We woke to another beautiful day with cloudless skies and a perfect temperature. What more could we ask for as we finish the drive?
Every so often, we have heard a loud horn blast from a ship leaving port. This morning we heard a horn and Wendy took this photo of a giant container ship steaming out of Savannah and past the hotel.
We had a late Sunday brunch in the hotel and then went for a walk through the streets of the historic old town. Savannah has lovely tree-lined squares, which give much-needed shade from the sun. This one is called Telfair Square, named after Mary Telfair, a famous resident of Savannah and benefactor of the Telfair Art Museum. The museum faces the square and you can just see two of the five statues at the museum entrance. Each one is of a famous artist. The only one I can remember is Rubens.
We went into the museum to see two works of art that we had seen when we visited over ten years ago. First was the statue of the Bird Girl, made famous by the cover of the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". Photos were not allowed in the museum, but we managed to take this one as we were on the doorstep. You can just see the statue behind the balustrade on the first floor of the building. Following the enormous success of the book, the statue was removed from the grave in Bonaventure Cemetery, where it had been placed in 1976, because so many people were driving into the cemetery to see it.
The second work of art we had come to see was a picture by an English artist called Arthur Hacker, Relics of the Grave. It is a very powerful painting of a young woman grieving over the news of the death of her husband in the Crimean War.
We spent a very enjoyable hour in the museum and I bought a large print of a painting of the Black Prince's victory at the Battle of Crecy. The painting was by the Victorian artist, Julian Edward Story.
On the way back to our hotel, this horse and carriage went past us.
When we returned to the hotel, we went up to the rooftop bar for a drink. Looking down on to the riverfront, I saw the tram that goes alongside the river. Bob, being the ultimate train buff, had told us that it was an Australian Melbourne tram which was powered by bio-diesel.
The view from the rooftop bar.
We met up with Bob and Thelma and took the car for a drive to Bonaventure Cemetery, which is where much of the book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is based. On the way out of the city, we went along roads lined with trees full of Spanish Moss hanging down.
Our first stop was at the Gingerbread House, an example of Gothic Steamboat Architecture.
Lovely tree-lined Savannah roads.
We reached the cemetery and drove to see the grave of Johnny Mercer, the writer of many famous songs, including "You must have been a beautiful baby", "That old Black Magic" and "Moon River".
The cemetery is a very beautiful place and we were given lots of information by a lady from the visitor centre. We then saw her watering some of the small plants around the graves and she told us more about the people who are buried in Bonaventure Cemetery.
We left the cemetery and drove the few kilometres back to the hotel. In the evening we went to a local restaurant, Alligator Soul, for our farewell dinner. How sad that this has to end!
Tomorrow morning, we go to Hertz to pick up a hire car and then deliver the Landcruiser to the shippers. Once we have dropped the Toyota off, we return to the hotel, collect our bags and drive to Atlanta for our flight back to London.
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