip to Savannah, Georgia. While temperatures were topping out near a sweltering 100 degrees with unbelievable humidity, we still managed to see quite a bit of Savannah's beautiful landscape. I was surprised to see how metropolitan some areas were, but was still pleased to see a lot of the "old south" atmosphere that you see in the movies. As usual, I took quite a few pictures (almost 300) and have chosen some of my favorites to share.

The streets of Savannah. Every couple of blocks or so, this type of scenery would open up to a bustling metropolitan area.

City Market. This is the Savannah that I came to see. Right around the corner from here was a Marc Jacobs store, among many others, and looooooots of traffic!

An alternative mode of transportation if you chose not to take a trolley tour.

Mercer House. This was the house featured in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

This is the steeple that you see the feather floating by in the opening sequence of Forrest Gump.

The middle of the steeple from Forrest Gump.

Mom and I are standing where the bus bench Forrest Gump sat on was located. Come to find out, there was never a bench there. The movie people made 5 fiber glass benches to use while filming. The benches are now located in various places across the US. I believe one is in the Smithsonian. After the movie was shot, they planted a flower garden. In the movie, the wall we are standing in front of was covered in ivy.

This pub was featured in the movie Something to Talk About. Julia Roberts looks through the front windows and finds her husband having dinner with another woman.

Mom and I went on a Paula Deen (Food Network) tour while we were there. The tour included lunch at her brother's restaurant, Uncle Bubba's.

Paula Deen's husband, Michael Gruber, came in while we were eating lunch and welcomed us all to Savannah. He was very sweet and soooo down to earth. Then again, I wouldn't have expected anything different since he looks like Santa Claus! (Side note....you can tell how hot it is due to my ultra shiny face!)

This is the view from the back of Uncle Bubba's. The house in the distance is Paula Deen's. This is as close as we got on the tour. Please note that my camera was on full zoom, so it really wasn't that close!

This little guy was walking around one of the town squares. We just thought he was a hoot! After seeing him, I had the song "Found a Peanut" going through my head!

Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons. She actually owns almost the whole city block and is in the works to open a restaurant for her sons that will feature southern BBQ!

Savannah's City Hall

River Street overlooking the Savannah River has cobblestone streets and cute little shops to meander through. There is also an open market that sits right next to the water with everything from beautiful handmade jewelry to the tackiest souvenirs I have ever seen!

Savannah is one of the top 4 shipping ports for the US. Here is a ferryboat passing by the one of the many freight barges going up and down the river.

Warm Pralines....enough said! MMMMMMMMM!

The alter in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. This church was one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen. Pictures just simply don't do it justice. If you ever go to Savannah, make sure you go through here. It's free of charge and you will leave feeling like your soul has been touched.

Stained glass in the cathedral.

Front entrance to one of the many mansions in the historic district.

Streetcar that runs up and down River Street.

This is one of the largest living Oak trees in Savannah covered in the trademark Spanish Moss that everyone associates with the south. Our tour guide let us in on a little secret. The stuff hanging from the trees is neither Spanish or a moss, but rather a type of air fern. Go figure! It still looks pretty cool regardless of what it is!