March Break and South Carolina

The snow reigned over the whole place and as a result the wind chill took up residence; for days we had to live with it, until the clock rang the bell and I found myself following the birds to the South. Yes, we went as far as Charleston, a beautiful city, where we made our nest for many days.

I will tell you that the first thing that impressed me a lot was the structure and design of this bridge, it's astonishing, I couldn't say a word, it was a kind of love at first sight.






After that I saw something that stopped my breathing: the sea, the waves. I was so happy with the exuberance of nature far away from snow. At that point I understood why the Pope falls on his knees and kisses mother Earth.






Can you imagine the sun, the beach, the nice weather? Okay here is a picture to see for yourself. By this point I was irredeemably in love with South Carolina.








My happiness was so overwhelming that I just started to sing to nature how thankful I was to be there, and somebody took a picture in the most intimate moment with nature.







Something that is so wonderful is to walk in the downtown; the houses are so beautiful, with a lot of stories written in their walls. For example they faced floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, and always they managed to rebuild the city and to live there. And when it is night the city gets another look with a lot of restaurants and pubs, and our epicurean DNA prompted us to be there.








In those lazy afternoons when I just half-opened my eyes I used to go to the Battery and to drink in all the colours and beauty, and see all those sunsets.








I love to walk on those streets, there's a lot to see.







Such as beautiful... eh, dolphins, yes! it's a dolphin






The city wore beautiful colours at my magic hour, everything looked like a magic moment captured in time, and in silence I drank in all these glorious moments that made me thank the universe for the peace, the beauty, the serene scenes that I was witnessing.









Something you should not miss if you visit this place is to walk and see all the gorgeous gardens, they are a piece of art developing slowly through time in order to accomplish a harmony between walls, buildings and nature.







Of course nothing is perfect, for example I saw some indecent exposures that I couldn't believe; for that reason I took this photo. Unbelieveable.







And be careful with the alligators walking all over the place, the only thing that they respect is the traffic light!







Some creatures just ignore you and don't even pay attention to how close you are to them, but that was good because I got this nice picture



There is a lot to learn, for example this is Catfish Row, the setting for the Broadway musical "Porgy and Bess"








Another thing I learned was that baskets can be considered pieces of art, and people display those treasures on the street.







I couldn't leave that place without my own piece of art; here is the woman who made it, Ann Simmons. At this point I had done my duty as a Canadian tourist - now I had something to declare to the customs officer.









One of the features of Charleston is all the wrought iron work. And there is one acknowledged master. His name is Philip Simmons. Of course, you can see his art pieces in the Smithsonian museum,











But I got the provilege to have a picture taken with him in front of one of his creations, I cannot believe that I met him, and guess what, he is using his money to provide education for some boys and girls because he knows that knowledge is power. I treasure this photo a lot, but how can I explain the price to the customs officer?









In order to have even more of a sense of the history of Charleston, don't miss the black history tour offered by Gullah Tours. He'll even talk to you a little in Gullah, the language of the African-Americans of South Carolina.