South Carolina

This past week Shannon and I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, and to Myrtle Beach SC for a family reunion centered around a remembrance of Shannon's late sister Beth.

Before the rest of the gang arrived we explored the city of Charleston for a couple blustery cold days.  Founded in 1670 Charleston's early history is notable for the predominant slave trade.  At the south end of the peninsula there are many very old mansions crowded onto the narrow streets.

Seems like a fire hazard, so crowded together

And there were many fires that wiped out entire neighborhoods.  Nowadays there is a modern Fire Department, even though one station does have a quaint antique look:

Of course the Civil War began in Charleston harbor with the first shots fired at tiny Ft Sumter in 1861.  We visited the island.

The Stars and Stripes still flies there proudly today.

Inside the ruins.  The fort was taken by Confederate forces in three days, then later more or less destroyed as Union forces took it back, what was left of it.

Big guns

 And smaller guns.  A ten inch mortar, about the size in the front below, fired that first shot at Ft Sumter.


As to the American Civil War, on or around Thanksgiving Day, 1862, when Harriet Beecher Stowe was introduced to President Abraham Lincoln, he allegedly greeted her with these words, 'So you're the little woman who wrote the book [Uncle Tom's Cabin] that made this great war!'

So in the same vein, this above might be called the little cannon that started that great big war.
--------------------------

As more family arrived we relocated from Charleston up to Myrtle Beach SC.

Brookgreen Gardens is an interesting spot near Myrtle Beach.  Here we are with Shannon's older sister Michelle and son Gus, admiring the huge liveoak trees hung with Spanish Moss (an epiphyte plant that is neither Spanish nor moss).

Brookgreen Gardens is mostly a sculpture garden -- many, many sculptures of mythological figures, literary characters, and various constructions.

Don Quixote

Many depictions of the goddess Diana

Myrtle Beach also has a seaside boardwalk.

Shannon and Gus

On Sunday, 18th of November, the group of almost 40 of us gathered to celebrate Beth's life.  She will be missed.

Grand Canyon again

As summer came to an end we spent a few days camping in the Kaibab National Forest on the north rim of Grand Canyon, hiking and riding the length of Rainbow Rim Trail #10; north from Locust Point one day to the end at Parissawampitts Point, and south the following day to Timp Point and back.  36 miles or so.  And only one flat tire.  There weren't many other bike riders that we saw but the usual comment from them was "Amazing."

And how!

Sunset behind Mt Trumbull, Emma, and Dellenbaugh

Final Wrapup

From Milan we took an additional four day tour of the northern lakes -- Orta, Maggiore, Como, and Garda. 

Frescos at a B&B

Graffiti on a church fresco!  WTF

The town of Como

Passing by George Clooney's place on Lago Como.  George wasn't home.

Lunch at Riva del Garda

With the orange umbrella, our guide Andréa, multilingual dude

Verona was one of our stops on the way back to Milan, with all the tourist mania around the Juliet balcony of Shakespearean legend.

Crazy crowds

Verona bell tower

Looking up

Verona has its own Roman amphitheater

Then back to Milan for a few days....

And finally before flying home ... a visit to the iconic Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci:

La Ultima Cena

In my childhood before air conditioning my mother took me along to attend the Union Congregational Church, a simple frame structure; in the muggy Illinois summers you just raised all the windows and fanned yourself.  Local funeral homes provided the hand held fans, like cardboard glued to wooden tongue depressors, and many of them -- most -- held pictures of Da Vinci's Last Supper.  The original masterpiece in Milan has suffered damage and degradation over the 500+ years since its creation.  Two other copies do exist in Europe and are in better condition.  The environment for Leonardo's original masterwork is now strictly climate controlled and closely guarded, preserved for future generations. No humidity.

Wrap-Up Part One

Our Greek odyssey ended three months ago and I'm still working through the thousands of photos we brought home.  The Holland America cruise aboard the HAL Oosterdam logged over 4000 miles in the Adriatic and the Med with 21 stops total.  Then from Venice (again) we went on to tour the northern Italian lakes district and then Milan. 

The Parthenon on the acropolis of Athens

Little did we know starting off that hot, hot day, but it had been declared free-for-all admission day for all Greek people!  Yay for them, not so much for us.  The crowding was elbow-to-elbow in places, sweaty, and crowd control iffy at best on the ancient steep stairways.  Mob scene.  But, hey, it's Athens -- ya gotta do it.

The Acropolis at Lindos, on Rhodes, another spectacular stop

On the way to Lindos we passed through the resort town of Faliraki, where Shannon's son Gus spent one adventurous summer working as a sidewalk barker for a restaurant/bar.

Kotor, Monenegro was our last stop before returning to Venice.  And it was a favorite.

A beautiful walled city

Kotor is known for its legions of cats.  Cats were encouraged long ago in Kotor because of their problem with legions of mice.

Pretty Momma
The Cat Museum there feeds cats with proceeds from the admission charge

Of course Kotor has an old mountain top fortress...

...with great views

Back in Venice, we spent one more night in that marvelously unique city before taking the train toward Milan.

Passing through Padua

Malta

6AM Sailing in to the Grand Harbor of Valleta, Malta, with Fort St Elmo on the right

First thing on shore that morning we traveled to a site called Hagar Qim Temples, a neolithic religious complex of megaliths dating back to 6,500 BC.  One of the limestone components weighs over 20 tons.  Learn more here.

Complex as it appears today under a canopy

View to a nearby island

As it appeared before the canopy (Photo by ERWEH)

The local soft limestone has deteriorated badly over the millenia.

Back in town, Shannon and I explored the orderly baroque layout of Valleta and the museum of antiquities housed in the Auberge de Provence, the historical headquarters of the Knights of Malta.

Further Adventures in the Med

HERCULANEUM

On an excursion from Naples we took in  the sights of Herculaneum, sort of a sister city to Pompeii, also buried by the sudden eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Note the ladder at the end of the street

The height of that ladder above roughly corresponds to the depth of volcanic ash (50-60 ft) that buried Herculaneum following the eruption.  Unlike Pompeii, which was covered rapidly in ash and pyroclastic flow, Herculaneum was smothered less quickly, allowing some residents to flee.  Many more of the structures here also survived, whereas fiery destruction at Pompeii was widespread.

Great works of art have survived here, as well as intricate mosaics

 

Portrait of Cleopatra VII of Egypt

Herculaneum was a richer community than Pompeii.  Much of the wealthy inhabitants' sculptures and art has been preserved in the Naples museum, and in German museums.

Again the depth of the excavation shows how much ash was deposited here in 79AD

For more on Herculaneum click here.

After a couple days enjoying Naples we sailed north toward Rome with flocks of seagulls following the ship far beyond the harbor.

SANTORINI

Ever the iconic destination for Greek tourism, Santorini certainly did live up to its reputation.

The white villages cling atop the ancient volcanic caldera like snow on a mountaintop

From our Santorini landing one could take a cable car up to the top, ride the 'donkeys' (they were mules, not donkeys) or you could walk.  Shannon and I, we love exercise.

Next thing you know, it's time for lunch, accompanied by a local beer.

Insert mule piss joke here

Leaving Santorini: