Anna Maria Chalk Festival

Wayne and John at the Anna Maria Chalk Festival

We arrived in Anna Maria last night and were welcomed by John and Kathy with shrimp, cheese and cocktails.  After 8 hours of driving it was so pleasant to have that waiting for us. John cooked steaks on the grill, too.  Today we walked the few blocks to Pine Street where the Chalk Festival was in full swing.  Live music, food and great street art under sunny skies brought smiles to our faces.  After fish tacos for lunch we headed home to watch the Patriots lose the Broncos.  Even that can't dampen being in the sunny south.  
Pictures of the chalk art are on flickr.

Charleston Rock and Roll

Wayne, Looking Down Vendue St, Charleston, SC

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, sunny and warm and calm.  What a joy after the cold days of New England.  We walked to the end of the city pier and then along the Waterfront Park.  There are beautiful homes and gardens facing the Charleston Harbor.  We walked back on Concord St where we visited several galleries.  I didn't see any works that were particularly outstanding.  We had planned on this visit to go out to Fort Sumter, and decided to walk to the National Visitor Center where we could catch a ferry.  The walk was a little over a mile.  But when we arrived it was 12:30 and the next ferry left at 2:30.  Rather than wait around 2 hours in a district with nothing to do, we walked back to downtown, had lunch at the Southend Brew and took a carriage tour of the city.  It was lovely to ride and look at all the varied architecture.  My complaint was the guide focused most of her information on real estate prices quoting the latest sale prices. This happened to us in New Orleans, too.  I was much more anxious to learn about the architectural styles and history of the city's development.  
Tonight we went to the North Charleston Performing Center to hear the Tedeschi Trucks Band led by Susan Tedeschi (from Norwell, MA) and Dereck Trucks.  They are a hard driving Blues Rock band with 11 members: 2 sets of drums, bass, trumpet, trombone, sax, keyboard, 2 vocals/percussionists. Tedeschi sounds a lot like Bonnie Raitt.  This little video I took missed her voice, though, and is a quiet piece.  The guy in front of me went for a beer which determined when I took the video.  :-)  Additional pictures at flickr

Charleston, NC

Wayne, UNC, Chapel Hill

Before leaving Chapel Hill we rode through the UNC campus.  There were beautiful Crepe Myrtles lining the streets.  The Ackland Museum in on campus. The Museum was small and held paintings mostly "from the school of". The most interesting was The Study Gallery where pieces chosen by professors to complement their course were hung in dedicated areas.  For example, the Dismal Science course about European economics showed works by Daumier and Benton.

The drive to Charleston was short enough and the sun shown on us while we continued our listen of King's Dr. Sleep. We've returned to The Doubletree which is adjacent to the Market and in the Historic District. We walked to The Charleston Grill for dinner. Everything was superb: a beautiful room, live jazz and excellent fare. Charleston has much more the feel of New Orleans than of Savannah.

Location:N Market St,Charleston,United States

Chapel Hill, NC

There is nothing interesting to post today.  We spent about 9 hours in the car fighting one construction site after another.  The first one hour delay took place around Philadelphia where a crew with 3 large trucks had closed down the entire highway to fill in pot holes.  OY.  When we finally got to the hotel it was a delightful room.  More kudos to the Hilton family.  The most laughable moment came when we were in the elevator and discovered that the inspector (with picture included) was named Cherie Berry.  Now, come on.  You can't stop laughing either, can you?

Princeton University, On the Road Again

Wayne and the Princeton University Chapel

We've begun our winter 2014 sojourn to Florida where we will spend the next 6 weeks with our friends Kathy and John Lima in Anna Maria on Anna Maria Island.  It was a dark and stormy beginning; heavy rain followed us all the way to Princeton, NJ. The trek was made tolerable with Stephen King's newest book, Dr. Sleep, which is a sequel to The Shining.   We arrived in Princeton about 3:30 pm, checked into the local Hampton Inn and dashed immediately to Princeton University.  The University sits adjacent to downtown Princeton, the campus lining one side of Nausau Street and shops lining the opposite side.  We were simply wowed by the beauty and extent of the campus.  It rivaled any campus we have visited including Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge, and Yale.  The art museum has a respectable collection of the usual suspects (Medieval, European, American, etc).  The pieces that linger in my mind were Bosch's Christ Before Pilate, a most unusual Toulous Lautrec parody of Puvis de Chavannes, a Van Gogh and a beautiful Lucas Cranach.  The University chapel is a beauty claiming to be the 3rd largest university chapel.  It was well past dusk when we entered the chapel which denied us the complete experience of the stained glass and the soaring nave.  

Back at the Inn we took advantage of the offered free Italian dinner.  Agreeing before we went downstairs to head back into town if the fare proved not to please us, we were delighted with a great salad, stuffed shells and meatballs as good as anything we could prepare ourselves.  The meal came with wine and beer, too.  Oh!  And desert!  Hampton Inn has regained its spot in our hearts.  

For pictures of the University please visit Flickr