Thursday 16th October 2003 - Day 33/273 - Charleston, South Carolina
The Greyhound Terminal isn't on the main Charleston peninsula so I got a local bus into town and arrived at the Notso Hostel, 156 Spring Street. The hostel is run by 22 year old Claire Cunningham who, having graduated from the College of Charleston, wanted to offer affordable accomodation to young people who wanted to come to this expensive city. She's obviously in the process of doing up the houses that she has, but it's very livable here. For $19 a night what do you expect. Respect to Claire.
Old Town Charleston is about a 20 minute walk. It's a very historic and beautiful place. Mainly residential, but offering nice bars, restaurants and shops. I decided to go explore today as I've got a bit of energy and limited time. The stroll downtown was really nice and offers some great places to just sit and admire the surroundings.
I found myself at the harbour so I took a tour on a boat out to Fort Sumter, which is where the first shots were fired of the American War of Independence on April 12th 1861. The fort is on an island in the harbour and like a trip to a ruined castle back home.
For $29 you get a trip to the aquarium and a ticket to the Imax. Every city seems to offer an aquarium and Imax deal, which seems to take away the novelty factor. As I was trying to keep awake, I took up the offer. The aquarium I could have happily missed, but at the Imax I saw Galapagos 3D. I know I've harped on about the Imax experience before, but you must go and see one or all of them. Not just for the clarity of the picture or the 3D effects, but also because they are informative. Today I learnt about evolution by natural process, but not in a way that makes me want to slit my wrists. On the Galapagos Islands a lizard has developed that can swim and comorants that can't fly because it's more efficient not to and there are no natural predators.
After all this I had dinner with Colin, a Professor teaching politics at the University of South Carolina and my room mate. We witnessed 2 women saying grace before they tucked into their McDonalds.
