One of the Must-Dos of a visit to Charleston is a carriage tour, so on our fourth day there, we finally went on our carriage tour. There are several options for tours, but we went with the Palmetto Carriage Company.
We loaded into the carriage from a platform in the carriage house.
Our tour guide was a native Charlestonian, and he was delightful. We learned that Charleston was the only British Walled city in the American colonies. We learned about Charleston historic architecture, including that the front doors we see on the street were false and that the real front doors faced their neighboring houses. We learned about piazzas and the importance of sea breezes to keep things cool. We also learned about some of the Revolutionary and Civil War histories. We also learned about how devastating the Civil War was on Charleston, resulting in an almost hundred year economic recovery.
We also learned that the tours are random, controlled by a lottery system regulated by the city to spread the horse and buggy traffic out throughout the large historic downtown area. We learned the there is a GPS button that the driver pushes when the horses have a BM in the street, and then the city knows where to send the clean up crew. We loved the tour and I wish we could go on all five different tours.
After the carriage tour, we went on a small walking tour to find Rainbow Row.
It was incredibly hot that day. In fact, there was a heat advisory in effect. Our tour guide taught us to slow down in the heat and always walk on the shady sides of the road. We took advantage of steps and shade along the way.
After our walk, we went to the beach!
We played in the water, in the sand, and in the waves. We love the beach! We looked at those beach houses with big eyes and new dreams.
We headed back to the hotel and the pool.
And then got everyone showered and in bed.
About the time Brian and I were going to stop reading and go to sleep, we were startled by our room phone ringing. The front desk informed Brian that a guest saw a snake slide under our door and into our room. They said they were going to send someone to come catch it, but the security guard who they were going to send was too scared and insisted it wasn't part of his job description. One of the front desk attendants came to help Brian try to catch it.
After over an hour of trying, we decided to move to a different room. Jen helped me move all of our stuff and get the new room ready before we moved our sleeping children. They were curious about why we were changing rooms, and I didn't want to scare them about the snake, so I said, "We had a visitor to our room and needed to leave." Rachel was really distressed about that until I finally told her, "We had a snake come into our room, to which she said, "Oh, I thought it was a person." Apparently a snake is better than a person creeping into your room. When you put it that way, I must say I agree with her!
Once in our new room, we stuffed towels in front of our door so we wouldn't get any more visitors! In the few hotels we've stayed at since, we have requested to NOT be on the first floor! Once you know a snake can get into your closed hotel room, you are never the same!
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